Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
1 teaspoon recaito (optional)
1 lb lean ground beef
1 teaspoon ground dried ancho chile powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
8 -12 taco-size corn tortillas or 1 package hard taco shells
butter ( if using corn tortillas)
shredded cheddar cheese
chopped tomatoes
chopped or shredded lettuce
sour cream
guacamole or chopped avocados
salsa or hot sauce or catsup
Directions:
Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat until just soft, then add the garlic and recaito and stir well.
Add the ground beef, then the ancho and cumin, and cook until meat is well-browned, using a spatula to break up the cooked meat into smaller pieces (some folks call this “hamburger gravel”), about 10 minutes.
Julie’s method of putting together her taco: take a corn tortilla and thinly spread butter on both sides, then fry in a hot skillet for about 15 to 20 seconds per side to soften the tortilla; fill with cooked meat and desired garnishes (for me that’s just cheese, meat mixture, and – yes- catsup because that’s how I grew up eating them and yes I know it’s weird).
Steingrim’s method: fill hard taco shell with cooked meat, all garnishes, and hot sauce so spicy you’d swear it would eat its way through the bottle.
Note: recaito is a kind of prepared herb mixture containing onion, garlic, peppers, recao leaves, and cilantro; we get it in the jar in the Mexican section of the grocery store.
Servings: 4
Time preparation: 5 min.
Time total: 20 min.