FOOD: Taco Tuesday

Due to the food sensitivities at home, I do an awful lot of cooking.  It's taken a LONG time to develop tasty recipes because my son is allergic to tree nuts, and my wife is allergic to onions AND garlic.

So how on earth do you cook anything with flavour?  Spices, spices, spices!

And as many of my recipes are still in the experimental stages, exacting amounts will be hard to nail down.  But I'll do my best, but don't hold me accountable if you try it and exactly follow the recipie...  I never measure anything when I'm trying to make non-bakery type things.  Additionally, you are more then welcome to substitute and add/remove ingredients as you see fit to adjust to your needs/desires.



INGREDIENTS:

454 g (1lb) of extra lean ground beef (ground lamb or veal would work nicely too)
100g smokey bacon lardons (4-6 chopped up bacon strips)
1 colourful bell pepper (chopped somewhat finely)
100g graded cheddar cheese

1/2tsp course sea-salt
2tbsp SMOKED paprika
4tbsp cumin seeds
1 dash of ground smoked chipotle pepper

1 340g package of 7" flat-breads.  (10 or so)
1-2 chopped tomatoes
1 coarsely mashed avocado
bunch of FRESH cilantro
dollops of crème fraîche or sour creme


METHOD:

1. Grind salt and cumin in a mortar and pestle, then add the paprika and chipotle...  Keep grinding until it's well blended and mostly powder.  You can use a spice grinder.
2. brown the bacon in a cast-iron skillet or other suitably heavy saucepan or casserole pan
3. toss in the peppers when the bacon hasn't started browning
4. toss in the beef just as the bacon starts to show hints of browness
5. Just as the beef is almost all brown add the spice mix and stir stir stir!
6. put tortillias on a cookie/baking sheet and warm gently in a 350F/180C oven for 5-8 minutes.
7. when the tortillas are warmed they might get a little crispy and by this time the beef mixture should be completely done.

8. heat off, oven off, remove everything from heat sources

Plating:

1. Fill tortilla with about 3-4 tbsp of beef mixture
2. cover with a sprinkle of cheese
3. tomatoes
4. avocado
5. Crème fraîche/sour creme
6. Cilantro to taste

EAT

If you give it a try, do let me know what you think!