Fresh Tart

I call anything I wrap in a tortilla - soft- or hard-shell, sprouted grain or corn - a taco.  Goes over well with the fam, for one.  Tacos = yummy in this household.  But I do it for myself, too.  Tacos feel decadent to me, like party food, even my healthiest versions.  Plus they're seriously cheap eats, and on the table in a flash, which makes them pretty much perfect.  I choose small tortillas to keep the whole taco less than 300 calories - load up on the veggie and salsa garnishes without guilt.  Use cheese, avocado, or sour cream in small amounts for big-impact flavor and texture.

Here are a few of my favorite versions:

The Classic American: ground meat in a crunchy shell is pretty tough to beat.  Ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey all work well.  I choose the leanest meat possible, skip the commercial seasoning, and add chopped onion and garlic, lots of ancho chili powder, cumin, and oregano, and a splash of Frontera Enchilada Sauce (excellent product - most commercial enchilada sauces are blech, this one rocks; available locally at Byerly's and Whole Foods).  Serve with shredded lettuce and cheese, chopped tomatoes, onion, and avocado, and life is good.

Tofu: when I'm alone for lunch, I whip up a tofu taco - yep, tofu makes a terrific taco filling.  I saute a little garlic and onion to start, crumble firm tofu into the pan, add several shakes of seasoning (see above, same concept, don't forget a bit of salt), and saute until hot.  The classic toppings work beautifully, but experiment with spinach, sundried tomatoes, pickled jalapenos, shredded cabbage, fresh lime.  Guacamole is a must.  I like the contrast of the soft tofu in a crunchy shell and with crunchy fillings.  (Pictured, with seasoning in the saute pan above, and in process of being consumed below, with a smear of bean dip, spinach, red cabbage, and a drizzle of tomatillo salsa.)

Fish: ooh, my favorite tacos are fish tacos, including shrimp tacos.  Marinate the fish first in a mixture of lemon or lime juice, minced garlic, minced jalapeno, a drizzle of olive oil, maybe a splash of enchilada sauce or salsa.  Saute or grill the fish and serve hot in soft (corn or flour) tortillas with shredded cabbage.  Make a creamy "sauce" by stirring together lowfat Greek yogurt and Thai chili sauce or spicy salsa.  Serve raw onion, sliced avocado, and lime wedges as garnishes.  (For you cilantro lovers - lots of fresh cilantro!)

Leftovers: tacos make leftovers fun!  If you have a few slices of last night's steak, chicken, or pork roast, you're so jamming.  Chewier cuts work better in soft (warmed) tortillas.  Corn and flour are obvious choices, but sprouted grain tortillas are tasty too.  Pureed spicy beans (or refried) are a great pairing, as are guacamole and leafy greens.  If I have only a spot of roast to work with, I'll chop it up and saute it with onions and some leftover rice, adding salsa or enchilada sauce for seasoning, before rolling it up in a tortilla with a sprinkle of cheese.  Experiment with cheeses - the classic jack cheese is always tasty, but crumbled Mexican queso fresco or feta (they're somewhat similar) are fantastic too.

Beans: all types of beans of course make a delicious taco filling, either whole or mashed.  Since the point here is ease and speed, I choose canned beans, applying the same seasoning treatment as I do to ground meat or tofu (above).  Garbanzos, pintos, cannelini, navy, black - all work beautifully.  Sometimes I crave something soft and comfort-y, so I roll pureed beans and a little cheese into a soft tortilla.  When it's crunch I'm after, I fill a hard shell with whole beans and a few of the garnishes I like with tofu.  Mix rice into the beans for added substance.  Completely versatile, always satisfying.

Eggs: a scrambled egg with avocado and salsa in a soft tortilla?  Oh so good.  And in the same vein, not exactly a taco but I'll mention it anyhow - a soft corn tortilla spread generously with enchilada sauce and warmed in the microwave, topped with a fried egg.  Sprinkle with a bit of queso fresco and salt and pepper.  To die for.

Veggie: any mix of sauteed vegetables could make a great taco - I like mushrooms (for their meaty quality), zucchini, spinach, tomatoes.  Add seasoning while you saute, top with salsa and cheese (for some protein), add raw veggies (for texture), and dig in!

Potato-Chorizo: the tacos that Rick Bayless made famous - really simple (especially if you buy Frontera Tomatillo/Avocado salsa), really cheap, really, really delicious.  Not exactly light, but I've made them with tiny tortillas as part of a Mexican-themed party.  (Barrio is serving a delicious version.)  Recipe here.

Carnitas: slow-roasted, succulent pork - by definition not quick...but still easy!  And so good, I'm including it anyhow, in case you're in the mood to put a pork shoulder roast in the oven and forget about it for a several hours.  When it's falling apart, it's done.  Shred and serve in small, soft corn tortillas with pickled onions, radishes, crema (a slightly thinner version of sour cream), and queso fresco.  Party food.  Recipe here.

