Healthy-ish Recipe: 2 A.M. Tacos
Livermore blogger Michelle Smith of The Whole Smiths may lead a clean-eating lifestyle now, but her SoCal college days — er, late nights — were filled with deep-fried taco runs to Jack in the Box.
Today, they’ve inspired her healthy-ish version made with avocado oil, organic cheese and grass-fed ground beef. The recipe, featured in Smith’s new cookbook, “The Whole Smiths Real Food Every Day” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $30), is easy enough that her 10-year-old can make it.
Deep-fried tacos can be healthy? “If you saw the ingredient list of the original tacos, you’d understand how much better these are for you,” Smith says.
Don’t forget the hot sauce. She says a clean, red pepper hot sauce, like Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce, most closely resembles the flavor of her taco muse.
2 A.M. Tacos
Makes 12 tacos
Ingredients
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon avocado oil, divided use
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chile powder
2 teaspoons onion granules
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¾ cup refried beans
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
6 slices American cheese, sliced in half diagonally
12 corn tortillas
1½ cups shredded iceberg lettuce
Hot sauce of your choice
Directions
In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 teaspoon avocado oil. When the oil is hot, add the ground beef, salt, chile powder, onion granules, garlic powder, cumin and cayenne. Cook, using a spatula to break up the ground beef, until the beef is cooked through and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the refried beans and lime juice and stir to combine.
Transfer the beef mixture to a blender and blend for 10 to 20 seconds, until it is a uniform consistency —what I like to call “meat paste.”
To assemble each taco, lay a triangle of American cheese on one half of a tortilla. Spread 2 tablespoons of the meat filling over the top of the cheese, being careful not to spread the meat all the way to the edge.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and meat filling.
Line a plate with a few layers of paper towels and place it near the stovetop.
Pour the remaining ¼ cup avocado oil into a small skillet and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, place a tortilla flat in the pan and let it sit for 15 to 20 seconds, until the tortilla becomes pliable. Fold the empty side of the tortilla over the top to create the “taco shape.” Cook the taco for 10 seconds more, then flip it and cook the other side for 20 to 30 seconds, until the shell has crisped up and is lightly browned. Immediately transfer the taco to the paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Gently open the taco and fill it with 2 tablespoons of the shredded lettuce and hot sauce to taste. Repeat with the remaining tacos. Serve hot.
— From Michelle Smith’s “The Whole Smiths Real Food Every Day” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; $30)