Taco Night
Although it is blazing-hot out (by my standards at least) I decided I would make short rib tacos for dinner tonight. I was likely to be home most of the day so all I needed to do was take a quick trip to the grocery store to get ingredients and this morning I chopped the veggies and then threw the ingredients into a pot and I just check on it every hour. I like to cook it all day for the most tender, falling apart beef. The recipe calls for short ribs, and I had previously stopped making it with short ribs because they are really fatty, so sometimes I have made it with brisket, but recently I have discovered grass-fed boneless short ribs at Whole Foods and they are much less fatty. Yum!
I have modified this recipe that I originally found on Epicurious.com (which was reprinted from Tacolicious, by Sara Deseran and Joe Hargave, Copyright © 2014, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Random House LLC.).
Braised Beef Tacos
Serves 4–8
Ingredients:
- olive oil to coat pan
- 1 large onion (I prefer sweet onions, but use what you prefer) — chopped
- 3 garlic cloves (more or less depending on your preference) — chopped
- 1 large green bell pepper — chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper (or orange or yellow) — chopped
- 1 dried guajillo chile— remove seeds if you want this to be mild, keep seeds for more spice and add a few more for a bigger kick.- chopped
- 1–3 dried chipotle chiles — these add a lot of spice and smokiness, which is really good but my 12-year old has not learned to appreciate even the slightest spice so I leave this out unless I know he won’t be eating it. Chopped if using.
- 3 tsp. chile powder (or more)
- 2 tsp ground cumin (or more)
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1–2 tsp salt
- 1–2 tsp black pepper
- 3 lbs beef short ribs or beef brisket. Cut off as much fat as possible. Slice into 3 or 4 inch pieces.
- 32 oz low-sodium beef or vegetable broth (original recipe used 12 oz bottle of dark Mexican beer — I have nothing against beer, the more the merrier, but I like the broth flavor better).
- choice of tortillas or lettuce (salad) base
Procedure:
- Heat a dutch oven on medium-high heat with some olive oil.
- Add onion, garlic, bell peppers to pan and sauté until soft.
- Add dried chiles if using them and sauté a bit longer. Sometimes I add one or two for some smokiness and take the seeds out (keeps the 12-year-old happy).
- Add chile powder, cumin, oregano salt and pepper to the onion mixture. Sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add broth, bring mixture to a boil.
- Puree half or all of the mixture, return to the dutch oven.
- Add beef short Ribs, bring mixture to a boil again and then turn down to simmer, cover and let simmer for several hours, or until meat is tender and falling apart. You can also put into a 375 degree oven and cook covered for several hours. Remove all bones if your meat has them.
- Once the meat is tender and falling apart easily, take off lid and simmer until most of the liquid has reduced and meat is just a bit saucy.
- Optional to let meat mixture sit (cool) and skim off fat at this point.
- Serve in tortillas or on a bed of lettuce with your favorite accompaniments (cheese, salsa, guacamole, etc).
My favorite margarita recipe — makes 2
- 3 oz tequila (I like Patron Silver or Corazon)
- 4–6 limes
- small squeeze of honey or agave syrup (hearing that agave is not so healthful anymore so getting hesitant to use it)
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, combine ingredients into the shaker, shake vigorously for a minute or so, strain into a martini glass (salt-rimmed if you choose). So simple and besides the tequila, healthy. Enjoy!