With exaggerated sarcasm, Andrew shout-explained “the Washington Post said carrots are the new hot dog and this is just like when the New York Times [and his girlfriend] said to put peas in your guacamole and it’s this kind of liberal thinking that is destroying the American cookout!” I’m already thinking of new ways to shove more peas in his dumb mouth. I do kind of get where he’s coming from with the hot dogs, though.
I love tacos Al Pastor. One semester in college I made it my mission to find the best ones in Austin, scouring every truck, trailer and restaurant I could find. There were many contenders. There are many great ones in Houston too, if you were wondering.
Al Pastor pork is marinated in chilies, spices and pineapple. According to Wikipedia, they are the Mexican answer to Middle Eastern Shawarma (one of my other great loves) brought over by Christian Lebanese immigrants. That’s why, similar to Shawarma and Greek Gyros and Turkish Doner Kebab, the meat is roasted on a spit. Then the pork is shaved off, loaded into a corn tortilla with onion and cilantro and handed to me for rapid enthusiastic consumption.
These tacos are not made of pork, though. They are made of carrots. Inspired partly by carrot dogs (google it), and partly by the faux Al Pastor (pork) tacos I often make at home sans spit. They’re adorable, whimsical and just a little stupid. I’m into it.
You can eat these carrots on their own as very extra tacos with all the fixings or you can just have them as an awesome side dish – the flavor really is spot on and delicious save for the pork-y goodness. All of the taco fillings listed would make great additions to a salad or grain bowl if you asked me (or even if you didn’t because this is MY blog!).
I’ve also included a recipe and instructions for some shmaltz corn tortillas. Shmaltz (rendered chicken fat) is, in my opinion, the crown jewel of Jewish food*. It is liquid gold. Like all animal fat, it keeps for a long time in your fridge and even longer in your freezer. You can substitute any animal fat you like/have (duck fat, bacon grease, lard, etc) or coconut oil to make them vegetarian – just so long as you use a fat that is solid at room temperature and liquid when warmed up.
*Shmaltz is not just a Jewish thing – it’s also a big part of Polish and Ukrainian cuisine!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15-20 minutes |
| Passive Time | 24 hours |
| Servings |
cups
|
- 6 dried guajillo chilies stems and seeds removed
- 4 dried arbol chilies stems and seeds removed
- 1 T ground cumin
- 1 T ground coriander
- 1 T dried mexican oregano
- 1/2 large white onion roughly chopped
- 8 garlic clove peeled
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 lime juiced
- 4 ts kosher salt
- 1/2 pineapple peeled, cored and roughly chopped
- 1 cup cilantro stems included, roughly chopped
- 3 T adobo sauce
- 2-3 chipotles from adobo sauce
- 2 lb small carrots peeled
- 2-4 T neutral oil
- 2 tomatillos husked and diced
- 1/4 large white onion finely diced
- 4 radishes thinly sliced/shaved
- 1 cup red cabbage thinly shredded
- 4 cilantro sprigs leaves removed and torn
- queso fresco crumbled
- lime wedges for serving
- 1 1/2 cup masa harina
- 1 ts pink himalayan salt or kosher salt
- 2 T rendered chicken fat or lard, coconut oil, butter, etc
- 1 cup hot water or more as needed
Ingredients
carrots al pastor
toppings/taco fixings
shmaltz tortillas
|
|
- 1) Boil 3-4 cups of water. In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, toast the guajillo and arbol chilies, turning occasionally until they are blackened in spots and smell fragrant (3-5ish minutes). Place the chilies in a heat safe bowl and pour the hot water over. If needed, put a small plate on top of the chilies to keep them submerged. Let soak for 15-30 minutes while you gather your other ingredients. (Don’t dump the soaking water!)
- Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the carrots and oil to the bowl of a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the re-hydrated chilies and blend, using a little of the soaking water if needed to thin.
- Combine carrots and marinade in a container and let it hang out for 24 hours in the fridge or up to five days.
- Preheat the oven to 450F. On the stove, heat a large cast iron skillet or oven-safe clad pan over medium-high heat (you may need to use two pans or work in batches to get them all done in one go).
- Add some neutral oil to the pan. Put the carrots in the pan in a single layer (don’t shake the marinade off too much because it will help build a delicious crust!) and let them roast untouched for 5 minutes or until they are roasty and blackened in spots on the bottom.
- Flip the carrots and put the pan in the oven for 10 minutes or until desired doneness. Serve with toppings listed and warm corn tortillas or however you damn want.
- Combine masa harina and salt in a bowl and mix. Add the melted schmaltz and mix until evenly combined and the consistency of wet sand.
- Add the hot water and mix until evenly combined (it should take on the consistency of play-doh). Knead until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Divide dough and roll into balls. The size of each piece depends on size tortilla desired, but I used a rough tablespoon to get the tiny 4-inch street taco size. Put all of your tortillas on a sheet pan covered in plastic wrap or in a sealed container and let sit for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Cut two roughly 6inch square pieces of parchment or line your tortilla press with plastic wrap. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. One at a time, put your tortilla dough between the two parchment pieces, press them and transfer to the hot pan (if you don’t have a tortilla press, put the tortilla between the parchment on a table and press down on top with a flat bottomed pan). Flip the tortillas once they release from the pan with a light nudge of the finger. Repeat process on all those lil tortillas.
- Keep tortillas warm in a folded kitchen towel or tortilla warmer until serving, which should be ASAP.
Chilies in Adobo sauce can be found definitely in Latin markets and (in Texas, at least) pretty much always in your conventional grocery stores in the Latin section.
Masa Harina will have the same general availability, but it's kept with the flour in the baking aisle. Ditto to both varieties of dried chilies, but they usually hang out near the produce.
You can use any radishes you want here, but I used the French Breakfast variety because I had them on hand.
Corn tortillas do not reheat well, so make them as close to serving as possible and keep them warm in a tortilla warmer or wrapped in a kitchen towel.