This is the last Monday of August. We are about to say goodbye to Summer, and I cannot stand the thought of it. Only Reveal Day of The Secret Recipe Club can bring me some joy under the circumstances. My assignment this month was Flying on Jess Fuel, and I had a blast stalking it and making a list of possibilities to blog about today. Jess met her husband Nick at a Mexican restaurant, and apparently he went nuts over her jalapeno-eating skills. What a great way to fall in love! They lived in many different places while Nick went to flying school for the Navy, including Enid, a location quite close to Norman, our former home in Oklahoma.
For some reason, I usually pick sweets for my Secret Recipe assignments, but this time I took the road less traveled and went with her Taco Salad, considering that Mexican food would be a fun way to celebrate the way they met. I find it amusing that some recipes that I order in restaurants on a regular basis are never part of my own cooking at home. Taco Salad is one of those. For the most part, Tex-Mex restaurants offer dishes over-loaded with cheese, and served with a humongous portion of rice, beans, plus a few flour tortillas for good measure. Taco Salad is my default request to avoid feeling like a bloated whale as I leave the restaurant. I made just a few changes in her recipe, and decided to pump up the presentation by making my own tortilla bowls. Now, that was a ton of fun, but some unexpected problems were encountered. As I was frantically trying to figure out which cups would be appropriate to shape the tortillas, one of my custard cups fell from the cabinet and crashed on the granite (yes, glass flew everywhere), but not without first hitting my head. OUCH! And, going on with my usual modus operandi in the kitchen, I burned myself not once, but twice baking those tortilla bowls. Sometimes I even amaze myself… However, I can tell you it was all worth it! This recipe rocks, my friends….
JESS’ TACO SALAD
(slightly modified from Flying on Jess Fuel)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup salsa
1 Tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 lb ground beef
2 tablespoons bulk taco seasoning mix (or 1 packet)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large head romaine, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
Black kalamata olives, chopped (to taste)
Shredded Mexican blend cheese (to taste
To make the dressing, combine sour cream, yogurt and salsa in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat the oil on a skillet and cook the meat for a few minutes. Season with salt (in case your taco seasoning doesn’t have salt already), then add either a packet of store-bought taco seasoning or 2 Tbs of a bulk product such as Penzey’s. Cook for a couple of minutes, add the amount of water recommended by the mix, and cook further just to thicken it slightly. Add the beans to the pan in the last 2 minutes of cooking.
If serving cold, let the meat and bean mixture cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, place half the lettuce, half the tomatoes, half the scallions and half the olives. Top with half the dressing. Top with the meat and bean mixture (you can reserve a little bit for decorating the top, if you want to be fancy). Sprinkle half the cheese on top. Add the rest of the veggies, dressing, and cheese (and meat mix if you reserved some). You can also serve it warm, adding the cold ingredients to the hot meat/beans mixture.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Here you can see some photos of my burning adventure with tortilla cups. You can do this in several ways, but I recommend the muffin tin + custard cup combo. Using the two custard cups nested together requires that they both fit just right not to tear the tortilla, and also makes it a lot harder to remove the top cup to brown the tortilla in the final moments of baking.
MAKING TACO BOWLS: Warm a corn tortilla very quickly over an open flame on your stove (I heard you can also use the microwave, but I haven’t tried it). Spray both sides of the warm tortilla very lightly with canola or olive oil spray. Immediately place in the muffin tin (or over a custard cup), and place another container on top to keep the shape. Bake in a 375 F for about 15 minutes, removing the custard cup in the final 5 minutes. Let cool over a rack.
We loved this recipe! Actually, Phil was raving about it non-stop, and begging me to make it again, and do it soon. The tortilla cups make it very festive, but the taco stands on its own without any problem, it is fresh, bright, the dressing mixing sour cream and salsa was incredibly tasty! I used a home-made salsa given to us by Mr. and Mrs. K (thank you, guys!), and it had just the right amount of heat. Use any store-bought salsa you are fond of, or make your own if you have a chance.
Jess, I loved being assigned to your blog! This has been one super busy month for us, but I made sure to compose this post within one week of getting the email notification. I fell in love with this recipe right away, and you can bet this will be in a regular rotation in our Bewitching Kitchen!
