I recently bought my new favourite cookbook, My Underground Kitchen by Jess Daniell. In the last 48 hours, I have cooked three meals from it and don’t see myself stopping at that. I already have this week’s feasting planned out, and it’s all out of this book. There was a recipe in here for beef nachos. Corn chips are pretty much just wheat tortillas that are fried and, um, made out of corn so I figured, hey, let’s just turn these into tacos.
I prepped all the slow-cooker ingredients the night before, put them in the bowl of the slow cooker with the lid on and put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I got up a few minutes earlier and cranked on the slow cooker before I left the house at 5.35am. By the time I got home, I had a slow cooker full of tender, juicy beef all ready for me to wrap in a taco baby.
For the beef
- 800g stewing steak
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- ½ cup whole chipotles in sauce (I use the La Morena chipotles in the orange can)
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 500ml beef or vegetable stock
In a frying pan over a medium to high heat, sear the pieces of beef steak so that they are lightly browned on each side. Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker, pop the lid on and leave to cook on high for 10–12 hours.
Remove the beef from the cooker and shred with two forks. Combine with the cooked onions and half to a full cup of cooking liquid to keep the beef juicy. Reserve the rest of the cooking stock for the beans.
For the bean chilli
- splash of olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 75g tomato paste (about half a small can)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon good quality, rich cocoa powder
- 400g kidney beans, drained
- 400g cannellini beans, drained
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups cooking stock from the beef
Sauté the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for two minutes before adding in the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, cocoa and beans. Cook until the sauce becomes syrupy then add in the tomatoes and beef cooking juices. Leave to simmer until it thickens, about 30 to 40 minutes. Add salt and pepper to season.
For the tomato salsa
- 4 vine-ripened tomatoes, diced
- ½ red onion, finely diced
- ½ cucumber, diced
- juice of half a lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients.
For the guacamole
- 2 avocados, flesh removed and mashed
- ½ red onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- juice of one lemon
- salt and pepper
Mash all the ingredients together.
To serve
- 12–16 small flour tortillas
- fresh lettuce leaves
- sour cream
- fresh coriander leaves
To assemble the tacos, layer ingredients on top of the tortillas.