I mentioned several of my favorites garnishes above, but here they are as a list.  I'm sure you love others I haven't even thought of.  I think of garnishes as "salad," so I go for the most nutritious, colorful mix I can pull together.  Mix and match for an interesting variety of textures and flavors:

Shredded lettuce
Shredded spinach
Shredded cabbage (green or red)
Chopped fresh tomatoes
Chopped sundried tomatoes
Sliced jicama
Sliced radishes
Sliced bell peppers (raw or sautéed)
Sliced onion (raw or sautéed)
Chopped scallions
Sauteed mushrooms
Sliced avocado
Guacamole
Sliced jalapenos (raw or pickled)
Salsa
Pico de Gallo
Taco sauce
Shredded cheese (jack, cheddar, mozzarella)
Crumbled cheese (feta, queso fresco)
Sour cream (or Greek yogurt; plain or mixed with spicy salsa or chili sauce)
Refried beans (or pureed spicy beans or bean dip)
Whole beans (garbanzos, pintos, cannelini, navy, black)
Rice (plain or seasoned)
Fresh herbs
Fresh lime or lemon

June 1, 2009 Update: great review of the cookbook Tacos (as in the real deal) in the NYTimes.  Check out both the review and the book - ole!

Unlike Mark Bittman*, I think canned beans are fantastic.  Especially at this time of year, when produce is a bit blah, and a pan of rib-stickin' beans is exactly what I'm hungry for.  And talk about a fast, nutritious meal - abracadabra, lunch is ready in 10 minutes, and yay!  It's not yet another sandwich.  Take this plate of beans, which was (!) my lunch today.  I started off with a drizzle of olive oil in a saute pan, added a minced clove of garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a few tablespoons each of pine nuts and chopped red onion, and a dash of dried sage (I didn't have any fresh, shucks).  When it was all sizzly, I stirred in a can of organic navy beans, drained and rinsed, as well as a generous sprinkled of coarse salt (to taste), then sauteed the beans for a couple of minutes.  Just for good measure, I stirred in a handful of fresh spinach leaves and sauteed for a couple minutes more, until the beans were hot and crisping a bit in spots and the spinach was wilted.  To finish, a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper.  If I'd checked the fridge a bit more closely, I would have noticed a pork chop leftover from last night - it would have been tasty diced and tossed in with the garlic et al.  Ah well, meaty or meatless, still a nice lunch.  (Bonus - plenty leftover for another meal.)

Tonight, partly because it is snowing and abominably cold outside, and partly because it's one of Nathan's favorites, I'm making Greek avgolemono (egg lemon) soup for dinner.  Easy?  Puh-lease, the easiest.  I stir in pieces of rotisserie chicken breast, but you don't need to.  Alongside a platter of roasted broccoli, and toasted pita topped with olive spread, should make a good post-basketball game dinner (as in light enough to eat after 7:30 p.m., easy to assemble beforehand).

* He also disses canned chicken broth and tomato paste, both of which I frankly find indispensible.  The article is otherwise neat, and certainly worth a read, and serves as a good reminder that cooking at home need be neither time-consuming nor expensive.

Bit on the tired side today, after making a BIG caffeine mistake yesterday - after our lovely Easter dinner, I sipped not one but two delicious mugs of dark, French-press coffee with my lemon pie. Someone didn't pay a bit of attention to whether it was decaf or not. (Talk much, Stephanie?) Guess what I discovered, oh, around 1:30 a.m., with twitchy legs and brain afire? It was the real deal, fully loaded, liquid meth as far as my mostly decaffeinated body is concerned. Vroooom! If only coffee had worked for me that way in college...

But no. Hey, it least it was a bracing 14-degrees this March morning to slap the sleepy right out of me. Hello Minnesota! (California dreaming right about now, indeed.)

Good thing it's supposed to warm into the 40s later this afternoon. To melt this new snow, for one thing - good Lord but snow-be-gone! Plus, for some reason (commonly known as reality), I'm needing a good, long walk and nothing but whole, nutritious food. It's been a lovely run, oh yes, but it's time to moderate. Again. Sounds familiar, no?

I'm making a big pot of navy beans, so filling and fortifying and just sounding right. They're simmering as I write, with pieces of garlic, onion, fennel, carrot, and celery, as well as a bouquet garni of parsley, sage, rosemary, and bay leaf. I originally envisioned eating them without much liquid, perhaps as a salad, perhaps alongside a lovely piece of fish, but the broth is so fragrant and flavorful, I may end up eating (and freezing) them as soup. Stay tuned...

PS Here's a good reason to eat beans (and other starchy foods) cooled to room temp (or chilled) - resistant starch. Remember the term, I have a feeling we're all going to be hearing a lot more about it, since it does neat things like help the body burn more fat (by fermenting in the digestive tract - mmm) and stabilize appetite. It's not a coincidence that resistant starch naturally occurs in many unprocessed, whole foods that we already know help the body burn fat and stabilize appetite - whole grains, vegetables, fruits. You know how it goes, how it always goes. Eat real, unprocessed food. Check out this article for a good intro.