Fajitas

Busy weeknight, day on the road under the auspice of running errands and getting things "done" but really it was a day hanging with some of my mommy friends. We did coffee for a ridiculous number of hours. I went to 3 stores to try to find a bra, luckily at store 3 I found one that actually fit so I cleared them out of one of every color, I don't want to go do that again for a while.

I met a friend for a late, lingering lunch and we munched on enchiladas and had a cocktail so by the time I grabbed Connor from school and dashed home there was a finite amount of time to get food on the table.

Enter fajita night.

Four skinless breasts, two peppers, one onion. Flour and lard for the tortillas and bingo! DINNER!

Let's play, here's how it went:

Salt, pepper and lightly the oil the breasts and lay them in a screaming hot cast iron pan. I crowd them slightly because they shrink and frankly I can't be bothered to get out a larger pan. I managed to use my new pink retro pyrex dish as holder for the sliced veg.

Turn it when it's quite brown and then cover it with a piece of tin foil. It keeps it moister I think and it speeds it up a bit. Flip a couple of times until you peek into a fat bit and it's just barely cooked through. Wrap it in thick foil and leave it on the side. It'll steam a bit, cook through a bit more and stay ridiculously juicy!

Toss the sliced onions into the pan and toss them around a bit, I put the comal on top and you see the foil chicken package was on it, I just wanted a little steam.

When they are slightly soft and slightly crunchy and a little brown around the edges, toss in the peppers, salt and pepper. Toss them around a little, plunk the chicken package on top and toss the whole pan into a 300 degree oven. DONE!

Heat a cast iron skillet or comal on medium high heat. Toss a tortilla on it and leave it there until you get a few bubbles, Connor timed it at 38 seconds. Flip it and cook it till it puffs... maybe 20 seconds? *you can buy tortillas or make your own, your choice. I have a recipe and process for flour tortillas, go there if you want to make EASY fresh tortillas!!

Pull the peppers out of the oven, if there's a ton of juice, toss them on high heat to boil it off. Slice the chicken thickly and toss it in with the peppers.

Take your yummy warmed tortillas and stuff them full! Add sour cream, cheese and I like avocado. There were leftovers that I may use in scrambled eggs and do a breakfast taco or two, or three :)

I love fajitas and I don't make them nearly enough. They are quick and easy and really delicious and I think you should stop reading and go make some, now!

/enoy

Tortillas, it's breakfast taco day

Connor wanted breakfast tacos this morning. We are on the one week before school starts mark and I'm sort of caving to his culinary requests. School or packed lunches for the next 9 months doesn't sound appetizing.

I dashed to the fridge to discover no tacos. Now, I'm no rocket scientist but I'm pretty comfortable with the assertion that breakfast tacos without the actual tacos makes it much less than it could have been.

I do, however, have flour and shortening and that, in a nutshell, is the makings for some killer tortillas.

I do own a comal, a flat, round, low sided cast iron pan. You certainly do NOT require a comal to make tortillas, a cast iron pan works best but any pan that you can get screaming hot will do the trick beautifully. You should actually own a cast iron pan anyway because, well, you just should. They are beautiful cooking vessels and once you start making your own tortillas you will certainly dash out and buy one.

The other appliance I have is a tortilla press. It is far less required than the cast iron pan. Any rolling pin, wine bottle or other flattening device will work so there's no excuse whatsoever for you to continue to buy bags of flat bread. You can make your own by investing an additional 10 minutes and I don't know anyone so important that they can't spare 10 minutes to go from a bagged item to a homemade one. Let's begin!

In a bowl combine (I use a pastry blender because, if you've followed along at all, I have hot hands)

2 cups flour (all purpose)

1/2 cup shortening

1 Tbsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Blend it evenly then add

3/4 cup very warm water.

Mix with a fork until it turns into a ball then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead a couple of times and roll it out into a fat snake. Chop into 16 pieces, roll each piece into a ball and put on a plate, covered in plastic. Allow them to rest while you assemble your pan, your eggs and your cheese. HA! not even 10 minutes, 5 minutes added to your day!

After the dough balls have rested a couple of minutes, flatten them with whatever method makes you happy; tortilla press, rolling pin, fingers it's all good. You may notice that I use ziplock freezer bags, cut in half, in my tortilla press. I like the texture and thickness and the raw tortillas pull off beautifully.

Put them in a DRY hot pan. Cook them a minute or two on each side. They will bubble up and puff when they are done on the first side, flip them and continue to fry them off until they are beautiful and cooked through. Keep them warm in a towel or tortilla holder. I prefer a towel because it keeps them soft.

I do a one egg omelet because Connor isn't sure he likes eggs. (?) I mix one egg, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of soft butter in a bowl and add a tablespoon of water. Pour into a very hot, wide pan in which you've melted some bacon fat. Immediately sprinkle with whatever cheeses you have in the house and roll, sprinkle Parmesan on top and serve with some of the tortillas.

Voila! One instantly happy pre-teen and it took only a few minutes more than pulling tortillas out of a bag and trust me, they are way more than a few minutes better tasting!

Make them, you'll be glad you did.

/enjoy