To my readers: if you want to see what the other members of my group cooked up this month, poke the blue frog at the end of the post.
ONE YEAR AGO: Semolina Sourdough Boule
TWO YEARS AGO: Forgive me, for I have sinned
THREE YEARS AGO: Cracked Wheat Sandwich Bread
FOUR YEARS AGO: Au Revoir, my Bewitching Kitchen
FIVE YEARS AGO: French Bread
I love the taco salad and your home made bowls. Great decision to go savoury. 🙂 Are the flour tortillas the 6 inch size?
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Those are 6 inch tortillas, but they were corn, not flour, I find them a little lighter and usually opt for using them instead of the doughy flour ones.
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Saved to make soon, what a GREAT recipe and such a FAB SRC pick too! Love it, and I must make this recipe when friends come over. Karen
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Definitely guest-worthy! I know you can serve it cold or room temperature, which would make it perfect for entertaining, but I prefer to have it warm. Still, it could be made in advance to make life easier
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I love taco salad, although I have to enjoy mine on a bed of lettuce. Those cute taco bowls sure are tempting though! Sorry about the burns and head bump, oh the things we do for our love of cooking. 🙂
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Isn’t that the truth? the things we do for love!
Have a great Reveal Monday, thanks for stopping by….
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Sally, you crack me up! And you sound about like me in the kitchen lately – I’ve been quite accident prone all of a sudden. The taco salad (with the taco bowls) looks amazing. I love taco salad. I do. It’s just the bee’s knees! Happy reveal day 🙂
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Accident prone is putting it mildly… 😉 At least in the lab I am not as clumsy (knock on wood)
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I love taco salad! But never know what dressing to put on it, this one sounds like a winner. Great pick this month – I’m glad you took the savory road.
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Check her site, her version of the dressing is just a little different than mine, maybe you would like hers better? Worth taking a look 😉
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The taco shell “cups” are adorable! I’ve never done those at home before. I love taco salad – this is such a great pick this month! 🙂
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thank you! The shells were fun to make. I tried a third method that did not work at all, so I did not even show it.
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First off, summer ends on September 21st. There’s no saying goodbye yet, alright?
Secondly, that taco salad is seriously legit. I wish I could have some for lunch today!
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Yes, Sept 21. Which is too close for comfort…. too close….
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” place another container on top to keep the shape” excellent tip!
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I liked that too…. apart from the burns, of course. Don’t care for those… 😉
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Yeah, I bet. Any tips for removing the bowls without burning yourself or cracking the shells?
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Actually, I do have an idea that might work well. Once I saw this tip for removing custard cups from water bath after baking (for instance stuff for creme brullee) – anyway, you get a tong and wrap elastic bands around each of the sides – that makes the tong more or less “glue” to the custard cup and you can lift them without them falling in the hot water
I bet it could work for removing the custard cup in this situation too – now the shells won’t crack, once you remove the custard cup, the tortilla is baked enough that it will stay nicely in that shape. At least it did not seem to me to pose a problem.
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Yum! Love the little taco bowls too.
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Thanks for stopping by, Erin! The taco bowls were a huge hit with hubby – “DID YOU MAKE THOSE YOURSELF?” 😉
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So glad you enjoyed the salad!! It’s a recipe I haven’t made in a while but I think now I will have to make it soon!! It’s definitely a favorite of my hubby’s, too. I LOVE the little taco bowls you made! Such a great idea and SO CUTE!! Thanks for all the kind words!
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Hello there! Great to see you here….. thanks again for a great recipe and a fun time stalking your site….
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What a great salad! I’m so sorry to hear about your broken glass and your burns. To be honest, it sounded a little like me in the kitchen…so accident prone! Nevertheless, great pick this month 😉
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Melissa, good to know I’m not alone in my little boo-boos… 😉 I guess maybe we are tad too intense? Intense sounds better than clumsy 😉
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Great idea with the corn tortilla bowl. I love taco salad.
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Thanks, Wendy!
