Recipe: crispy beef and potato tacos with norteno salsa

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef, preferably an 80/20 mix of lean to fat
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 large clove grlic, minced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced, about 2 1/2 cups
• 2 tablespoons Kitchen Boquet soy sauce, or tamari
• 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• water
• TACO SHELLS
• vegetable oil for deep-frying
• 1 1/2 dozen corn tortillas
• chopped tomato
• SALSA
• 15 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes, with juice,
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cider or white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon or more crushed New Mexican red chile pequin or other crushed hot red chile
• salt

Directions

For Salsa:
1. Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar and a small amount of chile in a blender and puree. taste and add more chile as you wish for zip and salt to taste. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.

For Filling:
1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high neat. Add the beef and cook until it is uniformly browned. Break up the meat as it cooks, adding the onion when the meat has lost its raw color. When the onion turns translucent and begins to brownm, add the garlic, potatoes, Kitchen Boquet, salt, cumin and enough water to cover the potoatoes and meat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. If the potatoes aren't tendeer by the time the water cooks out, add a little more water.

2. When the potatoes are quite tender begin letting the meat and potato mixture brown in the pan. It will begin to stick as it browns. Turn the mixture several times, scraping up the browned bits that stick to the pan and breaking the mixture into small pieces. When the potatoes have broken up and the filling has lots of browned flavor, add more salt if you wish. Keep the filling warm.

For taco shells:
1. Heat at least 1 inch of oil in a large skillet until the oil ripples. with tongs, dunk a trotilla in the oil long enough for it to go limp, a matter of seconds. Don't let the tortilla turn crips. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and blot them, if you wish, with paper towels.

2. Fill a tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of filling, fold in half and secure eith a toothpick. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.

3. Raise the temperature of the oil to 350 degrees. Fry the tacos in batches until lightly brown and crips. Drain well.

Assembly:
1. Remove toothpicks and garnish with cheese, lettuce and tomato. Serve with salsa and enjoy right away.