Rock your dinner table with smash tacos

Who doesn’t love Taco Tuesday?

By now a virtual staple of the weekly American menu calendar, the Mexican-themed entry offers home chefs a break from the endless grind of deciding what’s for dinner. But it also offers an opportunity for creativity and putting your own stamp on the classic comfort food.

As a longtime foodie and restaurant veteran, it has been my observation that most recipes are derivative. Less generously, some might call this “stealing”.

Everyone learns from someone else, and everyone has ideas about how to make a great dish even better. Recipes evolve over time, and the taco is a great culinary Petri dish for experimentation. Such is the origin of the “smash taco” in the Kelsey kitchen.

A couple of years back, I stumbled across an episode from season 36 of The Kitchen on Food Network. One of the hosts, Sunny Anderson, featured her take on a tortilla smash burger. The recipe is below, but it’s essentially a regular burger dressed up as a taco.

It quickly became a favorite in my house. Over the first few times putting this recipe together, the original recipe “evolved” into something closer to an actual taco.

Instead of using ground beef, I used ground chicken seasoned with Mexican spices like chili powder, cumin, and cilantro. A 50-50 blend of ground chicken and ground pork adds another layer of complexity, as well as a better texture.

I also mix in a can of black beans and some chopped sautéed onion. In addition to adding extra flavor, these also increase the yield, making for a deliciously inexpensive dinner.

Once you have your meat and add-ins mixed up, make a bunch of balls a little larger than golf balls. I use a nonstick electric griddle to cook mine.

Once the griddle is hot – about 375 – I hit it lightly with cooking spray, then one at a time place the balls on the skillet, top with a generous amount of shredded cheese, then place a 6-inch tortilla on top and flatten it down, making sure that the meat is spread out as evenly as possible to the edges of the tortilla.

Once flattened, let cook 3-5 minutes, depending on thickness, then flip the entire tortilla, sprinkle a little more cheese on it, and let cook 2-3 minutes. Don’t sweat it if the process seems messy. The extra cheese that falls off the meat and onto the griddle adds a crispy component to the finished taco.

I like to finish mine with a smear of refried beans, some shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, and sliced avocado. But as with regular tacos, that’s all a matter of personal preference.

Perhaps the best aspect of this recipe is that you can mix up more of the ground meat than you need, then freeze the raw meatballs you don’t use for a later dinner.

I typically start with 1 pound each of ground chicken and ground pork. That usually yields enough balls for two more dinners. I wrap mine in individual sandwich bags, then put them all in a gallon-size freezer bag.

There’s a decent recipe for sauce with the original Food Network recipe below. But I’ve found no shortage of ready-to-use store-bought sauces like chipotle mayo, cilantro-lime aioli, and avocado salsa that are just as good and make the process a lot less time-consuming. Whatever combination of toppings and ingredients you choose, this is sure to become a family favorite at your house, too.

There is a link below to the Food Network recipe that comes with helpful videos. But don’t be constrained by the original recipe. It’s included here only to give credit where it’s due and to offer a guide to putting your own personal spin on this dinner that will take your Taco Tuesday to new heights.

Mark Kelsey is a retired journalist and avid foodie who lives near Wasilla.

FIND OUT MORE

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/sunnys-tex-mex-tortilla-smash-burger-18224434

Sunny’s Tex-Mex Tortilla Smash Burger

INGREDIENTS

For the burgers:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped white onion

1 jalapeño, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Six 6-inch corn and flour blend or flour tortillas

2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

2 Roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

For the sauce:

1/2 cup Mexican crema

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 chipotle peppers in adobo plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon lime juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

For the burgers: Make 6 balls of beef equal in size. On a cast-iron griddle on medium heat, sprinkle a few pinches of salt and some grinds of pepper all over. Add 6 equal piles of onion and jalapeño, leaving space for spreading. On each pile of veggies, add a ball of beef, a nice pinch of cheese and a tortilla.

Use your hand or a spatula to press the tortillas down on the ingredients, making sure to flatten the beef as much as possible so it reaches the edges of the tortilla. Cook without moving until the beef is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Flip and allow the tortilla to cook for about a minute to make slightly firm. Remove and fold into a taco. Top with the lettuce, tomatoes and a drizzle of the sauce.

For the sauce: In a small food processor, add the crema, mayonnaise, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, lime juice, garlic powder and cumin. Blitz until smooth, then taste. Add salt, if needed. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 5 days in an airtight container.