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This looks SO awesome + I love love love that you made your own tortilla bowls. Brilliant! Amy @ Fearless Homemaker
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Thanks, Amy…. try the bowls too when you have a chance, they could even go with a simple guacamole
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This taco salad looks fabulous. We don’t have much in the way of Mexican restaurants where I live, but I have been experimenting a lot with making tacos at home lately. This definitely looks like a version to try, and love your presentation if the little taco bowls.
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Our Mexican restaurants here are ok but not great, so it’s nice to be able to make a good meal at home. Pretty festive this one…
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Oh my goodness, I haven’t had a taco salad in years! I can’t wait to recreate one of my childhood favorites! You’ve inspired me! I’ve always been a bit daunted by those bowls though…
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The bowls can be a bit intimidating, but once you get the hang of it, you will have fun baking them. I am sure you will have no troubles!
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I love those bowls and can’t wait to try it. I’ve tried it before but without the custard cups and it was a total fail. That taco salad looks fantastic.
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I really don’t think it can work well without the custard cups, they would not retain the shape during baking. Maureen, I am still not getting notifications of new posts from you, this is soooo annoying! I will give up and just visit without reminders…. 😉
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Those little cups somehow seem to shatter the most, don’t they? Hope you are okay! I almost ordered a taco salad at dinner last night, and now I’m definitely wishing I had! Must make.
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But you would have to omit the ground beef, right? Double the veggies! 😉
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my mom used to make this all the time for us when we were growing up. I love the fresh twist it is on a heavy taco. Your recipe sounds and looks delicious. The perfect dinner salad/meal that is quick and easy to throw together.
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and leftovers were still quite tasty next day! My kind of recipe…. perfect for our quick lunches at home
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Ouch!!! Sounds like my recent adventure with a full glass jar of spices falling out of a cabinet and onto the granite. We are still finding pieces of glass. I love your experiment with the taco bowls too!! Great post!
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Karen, I’ve done that – it’s been years, but let’s not talk too much about it so I don’t jinx myself – it was a jar of black peppercorns. Ok, they don’t make a huge mess, but they ROLL FAR FAR AWAY
now, if you search my blog for “yeasty dogs”, you will see my adventure with a container of yeast. (sigh)
I shall write a book about everything that can go wrong in a kitchen…. 😉
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I made the same thing when I had Jess’ blog. It was so good. Happy Reveal day!
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HA! How cool is that???? 😉
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Love love love this post — I can’t wait to make the little tortilla bowls!
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I am sure you will have no problem with them! Go for it!!!!
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You be careful Sally, the kitchen can be a very dangerous place. 😉 These look SO tasty, bet the kids would LOVE!
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Drama follows me, which is a shame… 😉
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Taco salad is just wonderful! It makes everyone’s tummy happy in my book 🙂 I LOVE how you made the taco shells….brilliant! 🙂
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Glad you liked it, I must say I was pretty happy with the way they turned out…
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Those cups are so clever! I love how you used things you already had instead of fancy one-use-only gadgets!
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I hate one-use-only gadgets, sometimes I fall for them, but always regret doing so…
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Love the way you served your taco salad — in tortilla cups!!!
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Cute, isn’t it???
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Sally, I love your tortilla cups! We’re going to have to try that, thank you! The filling sounds delicious too! xxx
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Sweet Celia… thanks for stopping by…. it was fun to make the cups, even with all the pain and suffering involved… what don’t we do for a food blog?
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Love, love those cute tortilla cups! So sorry you suffered injuries in making them, but I’m so glad we got to see them. Must try!
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I burn myself on a regular basis, but my skin heals pretty well (knock on wood)
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LOVE taco salad and love making taco cups. I’m going to need to try your way of doing it.
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go for it, hope it works for you WITHOUT injury!
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Lookit yew, all clever with those taco bowls! Great SRC pick!
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See? I can be fancy sometimes…. 😉
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Love the taco bowls! The taco salad looks amazing especially served in edible bowls. Definitely need to give this a try. Great SRC pick.
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Thanks! That was a fun dish to make and to eat too!
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Oh no! What a kitchen adventure this recipe was. From burns to broken glass. We shattered the coffee pot last night. I never knew glass could break in so many pieces. By far the most I have ever seen. I’m glad your recipe was worth it in the end. Those tortilla cups look gorgeous. You always impress me with your homemade touches. 🙂
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