Taco Tuesday 🌮 🥗

Elevating a Weekday Special... for Maximum Flavor

Greetings Friends,

There’s a lot going on this week so buckle up.

Keep an eye out later this week for a very limited 🔪 drop. I decided to work with another bladesmith friend for another “Few” knife release. Full story and deets to follow… these came out really nice.

Production shot from the workshop… more to come!

I’m also dropping my favorite chilled Chicken & Rice recipes. The heat is really amped up for most people this year so these will hit the spot 💯.

Be honest… you hear “chicken & rice”, you think “boring”?

Wrong!

These preparations are near and dear to my heart because they are absolute flavor bombs 💣. Make sure you’re subscribed and not miss any recipes.

Taco 🥗 Tuesday

Taco Tuesday is one of the most popular tags/weekly meals in the social media food world. Instead of going down the traditional taco route… we are going to spruce up the humble taco salad into something special that you can whip up in minutes on weeknight.

Taco Salad has been around since the ~1960’s. The first appearance on menus in the 🇺🇸 appear to be in the Disneyland restaurant “Casa de Fritos”, owned by the Frito Chips company. Small taco ‘bowls” were filled with meat, cheese, bean mixtures served in a bowl made out of Fritos. Over time the Taco Salad grew in popularity, peaking in the 1970’s, being dressed in the obligatory Catalina Dressing.

As far as salads go this is a flavor bomb waiting to happen. Textural crunch from tortilla chips. Zippy, tomato based, Catalina dressing and ground meat that is flavor forward from a taco-style seasoning.

So what went wrong?

Primarily, store bought Catalina dressings are notoriously disappointing. Muted flavors, loaded with preservatives and seed oils.

Kraft Foods “French Dressing” ingredient list

Further, you can assemble a much tastier taco seasoning at home in minutes… make in bulk and most of your flavor battle is won…

(Note: please can we stop overcooking our ground meats? Your taco meat should not come off like saw dust!)

Finally just a few subtle tweaks on assembling the salad and you’re in flavor heaven.

Today we are elevating this nostalgic classic 🌮 🥗

Let’s Cook!

Catalina Dressing:

Catalina Dressing was trademarked by Kraft Foods in 1962. It was developed as a riff on French Dressing. French Dressing (not to be confused with French vinaigrette) had been around for decades prior and was built on an oil-vinegar base with the addition of tomato , paprika and mustard specifically. This made a creamy dressing that a lot of people found appealing.

*Note this is just in reference to Kraft Foods French Dressing, I have my own thoughts on French dressing and a preferred ingredient

Catalina Dressing is essentially a more punchy and robust than the classic French Dressing. A darker red color and usually some sort of vinegar, pepper (cayenne) or increased mustard content are behind the flavor bump.

Ironically the current ingredient list is not very inspiring.

We are going to cut all the preservatives, dyes, seed oils and large amount of sugar to make an absolutely stunning, zippy and delicious Catalina dressing. 🙌

Taco Seasoning & Meat 🌶 🥩

McCormicks may be the nostalgic favorite but I’m a big fan o f homemade spice blends.

Why?

You never how long those flavor packets have been sitting around. Further, you can use much higher quality spices that will greatly increase the flavor.

A note about cooking ground meats. If your ground meat is completely cooked through when you pull it off the stove… you’re going to over cook it to ‘smithereens’ (don’t know where that came from 😂).

Pro-Tip:

If your ground beef is ~85% cooked you can pull it and put in your serving vessel. Stir once or twice as it rests/cools… you’ll have much more tender ground meat that isn’t going to get stuck all in your teeth like jerky.

The Taco-Seasoning mix is listed in the recipe below.

Salad Components

Rounding out the remaining Taco Salad components. Yes there’s room for interpretation. you may like ingredients I’ve left off, etc.

Lettuce 🥬

You want a crisp lettuce. Now isn’t the time for soft lettuce. Iceberg may be cheap but preferably use romaine. The inner hearts especially have a nice crunch. Finely chopped works well, don’t worry about shaving super thin, we want some texture.

