Tacos/

Potato and Greens Tacos with Toasted Red Chile

The soft cazuela tacos at Tacos Gus in Mexico City were the inspiration for this simple, tasty soft taco. Add a green salad and classic Mexican white rice, and you have a meal.
Servings: 12small tacos
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Ingredients

  • 2/3cup good olive oil
  • 1mediumdried guajillo chile, stem and seeds discarded
  • 1mediumdried ancho chile, stem and seeds discarded
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
  • 3tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • Salt
  • 1 1/2pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ¼” cubes
  • 4cups coarsely chopped raw greens (black kale, curly kale, chard, spinach all work well)
  • 1/4cupaged Mexican cheese
  • 12 warm corn tortillas

Instructions

Pour the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Lay the stemmed and seeded chiles and garlic cloves in the oil. Turn the chiles and garlic back and forth until the chiles are toasty and the garlic cloves are light brown. Remove the chiles to a blender jar, and add the sherry vinegar and salt. Let the garlic and oil cool for about 10 minutes. Blend the chiles and vinegar and stream in the cooled oil.

In a medium 10-inch skillet set over medium heat, sauté the diced potatoes in the red chile dressing, until the potatoes are soft and easy to mash, about 20 to 25 minutes. Mash them a few times with an old fashioned potato masher and add the chopped greens. Cover and let the flavor blend and the greens wilt slightly. Taste for seasoning, adding salt if necessary. Serve with a sprinkling of the cheese, a stack of warm tortillas and your favorite red chile tomatillo salsa.

Comments

  1. these are excellent. we’ve made them twice now. not too bad if you can time the steps out just right. served with pinto beans & some aged cheddar or romano. really nice! and the leftovers are great in a bowl with some quinoa & avocado. thanks!

  2. I turned this recipe into a tamale filling and it was excellent!
    I added fresh sweet corn to the mix right at the end, with the greens, and I only sightly crushed the potatoes rather than mashing them. I did have to use Wensleydale cheese instead of cotija, but it worked beautifully as a substitute.
    I would definitely make this again. In fact, I have some fresh corn tortillas coming my way tomorrow and I just might try the recipe as intended and have some awesome tacos.

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