Tacos — Flying Solo

As you can probably tell, the distribution of labor in our house works out like this: Kate cooks, I eat and clean. Well, that all gets thrown out the window when she's gone and I am thrown to the lions. It's not that I hate cooking, I just hate how it stresses me out. I think that happens more often when I'm cooking for other people, but I still get pretty flipped out when something goes wrong, even if I'm just cooking for myself. I enjoy the product way more than the process. That's why I usually stick to recipes, but every once in awhile, I make something up on my own, and even more infrequently, it actually works. These tacos are a rare example of one of my triumphs.

Taco filling:
1 can great northern beans (but you're probably better off with pintos)
garlic clove
mushrooms
half a small can of chile en adobo
chili powder
salt

cook for awhile in a little pot

Relish/salsa
equal portions of chopped mango and corn
chopped red onion — about a 2:1 ratio compared to the corn and mango
chopped cilantro
1/2 squeezed lime
salt

mix together thoroughly

Now here's the trick that I think makes these tacos really good: I took the soft corn tortillas (way better flavor than flour) and fried them into the classic "V" shape of hard shelled-tacos, a little trick I learned from Efrain's restaurant here in Boulder. I didn't fry them super-crispy, but you can do whatever the heck you like. I found that it was easiest to use tongs and hold each half of the "V" in the oil separately to get it to fry in the right shape. Takes a little experimentation. I was glad to have some super fresh tortillas from the farmer's market, thanks to my lovely lady.

I think this is a great flavor combo. The chile en adobo is very strong and spicy, and it pairs nicely with the crisp and tangy flavors of the relish. I'd say these are the best tacos I've ever made.


The relish... probably good enough to eat on its own.