Thursday, October 21, 2010

Crunchy Tacos wtith Charred Peach Habanero Salsa


Sometimes I feel like I get caught up in trying to combine "outside the box" ingredients to create a more original Mexican influenced dish and, while quesadillas, fajitas, burritos and enchiladas are still the bomb(s), back to basics tacos are where it's at for me right now! It has been quite a while, if at all in the past 10 months that I've been writing this blog, since I have made a straight shooting taco.  The only twist, if you can call it that, is that I swapped out ground beef for ground pork which takes the crunchy taco to new levels of deliciousness.  One time I realized I had no ground beef in the freezer, but I did have some ground pork leftover from a meatloaf made earlier in the week.  I figured I'd give it a try, like how bad could it be?!  It has a much richer, fuller and more luscious (if that doesn't sound too stupid) flavor and texture than boring old ground beef.  Without a doubt that was the best taco ever!  Now I don't use anything but...unless all I have is beef...but I really, really try to use pork instead. Try it, I highly recommend it!

I won't bore you with writing a recipe for a taco.  Brown the pork (or beef), add a packet of taco seasoning (don't forget the secret ingredient...a squirt of ketchup) and stuff a warmed taco shell as you desire.  I will share the salsa recipe I made with the one little habanero from my garden that I have been fiercely protecting from early fall frosts in hopes it would ripen before the deep freeze.  Beware, this a fabulously tasty salsa but it also packs quite a punch!

Charred Peach Habanero Salsa
1 peach, halved and pit removed
1 large tomato, quartered
1/2 small red onion
1 garlic clove
1 small habanero pepper
juice of 1/2 lime
salt
fresh cilantro

Preheat the broiler.  Place peach and tomato on a foil lined baking sheet and season with canola oil and salt.  Broil until soft and edges of nicely charred. Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes. Add tomato, peaches, onion, garlic, lime juice, habanero and cilantro to a food processor.  Process until ingredients are all well combined and you reach the desired consistency.  Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment