Our Cinco de Mayo dinner on a budget
The dinner menu was chips and salsa, shredded turkey tacos, refried black beans, and carrot sticks. Nothing fancy, I'll freely admit, but festive nonetheless.I used store-purchased corn tortillas to make both the tortilla chips and the taco shells. Corn tortillas keep for a long time in the fridge, so I buy the most economical package at the Cash & Carry (72-ct, for $2.18, that works out to 36 cents per dozen tortillas).
To make the chips:
I oil-fried wedges of the tortillas in a shallow skillet, until crisp, turning once, then drained on a paper bag. A pinch of salt is optional, and that's about it!
A word about frying oil and corn tortillas. The oil picks up the corn tortilla taste and this flavor goes very well in the rest of the Mexican dinner. I fry the tortilla chips first, then use some of that oil in the refried beans and the turkey taco filling. It's quite delicious.
To make the salsa:
This is budget, food processor salsa. I used canned, whole tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped fresh onions, garlic powder, lemon juice, lime juice and/or vinegar, chili powder, red pepper flakes, cumin, dried oregano, salt and frozen hot peppers. I run all of this through the food processor till desired texture. I allow the salsa to sit for an hour, for the flavor to develop.
The taco filling was made from frozen, cooked white-meat turkey (from our most recent roasted, whole turkey), simmered with onions, chili powder, salt, and garlic powder. (I also add some of the tomato liquid from the canned tomatoes to the taco filling -- mentioning this now, as I don't add the tomato juice to the refried beans.) I fill the corn tortilla, fold over and oil-fry in the same pan in which I previously made the chips. Top with cheese and salsa and we're good to go! (*tip* corn tortillas can be a bit dry and crack when folding. I zap them in the microwave for 7 seconds each, to make them pliable, just before filling with meat, and folding into tacos.)
Refried beans are well, refried beans. I had some cooked black beans in the freezer (pinto beans would seem more authentic). I simmered these beans similarly to the turkey taco filling, in onions, oil, spices and water. I also add some of the black olive juice from the can, for a bit of flavor. When the onions and beans were quite soft, I used a potato masher on all. Top with shredded cheddar-jack cheese and some sliced olives. Yum!
Yesterday was another one of those super busy days. So, I didn't have time to put much together. No banners, decor or other festive atmosphere. The best I could do was Youtube some Mariachi music on autoplay, and get out my colorful Portuguese pottery.
How about you? How do you throw together a festive dinner on little time and on even littler budget?
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