Poor Man's Tacos, a blanket unto my soul

Nicolas and Guadalupe Garcia

Some people eat macaroni and cheese or fried chicken w mashed potatoes and gravy to comfort themselves.  I am not some people. Comfort to me has always meant family. I am extremely blessed to be the product of two amazing people from two very different families and two very different cultures. My Dad is Mexican American. His familia has been in this country for at least 5 generations by now. My great grandmother Guadalupe Garcia and her husband Nicolas, were the first to come to the States. She was also one of the best things God ever did. She was a mother of 6, grandmother of I have no idea how many and great-grandmother of by my estimations, just shy of a zillion, and of course she was an amazing cook, . She could also crochet like you wouldn't believe. The tiniest, most detailed doilies you have ever seen. She didn't speak English, in fact she barely spoke at all. But she didn't need to, she seemed to say it all through us. She put everything into her food, and I think watching all of us eat and talk and share was her lifeblood. It spoke volumes of the legacy she built.

My grandparents all waiting to be seated at my wedding in August 1995.

When my Mother passed away in 1990, among other things, I was left w a huge void where her cooking and baking should be. I turned to my grandmothers for help. I was absolutely DESPERATE to learn to cook all the things my Mother used to make. My grandmothers were all too eager to help. My great-grandmother, or Great Ita as we very affectionately called her (Ita is short for Abuelita which is an endearing version of Abuela which means grandmother in Spanish), graciously welcomed me into her kitchen every Tuesday and Thursday from Jan to May in 1993. I was a senior in high school, living on my own in a town 7 miles away, working 2 jobs and going to school until noon, and on Tues and Thurs I didn't student teach art for my independent study. So instead, I'd ride my bike over to Great Ita's house and we would cook for hours. We'd make flour tortillas, pork chile, rice, beans, menudo, carnitas, and anything else she felt like teaching me. I was in my 4th year of Spanish and was really good at understanding all of her instructions, but I sucked at trying to conjugate a sentence so she was the one that had to work at understanding my Spanish. I still suck at conjugation. We didn't advertise our visits, and if someone's car was there, I kept on riding. I was too proud to let anyone know that I was taking hand-outs from my great-grandmother and she understood that. See, she would pack up a week's worth of tortillas, beans and rice for me, and that is what I survived on.

When it was her turn to join my Mother and all of those that preceded her in Heaven, I made a promise to myself that I would never stop cooking her food, our food. And I haven't. I have tweaked things here and there to accommodate our tastes and lifestyle, but the tradition and the FEELING I get when I cook hasn't changed one iota. I KNOW that my Tias (Aunts), Tios (Uncles), Primos y Primas (cousins) and especially my Padre (Dad) and dos hermanas (2 sisters) have their own versions of all the wonderful things that Great Ita made, but I know that she would approve of my versions because they are mine. The one thing I always understood her say was that she LOVED me for who I am, a crazy, passionate, whole-white-wheat-bread-half-breed. <3

To my knowledge Great Ita never made these tacos. I am not even sure who taught my Mom how to make them, but I know all my Tias and Tios make them because all their kids, my cousins, LOVE them. Some people call them puffy tacos. We call them Poor Man's Tacos, because they are made w value priced ingredients that most people would have on hand. Long story short, you will call them MUY DELICIOSO!!!!

Wanna hear it? Here it go...

I used 3/4 lb of ground beef, half a white onion, 3 cloves of garlic, half a russet potato, a handful of frozen peas, some chicken broth, flour tortillas and a RoTel like product that I introduced you to in my Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe. (And yes, I know I spelled chiles wrong in the pic but it was too late to change it. Sue me. No, please don't, I don't have anything you'd want anyway)

First, I diced up half of the russet potato and the onion. Then I grated the garlic and ran a quick knife through it so it was finely minced.

I always strain the entire of can of tomatoes w chiles into my measuring cup so I can use the juice for my arroz.

I use only Long Grain White Rice when making arroz (rice in Spanish) to go alongside my Mexican food. I find it get's the fluffiest results which is what Chris and I prefer. If you like a different kind of rice or have something else on hand, feel free to swap it out! I used 1 cup of rice for this post. I only measured it because I like to use the 2:1 ratio for cooking rice, just like I did the orzo in my Warm Orzo Salad post.

Using the same technique as the orzo, I start by heating up some oil in a soup pot over high heat. Then I add in about 1/3 of the diced onion and 1/3 of the grated/minced garlic. I stir these while they cook for just a minute, or til they start to get a little soft.

Incidentally, I usually have fresh peppers like jalapeños or Serranos on hand which I would dice up and saute w the onion and garlic. I was clean out this time and didn't know it when I hit the G store. I recommend the addition if you can.

