Tuesday, June 03, 2008

No complaints
--Ground Chicken Tacos



Ground Chicken Tacos
The Best Chicken Recipes Copyright 2008

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
Salt
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound ground chicken
½ cup plain tomato sauce
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
Ground black pepper
8-12 store-bought taco shells, warmed

1. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon salt and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, and oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add the chicken and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until almost cooked through but still slightly pink, about 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato sauce, vinegar and sugar and simmer over medium-low heat until thickened, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the filling evenly among the taco shells and serve, passing desired accompaniments separately.
______________________

I got this book from the library. I do like this 'Best Recipe' series from Cook's Illustrated but I find the books sort of boring. I prefer America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

I've made Beef Tacos from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which is about the same recipe with cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper added (and some broth which is a good idea - this mixture was kind of dry). I'm not sure why they left them out of this recipe but knowing CI, they probably had their reasons. These were definitely a milder tasting taco but there were no complaints and no leftovers.

Blast From The Past: Easy Tacos from November 2006. Another variation. Gosh, that was a long time ago. I don't make tacos often enough. I think I'll have to add them to the easy-peasy list for after the baby comes.

Question of the Day: Do you make tacos at home? Do you load them all at once with at least the meat or do you have everyone make their own?

10 comments:

RecipeGirl said...

Don't you love getting cookbooks from the library? My problem is that I become so absorbed in them that I end up having to pay overdue fines!

I find the BEST series kind of boring too. Everything I've made from them has been good but gosh, could we just have a little color picture or two? :)

Love the easy peasy recipe!

DancesInGarden said...

We have them once or twice a month. We all make our own. I have been splurging for the "stand and stuff" shells because DH and DD prefer them so much.

I always make spanish rice and my "smucked beans" - refried beans. Just a can of beans heated and smushed up with a bit of cajun seasoning, smoked paprika (just a touch), onion and garlic powder. Usually black beans or pintos.

Wanda said...

When the kids were home, we had them now and then. Now that it's just DH and I, it's been years. But I never put anything in them before serving. It was always just everyone assembling their own...both for that and for chalupas.

Anonymous said...

The fuss of filling tacos is one of the reasons we've converted to taco salad instead of regular tacos. I always felt it took longer to build them than to eat them -- and when my son was little, it felt like that's all I was doing was building for him and then for me.

Unknown said...

I've been using your chili blend recipe from "Easy Tacos" for some time after reading it on the blog. I usually use ground turkey. It's our House Recipe now!

Anonymous said...

I usually let everyone fill there own. Some like more meat mixture and some prefer (like me) to have more cheese!

Anonymous said...

We have tacos at least 2 if not 3 times a month. Sometimes I make a hamburger filling and we also have a chicken filling. I also make "taco" rice that we mix into the meat at the end to make it go further. I always have everything at the table and its a build your own. But I usually make the kids and then I'll get to make mine. But by the time I get mine done they are ready for seconds.

Anonymous said...

It's everyone assemble their own at our house. I prefer to do the DGDs, hoping they won't insist on doing their own. ;)

Jan

Anonymous said...

Pesonally I wouldn't go near that stuff.

Ground chicken is just as bad, if not worse than the "Pink-Slime" product that is shipped to all the fast-food chains & supermarkets for mass-consumption.

Just like "Pink-Slime," ground chicken is also washed in ammonia to kill bacteria. The problem with that is, ammonia is a harsh petro-chemical that can be fatal under certain conditions.

Ammonia is often used as a chemical household cleaner that emits harmful vapors. If you breathe enough of this stuff into your lungs, you can actually die from asphyxiation.

Just some food for thought for those whom might be slightly concerned about the stuff they put into their bodies.

See the following links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ--faib7to

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/70-percent-of-ground-beef-at-supermarkets-contains-pink-slime/


There are many healthier alternatives to regularly-processed meats...

http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/the-9-nastiest-things-in-your-supermarket


Look for "free-range," "grass-fed," and "organic" as guiding principles when shopping for any meats and please stay away from the processed garbage many food-processing plants attempt to push upon the people...it isn't what you think...and it isn't right either!


http://foodsafety.news21.com/2011/risks/salmonella/turkeyburger

Anonymous said...

This a revision of my last anonymous post at 2:37am.

In light of newly discovered info regarding general lack of quality standards in the food industry along with little to no enforcement or specific enough laws to mandate a proper system for ensuring that food is prepared according to its labeling, "Free-range" is actually not a reliable standard to look for because it doesn't have to mean that chickens are freely roaming around on a farm but simply that they are not "caged." They can still be huddled together in confined spaces filled with their own feces. Such an environment certainly doesn't promote the type of growth/development that nature intended.

"Cage-free" is also a misleading label that is too broad to guarantee anything except well-meaning sentiment.

I still stand behind my statement regarding "Grass-fed" and "Organic" meats which, in general, are much stricter guidelines to follow when shopping for foods with those labels. In particular, "100% Organic" is a guarantee that is hard to fake.

These are better principles to follow when shopping for food, especially since what we eat has a direct impact on our overall health.

Knowledge is important. Never stop asking questions and never give up on the truth...it's out there.