Friday Night Special - Tacos With A Twist

Beef Short Rib Tacos with Grill Fire Roasted Corn Salsa and Spicy Quick Pickle Cabbage

It's Friday night and I am treating my husband to his favorite Mexican dish...the beloved Taco!  Oh but this isn't just any taco my friends, no...this is a taco with a twist.  While I think that the pre-packaged taco kit served with hamburger, tomatoes, shredded lettuce and Mexican seasoned cheese in a bag is delicious; I really do not consider it to be an authentic Mexican dish.  It is the easy to make at home in a box version of a taco; which is perfectly fine and pleasing to the palate but tonight I am kicking it up a notch and serving a more authentic style taco.

I am not an authority on Mexican cuisine by any means.  I have not studied it nearly as much as I have studied other cuisines nor do I eat it as much as others, but I certainly do enjoy it whenever I get the opportunity and I have spent some time experimenting with my own Mexican dishes over the years.  While doing some research on the taco, I was interested to learn that the original use of the word means "plug" or "wad" used to fill a hole.  I suppose this means to fill a tortilla or taco shell but the first thing that came to my mind was to fill a void, to fill a hole in the stomach and by doing so, feeding the soul.   It can be interpreted in a number of ways but I think I like my version of it best!

For the taco dish I have served this evening, I have gone all out and made everything but the tortilla from scratch.  It may seem a little labor intensive but each of the recipes in this dish are pretty simple.  Let's start with the preparation of the short ribs.

Here I have a little over a half pound of short ribs and my homemade taco seasoning.

The recipe for the seasoning is as follows;

1 tbls of chili powder

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of onion powder

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

This makes a pretty good amount of seasoning.  whatever you do not use can be stored in a plastic bag or sealed container for later use.

Thinly slice your short ribs across the grain and then place the slices of meat into a bowl.  Sprinkle the seasoning over the meat and toss or stir so that each piece of meat is thoroughly covered with the seasoning.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set the bowl into the refrigerator while you prepare your other ingredients.

 Next, we will prepare the spicy quick pickle cabbage

The ingredients are red cabbage, green cabbage, serrano peppers, rice wine vinegar, salt, sugar and water

First start by slicing both the red and green cabbage into long thin strips.  I used about 1/4 of the large green cabbage and half of the small red cabbage in the picture above.  Then I slice the serrano peppers into good size rings and add to the cabbage.

For the quick pickle brine

In a measuring cup, add 1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of water, 1 tbls of salt and 1 tbls of sugar.

Place the cabbage and pepper mixture into a small bowl and then pour the brine over the cabbage and peppers.  Give the mixture a good stir then cover and set in the refrigerator to pickle.

Making the salsa

The ingredients are 3 ears of corn, 1 pint of sweet cherry tomatoes, 1 jalapeno pepper, two cloves of garlic, 1 15.5 once can of black beans, sea salt, cracked black pepper and a 1 teaspoon of vinegar.

In a small food processor add the cherry tomatoes, the jalapeno pepper, two garlic cloves, a teaspoon of sea salt and cracked black pepper and a teaspoon of vinegar. Chop the ingredients in the food processor until all of the ingredients are well blended and you have a nice chunky consistency. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator

Next, you will place your ears of corn (still in their husks) on the grill for about a half hour or until you are able to easily stick a fork into the corn.  

*** Note - Before grilling the corn, soak the corn in their husks for a half hour.  Soaking the corn will prevent the husk from burning or catching on fire and it will also help to steam the corn while cooking on the grill.

When the corn is done roasting, remove the husk and then shave the kernels off the cob by running a sharp knife down around the entire cob until you have removed all of the kernels.  

Add the corn kernels along with the black beans to the tomato, jalapeno and garlic mixture.

Cooking the short ribs

First prepare a quick mixture of 1 tablespoon of corn starch and 1 tablespoon of water and set aside.

In a large pan, add a tablespoon of olive oil and then add the thin slices of short ribs.  When the short ribs are cooked to about medium rare, add the mixture of corn starch and water and stir until the sauce starts to boil and thicken.  Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

To serve this dish, I like to spread all of the ingredients out on a platter so people can build their taco to their liking.  You can add as many toppings to your taco platter as you wish.  Here is just one example of how to build this platter.

Everyone has their own unique way to build a taco.  I like mine with a small layer of short rib, then a good spoon full of corn and black bean salsa, a pinch of the spicy quick pickle, a dollop of sour cream, a few leaves of cilantro and finally a nice squeeze of lime juice.

This is really fun and festive meal to serve to your family or for a group of people at a gathering.  It is a tasty and satisfying meal and you will be sure to impress your friends and family with this amazing taco platter.  

I really enjoyed preparing this dish for all of you and for my husband of course.  I know you will enjoy preparing it for your family and friends as much as I do!

Enjoy!