Simple...

I love food; cooking it, reading about it, playing with it and of course eating it.  I watch true cooking shows on Food Network (when they show real cooking shows),  Cooking Channel ( again when they show real cooking shows), Public Television which does show all kinds of real cooking shows. I read cookbooks, I love to get a book out that I may not have looked at for a while, it's like striking up a conversation with an old friend.  I pull recipes from these books and give them a try...then write about it in my cooking journal.  More about my cooking journal later.

Taco Night!
This meal is simplicity itself, yet using the best ingredients I can get, it comes out tasting complicated and time consuming.  Love that!

Clare made this ....fresh ripe avocados, quartered cherry tomatoes, finely diced spicy jalapenos, fresh limes and kosher salt.  We leave chunks in our guacamole and wells as some mushed parts.  From this point you may add anything to your taste; cilantro, red onion, garlic, sour cream (?) and enjoy.

The star of the show?  Great meat...it's what sets the tone for the entire taco.  Since we are making a simple dish each ingredient matters, the better the items are in the recipe the better the overall dish will be  Use lean, flavorful ground chuck.  You can use ground round but you will need to add some olive oil to get a bit more fat.  You need the fat to help ingnient the spices that you add to make taco meat well tacos.  Ground chuck has fat, and that adds flavor to the meat.  Once you have cooked your onions and meat, spoon off most of the fat, than add your spices, let them heat up and caramelize a bit.  Then add the water that the package usually asks for.  Also I only add about half the package of seasoning: the entire envelope adds to much salt.

I fried up our flour and corn tortillas and built wonderful tacos,  Again this is just a blue print for your tacos, but the beauty of it all is the simplicity of a great family meal.

Simple Tacos

1 lb of ground chuck hamburger

1/2 c finely diced onion

3 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

1/2 c water

In a cast iron skillet (because I like cast iron the best) brown your meat and onions.  When no longer pink, spoon off most of the fat, leave a bit behind for flavoring.

Add the taco seasoning and water, let this simmer for about 10 minutes.

Re-fried Black Beans

2 (14 oz)  cans of black beans

1 skillet

Heat beans with the liquid in a skillet, mash with the back of a spoon till they are creamy and hot.  I like to add cheese and heat it with the beans.

Tortillas

8 flour, 4 corn

I fry these in a bit of oil till crispy and lightly brown.

Serve with the usual; shredded lettuce and cheese, lime wedges, sour cream and what ever you like.