Then I dump in the whole cup of rice all at once. I stir, stir, stir this mixture so that the rice begins to toast and brown but does not stay in one place for too long. The idea here is to lightly toast the rice, by doing this you speed up the cooking process and also give it a nice nutty flavor. Just do it, trust me.

I failed to snap a pic of the finished TOASTED RICE, but it really should be a light brown color and the onions should be fairly transparent. And it should smell a little nutty too :)

Now back to that reserved tomato juice. I have tried a million ways to duplicate the FLAVOR of my Great Ita's rice. She and my Ita Yolanda have both instructed me on it numerous times and have both given me the seasonings that they use. I can't get it taste right w just the stuff that they used. It's always waaaaay to salty. So of course I had to experiment until I was happy w it. I started using real tomatoes, then crushed tomatoes, then stewed tomatoes, then diced tomatoes and even tomato paste and juice! But it still didn't taste right. Finally, I stumbled upon that RoTel product I mentioned before and it really did the trick. The juice was a little spicy and very fragrant w the addition of the lime and cilantro which I used already. And it wasn't overwhelmingly tomatoey. BONUS! Now, let's keep this train rollin...

I added enough chicken broth to equal 2 cups of liquid. Remember the 2:1 ratio? 2 parts liquid, one part grain. Well, I used 1 cup of rice to make the math easy :))

Great Ita and Ita Yolanda both gave me ginormous jars of this stuff back in the day. There are NO SUBSTITUTIONS for these little guys. There are other brands, but in my opinion, they are crap. Nothing compares to Knorr. I really try not to promote individual brand names but there really is nothing like Knorr. I use both when I make my rice, my Itas only ever used the Caldo de Tomate con Pollo. I really like splitting the difference between the two. Again, this is my version of her rice. I could never really make it the way she did. {You should be able to find these in your local market, usually in the Mexican food aisle.}

I add 1 tsp of each bouillon into the chicken stock/ tomato juice mixture and stir it up well. Then I pour the liquid over the rice and stir it to combine.

I throw in a healthy spoonful or two of the tomatoes w green chiles. Add as little or as much as you like, or none at all if that is your preference. I love the kick the chiles give to it.

Throw a tight lid on it and let it come to a hard boil.

Ok, this is where my family will probably begin to roll their eyes w disdain for my version of this rice but I am fully prepared to defend my techniques. 

I put my rice in the oven to cook the rest of the way. There I said it. What??? It steams up so perfectly and it frees up my burners to finish the rest of the meal! The first time I made this for Chris, we lived in an apartment above a paint store on Main Street in my hometown. The kitchen was galley style and so tiny the two of us could not be in there at the same time. It came equipped w the cutest little refrigerator and the most ridiculously tiny gas range. Seriously, I couldn't even fit a normal sized cookie sheet in the oven. But I could fit my soup pot! And so I did, to save myself a little space on my stove top. And I've never stopped doing it. As with all things in life, try it before you judge me.

I preheat the oven to 400°, make sure the lid is on tight, and I don't mess w the rice once it's in the oven. I pretty much leave it alone for about 20 min or so, then I take it out and check the fluffiness w a fork. If it's not the way I want it, I put it back. Once the rice is done, I pull it out of the oven and leave if covered until I am ready to serve it. It always comes out fluffy and super flavorful, and HOT, no reheating necessary!

Let's get started on the meat while the rice is in the oven... see how that makes multitasking soooooo much easier???

I began, as I so often do, w some oil in a hot pan. I add the remaining onion and garlic along w the diced potato to the pan and saute them over high heat until the onions are soft and the potatoes are slightly tender and a little golden brown in spots. I season w a little sea salt and continue to saute.

I use another Mexican ingredient, by GOYA this time, called Adobo seasoning w cumin. You can most definitely find it in your Mexican food aisle of your favorite G store, if not, get a new fav G store. I use this stuff on so much more than just Mexican food. It is a great staple to have in your pantry. Here is a link for a printable coupon for you to use as encouragement to go get some... today... right now!!! http://www.goya.com/english/coupons.html  :)

I season the meat liberally w the Adobo along w some dark chile powder, sea salt and pepper. I also added a little extra cumin because I like it.

I make room for the meat by sliding all the veggies to the perimeter of the pan. Your meat will not brown if you crowd the pan!!!

I begin using my wooden spoon to break the meat up and once it gets to browning, I incorporate all of the other ingredients and continue to cook it over high heat.

Once the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are fork tender and only slightly brown I add 1/2 cup of water or beef stock , I used water for this because I was out of beef stock. On-hand ingredients are necessary for the "poor man's" part of the tacos. You use what you got. (no points off for incorrect grammar, it's slaaaang, duh)

I add the handful of peas to the pan and cover it w a lid until all the liquid is gone and everything is wonderfully delicious. Taste it, you will see. Sometimes I get so full from "testing" my food that I can barely eat when it's all done. They say that's how chef's get fat. I say, back off thinner-than-me! Would you trust a skinny chef???

Those peas look so beautiful in there... like little emeralds blinging things up :)

Let the meat mixture cool in the pan while you prep the tortillas for stuffing.

Working at a Mexican restaurant has several advantages to it. One being, I work w some of the most efficient and talented cooks I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. They may make fun of me all the time, but they also let me peek over their hardworkin' shoulders to absorb all that I can about how to make my Mexican food, or any food even better and easier. One trick of the trade is to par-fry your tortillas before you try stuffing them. I know, I know this is nothing new to you Garcias, and like you I used to slip them quickly in and out of the hot oil one at a time, making a huge mess and taking way too long. So the "trick" that they taught me was how to do multiple tortillas at once, cutting my prep time to less than half it was before. I use my deep fryer for this dish because, a) it's already full of oil and I don't have to waste more by pouring into a frying pan just to throw it out later because honestly what are you gonna do w a bunch of taco flavored oil??? Never mind, I don't wanna know ;), and b) without it the multi-torti trick doesn't really work. A dutch oven or other deep pot filled half way w oil would work too. Just don't overfill it or it can be very dangerous and horrible to clean up.

Fold a paper towel (PT) into a small, sturdy square. If you have thin PTs, use 2 layered together. Then clamp the PTs over the edge of a stack of tortillas, no more than 6 at a time, and secure it w a pair of heat proof tongs.

Then, holding the tongs very securely, dip the entire thing into your hot oil for 5 seconds and remove them carefully. Put them directly onto a PT lined plate, leaving them in a stack, adding it to it, until all your tortillas have been par-fried. Do you know what I mean by that, par-fried? Partially fried. You don't want anything crispy yet, this is to soften up your tortillas to ensure that they don't tear when you stick in the toothpicks and that the bottoms don't break when you open the taco to stuff it. STUFF IT??? Yep, that's still coming up...

Place one of your par-fried tortillas on a flat surface that you don't mind gettin a little greasy. I used the small "fajita" sized tortillas that I had in the fridge.{You can use any size you want. Heck, you could even use a huge one and wrap it up like a chimichanga instead!} Add some of the cooled meat mixture to the upper half of the tortilla. Fold the bottom half up and tootpick-it in the middle and on each end.

Need to see that again in slow motion???

One more time from the top, boys!

You notice how my tortilla has absolutely no rips or tears anywhere? I owe it all to the par-frying.

I fried 2 tacos at a time to avoid over-crowding the fryer. What happens when you over-crowd a fryer? Well, first the level of the oil rises by half or more and you risk the terrific danger of the 400° oil bubbling over the top of your fryer and going everywhere and burning everything in it's path. Secondly, if none of that happens, you will still end up poaching the food in the oil because the temperature cannot compete w the density of the food, it drops to below frying temp and you have a soggy disgusting and seriously inedible mess. How do I know this??? Oh you just keep guessing...

I used a metal slotted spoon (you saw it when I posted the Jillicious fries recipe) to carefully flip the tacos so that they get deeply golden brown on both sides.

When you have achieved your desired crispiness pull them out and let them drain vertically. Repeat until all the tacos have been fried and your eyeballs feel like they are melting inside your head. Ideally, I like to make these when I can have the windows open and nice breeze is blowing in, it helps, but there is no cure for fried eyeballs. If you know of one, please share in the comment section below!!!

Somebody say STUFF??? I did, I did! I hate when the lettuce is on top of the hot taco meat and there is like four skinny slivers of cheese on top of the lettuce w some puny tomatoes hanging on for dear life. In our house we stuff these tacos full of cheese and then finish is w some shredded lettuce and some nicely chopped toms. Any salsa you like will round these babies out. These were soooo pretty the actual sun shone a spotlight on them and I swear I heard an "AHHHHHHHHHHHH" in the background.

Being the teensiest bit of a flibbertigibbet, I forgot to take a picture of the rice when it was all done and ready to plate. I squeeze a little lime juice on it and sprinkle in some chopped fresh cilantro before fluffing it w a fork and serving it up. You can see it on the plate, but it is obviously not the star of the show. Those tacos seem to really be taking up all the space in the room.

Why on Earth would you ever go through a drive through to get a taco again? I mean, these are so easy and I promise, once you try them, you will never be satisfied w some gross, flat thing wrapped in paper that drips grease all over your pants while you drive, again. Word to your Mother!!!!

I couldn't wait to take a bite... so I took one, or two, or three before I even made it to the table.  CRUNCH, nom, nom, nom... CRUNCH, nom, nom, nom...

I sincerely hope that you try these tacos and rice, they are what brings me back home... to Mi Familia, to my heart. Like a blanket unto my soul, they wrap their comforting ways around my shoulders and remind me of who I am, where I come from and the people that I represent. Te Amo Mucho Mi Familia!!!! <3