Cast Iron

Kale & Sweet Potato Tacos on Homemade Corn Tortillas

March  5, 2017
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Photo by Elizabeth Cecil
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

Recipe from Feeding a Family: A Real-Life Plan for Making Dinner Work by Sarah Waldman © 2017 by Sarah Waldman. Recipe reprinted by arrangement with Roost Books, an imprint of Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.roostbooks.com.
Sarah Waldman

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Ingredients
  • For the tortillas:
  • 2 cups masa harina
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 to 2 cups water
  • For the tacos:
  • 3 sweet potatoes
  • 1 large bunch kale
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • Kosher salt
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 2 avocados
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream or plain full-fat yogurt
  • Juice from 1/2 lime
  • 2 pinches kosher salt
  • Cooked black beans
  • Chopped cilantro, hot sauce, lime wedges, for serving
Directions
  1. For the tortillas:
  2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the masa harina and salt. Add 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of the water, a little at a time, stirring between each addition until the dough just comes together into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 15 to 30 minutes.
  3. At this point the dough will be too dry and crumbly to work with. Add the remaining 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water, a little at a time, and mix until you can make smooth balls of the dough without it sticking to your hands Cover the bowl and set it aside.
  4. Preheat two large skillets, one over medium-high heat and one over high heat.
  5. Line a shallow bowl with a large, clean kitchen towel. Cut a plastic bag into two rounds about the size of the tortilla press. Place a 1-inch ball of dough to flatten it some. If the dough cracks at this point, it’s a little too dry: return the dough to the ball, mix in a little more water, and try again. Add the second piece of plastic on top of the flattened dough, then transfer the dough and plastic to the tortilla press and press the tortilla firmly. Open it, rotate the tortilla 90 degrees, and press it again. Peel off the top piece of plastic. Carefully peel the tortilla off the bottom piece of plastic and place it in the skillet set over medium-high heat. Once it sets and can be slid around (after about 1 minutes), flip the tortilla and transfer it to the skillet set over high heat. When the tortilla puffs slightly, flip it again (keeping it over high heat) and cook for another 30 seconds until it gets a nice color and puffs a little more. Transfer the tortilla to the kitchen towel-lined bowl and fold the towel over it.
  6. Repeat this process with the remaining tortilla dough, keeping the warm tortillas under wraps of the towel. It goes pretty fast once you get into a rhythm. Extra corn tortillas can be wrapped tightly and stored on the counter for up to 2 days. To reheat, dampen the tortillas with wet hands and warm them in a skillet.
  1. For the tacos:
  2. Prepare the vegetables. Peel the potatoes and dice them into 1/8-inch cubes (they need to be small to cook through in the skillet). Prepare the kale by removing the stems and slicing the leaves into thin ribbons. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes, sprinkle with salt, and spread them out into a single layer. Cover the skillet (use a baking sheet if you don’t have a large lid), and cook for 10 minutes (tossing once), until fork-tender. Add in the kale ribbons, another sprinkle of salt, and the water. Toss to combine, cover again, and cook for another 10 minutes, until the kale is wilted (tossing once). Taste and add more salt if needed.
  3. While the vegetables are cooking, make the avocado cream. Do this by mashing the avocado, sour cream, lime juice, and salt together in a small bowl.
  4. To serve, pile black beans and vegetables into fresh corn tortillas. Top with avocado cream, chopped cilantro, hot sauce, and a squirt of fresh lime juice.

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Sarah Waldman is a food writer and recipe developer living on Martha’s Vineyard. She is the author of, Feeding a Family: A Real-Life Plan for Making Dinner Work.

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