Hooray. I have finally uploaded a picture that's exactly what I want to illustrate today's post. That's a first. May there be many more.
Up there we see a plate of greenery (and reddery) which will go to ornament the tacos as we build them. On the plate you will see the leaves of classic shredded iceberg lettuce, shredded green onions, shredded arugula from my garden, a few sage leaves, and the purple flowers of "white sage". I hope you can see them. They add such visual beauty to a salad plate. Alas, I did not have any cilantro to put on the tacos. I also did not make a little plate of acrid dry herbs to add, and that adds plenty on its own. The acrid dry herbs can be thyme, rosemary, marjoram, dried cilantro ( called dried corander leaves), and they really do add to a taco. But I did not add them this time, and that is an important thing about home cookery (in my opinion.) You don't get the same thing every time. Enjoy that fact. There are also slices of lemon, as my wonderful Mexican lime tree is being withholding right now. (There are lots of blossoms, however.)
Also on that plate are slices of red and orange and yellow bell pepper, and slices of tomato. I should have put a hot pepper but as I have mentioned the ones that are burgeoning on my plant right now are the biggest duds you could imagine. All looks and no performance! Ok, that's the "zacate" plate. (Zacate is grass.)
Up above in the center of the photo is a pale green disk like a moon. Can you see it? Yes, my dears, it is a green tortilla. I get these tortillas at the Gonzalez-Northgate Mexican supermarket. They are made by grinding the nixtamal with nopales, the "leaves" of cactus. That is why they are green. Is that not wonderful? What is nixtamal, you may wonder. It is the moosh made of the fermenting corn kernels as they are being ground into masa. Come here for answers.
In the Mexican department of your local supermarket, which may be threatening to become the whole store, (enjoy), you can find Mexican fresh cheese. Be sure to watch the eat-by dates, and enjoy them. They are made in the USA, land of regulations. I used a bowl of broken up "Queso Mexicano," I think--there are many to choose from.
The chicken was absolutely delicious. You can see it over there on the right. Here is how I made it. Two days before, I made Swiss Steak a la my American Grandmother, by browning the meat and adding tomatoes, green peppers, and onions, and a little water, before slow cooking it in my handy Sunbeam Fryer for a few hours. Wow, that Swiss Steak was good. However, after we and the mutts had eaten all the meat, there was a lot of sauce left. I put it into the refrigerator in one of the ubiquitous glass jars that I have all over the place. And a couple of days later, I did this with a package of Chicken Tenders, which were really Large Pieces of Chicken Breast.
I turned on the oven, sprayed a pyrex dish with wonderful Spectrum Grapeseed Oil, put in the chicken, and baked the chicken for quite a while. Since I have no temp indicator that works, I can only say that it was cooked but hardly brown. Maybe a little golden. I cooled them a bit, added the leftover Swiss Steak Sauce (after removing all grease possible with a spoon after taking out of the refrigerator.) That sauce was rich and flavorful, and before stirring it up with the chicken I added a knife tip of Gebhardt's chile powder and about six grains of dried garlic. When I say six grains, I mean six tiny little dried pieces. Sometimes less is more, students. Then I covered the pyrex dish with aluminum foil, as the lid to the dish is lost of course, and baked again gently until the chicken was tender. Fork-tender and ready, just asking, to be pulled apart. It was delicious.
I thought that this time (it was Wednesday lunch, when Patricia eats with us after slaving at the piano) I would lightly fry the tortillas, but when I looked I had no safflower oil. And could not find the Spectrum Coconut Oil. So I did what I usually do, I heated the tortillas over a gas flame on top of the stove, and carried them, lightly charred (that's the yummy part) , over to the table one by one.
You'll notice the mention of coconut oil, safflower oil, and grapeseed oil. You'll notice the absence of mention of Canola Oil. As I do not want to end this post on a negative note, I am postponing my tirade on oils until tomorrow. Just make the food the way I said it, or, if you have manteca(lard), you can add a little of that as a fat. So there are your wonderful chicken tacos, my dears. If you have no leftover Swiss Steak Gravy, you will improvise with the usual suspects of tomato, chile, green pepper, onion, and (a leetle) garlic until you get a rich taste for your chicken. I leave you to enjoy your dish. YAZZYBEL
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