Cilantro

Chorizo, Onion and Potato Tacos With Salsa Verde

by:
April  3, 2012
0
0 Ratings
  • Serves 4-5
Author Notes

This is my favorite sloppy food. I do serve it to guests but only when they are good friends and comfortable with getting 'down and dirty' with their dinner!It's very quick to make, with few ingredients. Corn tortillas are filled with sauteed potatoes, onions, and chorizo, which are all stewed with a salsa verde. Lots of plain yoghurt as a topping, and 'Please pass the napkins ma'am '!

photos to follow —LeBec Fin

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Vegetable or olive oil or bacon fat
  • 1 pound Portuguese chorizo*, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into ¼ “ slices
  • 20 ounces Yukon gold potatoes, cubed, skin on
  • 10 ounces Yellow Onion, peeled and chopped in 1/3 inch dice
  • 15-20 ounces Salsa Verde (Trader Joe's brand is great)or Tomatillo Sauce
  • 2 packages (12 each) Corn Tortillas, from refrigerated case in the market (Trader Joe's are excellent and better than the Whole Foods brand)
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups Plain yoghurt; about 1/2 cup per person
  • Chopped cilantro - optional
  • no salt You are not likely to want salt for this recipe.
Directions
  1. Place potatoes in a single layer in a 2 tiered steamer** with a few inches of hot water in the bottom. Cover and turn heat to high. In a few minutes, once steam begins to rise, cook 3-4 minutes until just tender when skewered. Remove domed lid and set tiers on empty pots and/or in front of open windows to cool.Do not rinse. (Retain the covered steamer with hot water in case you want to add more potatoes to the recipe after tasting the mixture.)
  2. Saute chorizo in a little hot oil over medium heat until browned and some fat has been released. Remove from the pan, leaving the fat in the pan. Saute onions in that fat over medium high heat until soft and translucent or lightly browned. Add cooked potatoes and stir to coat. Add chorizo and salsa verde. Simmer 5-10 minutes to blend flavors. Don't let it be too dry or too soupy.Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. (It will be very salty from the salsa verde and the chorizo, but the yoghurt will counter that nicely.)
  3. One at a time, toast tortillas over a wire rack over a medium flame- on both sides. Keep them warm, wrapped in a kitchen towel. (Or heat ¼” vegetable oil til hot, briefly saute tortilla on each side til slightly crispy but still pliable, drain on paper towelsl.)
  4. When all tortillas are toasted, fill each with about 1/3 cup of the hot chorizo mixture, top generously with plain yoghurt and chopped cilantro, and serve. The tangy yoghurt counters the salty spiciness perfectly.
  5. We allow 3-4 chorizo tacos per hungry adult. Makes 6 cups filling (about 18 tacos)
  6. Notes*: I do not care for the cinnamon notes in Mexican chorizo. For this recipe, I prefer Portuguese chorizo, like Gaspari.
  7. Notes**: I have become a major fan of steaming instead of blanching or boiling. It is quicker, uses less water and fuel,requires no dangerous boiling water, and is far more nutritional, as the steamed food retains its nutrients rather than discharging them into a big pot of water. I love my 2- tiered aluminum Chinese dome-topped steamers which I bought in a Chinatown restaurant supply store. The tiers are flat (think 'flat colander'' or 'cake pan with holes all over') and they are so space efficient, both for setting over another pot to cool, and for stacked storage.They have an interior diameter of 10" and hold alot of food in a single layer. They also have a good rim around each tier, making it easy to grasp them. You can improvise a steamer by placing a disposable aluminum pan (that you have punctured all over with a skewer tip) over a water filled can or a cake rack -into a larger pot with a few inches of water in the bottom, and a tight fitting lid. Or you can use the standby fold-up 'steamer basket', opened up as wide and flat as possible, to hold more food.

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My eating passions are Japanese, Indian, Mexican; with Italian and French following close behind. Turkish/Arabic/Mediterranean cuisines are my latest culinary fascination. My desert island ABCs are actually 4 Cs: citrus, cumin, cilantro, cardamom, and GARLIC! I am so excited by the level of sophistication that I see on Food52 and hope to contribute recipes that will inspire you like yours do me. I would like to ask a favor of all who do try a recipe of mine > Would you plse review it and tell me truthfully how it worked for you and/or how you think it would be better? I know many times we feel that we don't want to hurt someone's feelings, but. i really do want your honest feedback because it can only help me improve the recipe.Thanks so much.

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