Cheese 🧀

Cheddar is perfect for this. I like sharp but you can go with a mild. Between the dressing and taco meat spices, jack or milder cheeses just don’t stand up. The cheddar adds a nice salty punch.

Tomato 🍅

Cherry tomatoes are fine but in the summer try and find some nice farm fresh or vine ripened tomatoes.

Onion 🧅

Red onion, shaved thin adds burst of sweet heat. I’m partial to red onions for flavor. Cut them pole-to-pole, sliced thin. That will ensure they hold texture and don’t fall apart.

*Pro Tip: If your onions are particularly pungent, soak them in ice water for 30-60 seconds then blot dry. This will take out a lot of the pungency. also work with raw peppers like jalapeno or serrano (I like the heat though).

Tortilla Chips 🌮

Highly recommend Craize Sweet Corn Crackers in place of the traditional tortilla chips. They are crispier and provide and great crunch to the salad. I’ve been using them for a little while now and they’re tasty.

You can get them on Amazon or in a lot of grocery stores.

Cilantro 🌿

Cilantro provides a perfect herbal brightness… you can thinly slice, but most of the time I just pull some leaves and add to the top.

Beans (optional)

I mention this because adding some legumes can up the protein. I had a pot of pinto and black beans that had already been cooked… so I added a spoonful.

Okay, components covered… lets talk Taco Meat and Catalina dressing.

Taco Salad Recipe

Catalina Dressing

1/2 c ketchup (Heinz No-Sugar Added; was used for this recipe development.)

1/2 c red wine vinegar

1/2 c chopped yellow onion

1/4 c honey

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

2 tsp spicy (deli) mustard

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process for 1-2 minutes. The dressing should thicken, emulsify and become viscous.

2. Taste for salt, you may need to add a slight pinch more.

3. Store in the refrigerator (can make the day before). If the mixture separates for some reason just re-blend.

Taco Meat

Spice Mix:

This makes enough for approx 1.5lb of ground beef (try ground turkey if you’re looking to go lower fat; remember the turkey will dry out much faster, don’t overcook).

2 tsp chili powder (ancho or a blend works well)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp Lawys’s seasoning salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp sea salt

Method:

1. Combine all the spices/herbs in a bowl and mix together until homogenous.

2. Get a saute pan ripping hot (high heat). Add 1 TB avocado oil. It will smoke.

3. Add the ground beef in small chunks to the pan… and leave it. Let the meat brown. (Don’t stir yet)

4. Once the meat against the pan begins to brown, add your seasoning mix.

5. Stir briskly and then let the meat continue to brown. Should only take 3-4 mins. Once you see just a few rosy/pink spots left. Turn off the heat, transfer ground beef to a bowl and stir occasionally. The residual heat will continue cooking the meat through.

Salad Assembly

1. Get your salad bowl ready. In a separate mixing bowl, add the romaine. Lightly season with salt and black pepper, then add enough dressing to liberally coat the lettuce (2-3TB depending on amount).

2. Now take the dressed and seasoned lettuce and put in your salad bowl (You can simply drizzle some dressing on lettuce in the final bowl, but this step ensures even coverage).

   

3. Take approx 1/2 cup of your luke warm Taco Meat and place on top of the lettuce. Now distribute the remaining ingredients in pockets on top of the lettuce in the bowl. *Season your tomato sliced with a pinch of salt.

4. I like to scatter the chips/crackers around the perimeter of the salad.

   

Now you’re ready to mix up and dig-in. This salad, while substantial, does not come off as a gut bomb. We are using fresh and wholesome ingredients… we’ve lightened/brightened the dressing and the taco meat isn’t over-seasoned.

You’ve got sweet, meaty, tangy, salty, crunchy… all in one bowl to crush for lunch or dinner.

If you have all these components on hand this takes maybe 5 mins to assemble. You can make the taco meat in bulk and store in the fridge. The dressing will last weeks, if needed.

A Taco Salad that is elevated from the nostalgic classic… enjoy regularly!