Homemade Tortillas

As promised, now for the homemade tortilla recipe. It's really easy and pretty quick. It would be really quick if I had a griddle and could fit more tortillas on at once (my cast iron skillet only fits two at a time and even then they overlap). They taste great and fresh and are nice and pliable. 

Makes about 8-10 tacos

Ingredients:

1 cup masa harina corn flour (it should say good for tamales and tortillas on the bag)

3/4-1 cup warm water

big pinch salt

Chipotle and Roasted Garlic Salsa

This is an easy salsa that's so spicy and smokey and great on tacos. 

Ingredients:

2 dried chipotle peppers

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-low heat. Toast the chipotles and garlic. The chipotles for about 5 minutes and the garlic until it's soft and has some charred spots, 8-10 minutes. 

Puree the peppers, garlic, and remaining ingredients for at least 2 minutes until smooth. Season with salt and vinegar. 

Chicken Tinga Tacos

I now have a tortilla press that I was dying to use last night. Probably not something everyone needs, but I saw it at Sur La Table and remembered that my Mexican cookbook said homemade tortillas were infinitely better than store bought. I'll post about that later, but in the mean time, here's a great Chicken Tinga Taco recipe that you can use on store bought tortillas - or be crazy like me and go buy a tortilla press and use on fresh tortillas. Your call.

Jalisca-Guajillo Salsa

This is a pretty easy salsa to make, and is excellent drizzled on tacos. Its more of a sauce than a dipping salsa, but is great in addition to some pico de gallo for tacos, or for serving with meat. It's from my favorite Mexican recipe source, thanks Jamie! It's great as an interesting additional beyond the more common salsas.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces guajillo chiles (about 6), cleaned, stemmed, seeded, and deveined
1/2 oz dried arbol chiles (15-20), cleaned and stemmed
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 1.5" piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup water for blending
1 tsp apple cider vinegar, or more to taste
1/2 tsp fine salt/1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
Place the chiles in a medium pot with enough water to cover and bring to a simmer. Cook them until soft, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger to the pot for one minute.

Braised Short Ribs in Adobo for two

Yum! These short ribs are easy and great, and perfect for some extra special tacos. The recipe is from Truly Mexican (the wonderful Mexican cookbook that Jamie got me for Christmas last year). You don't have to brown the short ribs, so it's basically tossing all of the ingredients in a pot and sticking it in the oven for 2.5 hours. The resulting sauce is rich and has a deep heat, but isn't too spicy, and the meat is tender and falling apart. I shredded it up with the adobo and put it on a soft taco with minced red onion and jalapeno with a little crema on top. We had no leftovers.

And I got to use my adorable heart pot! Thanks, Kara!! It's so perfect for making dinner for two, and makes whatever you're making seem a little special and romantic.

Serves 2 (I reduced it)
Ingredients:
1 dried guajillo chile, wiped clean, stemmed, slit open, seeded, and deveined
1-2 lb bone-in beef short ribs