Quatro de Abril!

A new Mexican holiday I just invented today: Quatro de Abril.  It celebrates a hot Saturday afternoon in April and my second favorite cuisine. 

Ya see, I  was in the mood for beans when I woke up so I thought I'd make some fresh refried beans. But then I thought:  What are refried beans on their own but sad and lonely. I need tacos and guacamole and some cool, creamy spicy slaw and beer to go with that.  So I went a bit over the edge and went full metal Mexican.

The choice: Shredded Ancho/Chipotle beef tacos, home made tortilla and chips, refried beans, guacamole and an avocado sweet/creamy slaw.

My beans.

I always have beans at the ready and I grabbed a few cups of pintos, rinsed and removed the rocks, than soft boiled them for 3 hours. They were softening and it still looked pretty soupish, but that's okay.

At that point I added some garlic (okay, a lot of garlic), some salt and a 1/4 cup of corn oil and let them go another hour at a low bubble till they reduced to a near mush.  

The good old Irish potato masher and my strong right arm

 went to work and I blended in some lime juice some leftover oil from my tortilla chips. some cheese to garnish and my freaking gawd, they  were just scrumpshish as all get out.

My chips:

Home made Masa Harina tortillas* as thin and they can be pressed, cut into 1/8's and dropped into an inch or two of crisco, lard or corn oil (roll with it to your own personal taste).

Flip those babies after a few minutes and then when crisp and inviting, tong them out onto a baking sheet with some paper towels in place to soak up the oil.

At this point you can add salt if you wish to taste and let cool -- then dip them in your refried beans or a fast guacamole. Or both!!!  Live a little.

*masa harina, warm water,  lime,  a tortilla press and a hot cast iron skillet is all you need.

My Guac:

Avocados, finely diced onions,  a  diced jalapeno, some garlic, lime juice, cayenne and ancho chili powder  (a bit of diced apple is amazing if you have one laying around, trust me on this one)

Easy as pie and man do i love fresh guacamole!

 supah green!

My slaw:

chop to shreds a head of cabbage

add a cup of  plain  Greek yoghurt
a tabelspoon or more of organic honey

2 shredded carrots

virgin olive oil (your really good stuff)

lime juice and lime zest

cracked black pepper (just a pinch)

finely diced red onion. 

Whisk together and stick in the fridge until blastoff -- just before serving add cubed avocado (so it doesn't start browning around the edges)

And finally, my shredded adobe taco meat:

First take a 2 lbs or so chuck roast and sear the beJesus out of it in some crisco to seal it up, then place it in a baking unit.  Get that oven going, set at 300 degrees.  You'll need it soon.

Throw some red wine in the still hot skillet and scrape up the fond and the add some diced red onion -- sauté away  cause you're  a frigging Saucier, bubba.

Meanwhile add 4 cups or so of beef broth to the baking dish, about halfway up the roast then dust the whole thing (water and meat) with salt, garlic powder and cumin.  Dump a small can of diced green chills over the meat and spoon some adobe sauce (with chopped Chipotle chills if you can find it) over the meat and into the broth.

Cover and put into the 300 degree oven and go crack open a cold beer and rejoice at how wonderful your kitchen smells and will continue to smell for the next three hours.

After 3 + hours when your self control is all used up, take that beast out of the oven, shred it with forks into a bowl and pour a bunch of the sauce from the baking dish in to keep it moist.

Serve in your tortillas with some diced sweet onions, cheese, avocado and salsa or however you like your tacos.  Oh Hell, do it any way you see fit.  Who am I to dictate how you build a taco. It's every human for themselves in taco land on Quatro do Abril. 

Enjoy!