A Spring Fiesta!

Our friend Rachel moved out of our house over a year ago. Rachel called and said that she was craving some of my Mexican cooking and wanted some. I invited her and her girlfriend over to our house for some tacos, rice, beans, etc...

A funny side story is that once upon a time Rachel actually had the nerve to tell me, "Louis, I like your Mexican food, but one day I want to try authentic Mexican food..." I almost mommy dearest-ed her with a wire hanger and asked her what do I look like Polish? Chinese? I said "I AM MEXICAN!!!!" So on a trip to Arizona we took Rachel to Mexico and ordered her some tacos and guacamole, salsa and all of the fixings. She took one bite and her eyes got real big and she said, "uhhh uhhhh" she didn't like it and admitted she liked my cooking better. HAHA!

Back to the fiesta. Brian invited all of Northeast Ohio to our small dinner and we had a lot of people show up. It was actually great and I am considering turning this fiesta into an annual Cinco De Mayo Fiesta. My mom was still here at this time so she helped me out a lot. Have a look:

For me, it would not be a Mexican feast without rolled tacos. I remember my mom making rolled tacos when we were little and we LOVED THEM! I suppose they were semi-homemade because she use to use Hormel canned roast beef in gravy. It use to be inexpensive and was good. Since we were having such a large amount of people coming and had to make so many tacos I decided it would be more economical and probably more delicious if I made my own shredded roast beef. I used a large beef pot roast and roasted it in a crock pot over night. As with all the roasts I cook in a crock pot I cooked it in a very, very hot skillet generously seasoned with salt and pepper until it forms a crust on each side. I placed the crusted roast in a crock pot and filled the pot with water almost covering the roast. I then covered with sliced onion and garlic. The next day the roast shredded perfectly.

I had tried to use my own roast to make shredded beef tacos and Brian said the meat was a bit dry and could have used more flavor. The Hormel beef my mom use to use was in gravy so I decided to make gravy out of some of the juice from the crock pot. I brought about 3 cups of the liquid from the roast to a skillet and brought to a simmer once simmering I put a slurry of about 3 tablespoons of flour and 1/2 a cup of water to the juices. This thickened up beautifully and I added enough of the gravy to the shredded beef to make it moist and give it more flavor. It should not be runny or juicy at all.

Here are all of the ingredients I needed to make the rolled beef tacos.


I heated a stack of store bought corn tortillas in the microwave wrapped in a dish towel in the microwave for about a minute until they were hot and pliable. If the tortillas are not heated they will crack and split when trying to roll them. I keep the stack of heated tortillas in the dish towel so they do not dry out or cool off.


This process is easy, but when making close to 300 tacos it is a bit time consuming! We placed about 3 tablespoons of cooled shredded beef in each corn tortilla and rolled it into a taco. The taco is then secured using a wooden toothpick.


We kept on rolling out tacos and I placed two rolled tacos on each toothpick with the open flaps facing each other so each taco held the other taco's flap shut.



My mom told me to put three tacos on each toothpick and if necessary use a second toothpick to hold it all together. This will help out when it comes to frying the tacos. Here is the new and improved method.


Here is a good start to our taco workshop, but we still have a long way to go!


I have been a vegetarian for over 15 years. I make vegetarian rolled tacos filled with flavorful mashed potatoes. I made mashed potatoes and since they were going to be taco filling I made them a bit dryer than usual. I added less milk than regular, creamy mashed potatoes. I also added cream cheese, cheddar cheese and both onion and garlic powder and of course garlic salt and pepper to taste.


These tacos are made using the same method as the beef ones. I did not spread the filling out to the edges of the taco so it did not fall out during frying.


Here is my mom on the other side of the counter rolling tacos. We had such a great time and laughed the entire time. I miss cooking with her.


Our pile was slowly growing.


And growing! We actually rolled all of these tacos the day before the fiesta. My mom said that she actually liked doing this better for two reasons, it saved time the day of cooking them and also because the chilling helped them hold together better while frying them.


Of course I worked the day of the fiesta so by the time I arrived home my mom had made the salsa, rice and beans! She was frying the tacos in about 1/4 inch of canola oil.
Here is my mom the pro taco fryer! She had about three pans going at once!


They are cooked until they are golden brown and crispy.


Once the tacos were crisp my mom would put more uncooked tacos in their place and then the toasted ones on top to drain.


After they come out of the pan they are placed on a dish lined with paper towels and then sprinkled with kosher salt.


We had quite a few platters of tacos and kept some of them warmed in a 200˚F oven.


Here is Lucy supervising in the kitchen!


While my mom was finishing up the tacos I started making strawberry margaritas! They were so good and easy to make!


We also made two Tres Leches cakes topped with fresh whipped cream and fruit.


Here is my Brian feeding our goddaughter Amelia (Millie) some chips!


Then cake.


Then ice cream.


Here is Millie's reaction to the cold ice cream!


Back to normal!


Here is my mom eating chips and salsa, oh and a margarita too!


Here is Rachel, she is the one who wanted "authentic" Mexican food.


I think everyone had a great time eating and laughing. I am looking forward to having another Cinco De Mayo celebration next year. Here is Lucy all tired and sleepy after an exciting day.