Now We’re Cookin’

Recipe Source: elise.com

You’ll need:

A large cast iron frying pan
A metal spatula

Corn tortillas (as many as tacos you want to make)
Butter
Cheddar or jack cheese
Salsa (usually prepared. Pace is a good brand)

Plus these optional ingredients:
Avocado
Apple
Lettuce
Strips of cooked chicken, beef, or pork (a great use of leftovers)

Directions:

Heat up the cast iron frying pan on medium high heat. While the pan is heating, prepare your ingredients. Cut some slices of cheese. Get the salsa out of the fridge. Thinly slice as many slices of apple as you want tacos. (3 tacos, 3 apple slices). Cut, remove seed, slice, and remove from skin the avocado slices you want. Slice some lettuce and any leftover meat you want to add in.

When the pan is hot (sprinkle a few drops of water on it, they should sizzle) lightly butter one side of one tortilla and place it in the pan, butter side down. Using a spatula, quickly flip the tortilla over to the other side, and back again, repeating until there is melted butter on both sides of the tortilla. Let the tortilla sit in hot pan until pockets of air start to form bubbles in the tortilla.

Add slices of cheese to one side of the tortilla. Make sure to allow room for the cheese to melt and not spread all over the pan.

Flip the side of tortilla without the cheese over the side with the cheese, as if you were making an omelette.

Move the folded cheese taco to one side of the pan. Add a second tortilla, lightly buttered on one side, and repeat the process. You can tell when the taco is done by pressing down on it with a spoon or fork or edge of the spatula. If it gives easily, the cheese is melted and you can remove the taco from the pan.

You are basically done with the cheese tacos. Now all you have left to do is assembly. Open up each taco and add the ingredients you want. A slice of avocado, a slice of apple, a piece of chicken, a little bit of lettuce. Don’t over do it or you won’t be able to hold the taco and get it in your mouth.

Note that this method makes delicious, buttery, cheesey tacos. If you are avoiding butter, or frying oil (which you could also use), you could make these in a microwave. I do it all the time. Definitely not kosher, but much much less fattening. Soften the tortillas first in the microwave. We use 20 seconds on high per tortilla, with the tortillas sitting on a paper towel in the microwave to absorb moisture. Once they’ve been softened this way you can add cheese and fold them over and heat them a few seconds more, just until the cheese melts.

Notes from Nicki:

Elise’s method is tasty; however I like my tacos a bit messier, so I use taco sauce or hot pepper sauce instead of salsa and lots of sour cream for maximum drippage!

My little one is a picky eater, so she likes a variety of cheeses on hers with a bit of fried cajun sausage.

Also good is cheese and leftover barbecued chicken or pork!