Taco Night

Is a group suddenly descending on your house? Do you need a quick meal that is nicer than pizza? Need to satisfy diverse tastes and eating restrictions? Or even just want a quiet but fun night in? Taco nights are a good answer.

As a non-meat lover I always prefer to make vegetarian and seafood dishes. While I can often get away with this, sometimes meat or chicken is needed for a big group, and honestly, simply for ease and cost. Luckily, taco nights can please everyone. Last night I quickly whipped up fish, buffalo, and vegetarian tacos for a group of 6-8 in no time at all. Ready to join the taco fun?

The first step is to decide what kind of tacos you want to serve and with what sides. We decided to have fish tacos, buffalo tacos, and the ability to simply have vegetarian tacos. This meant preparing the fish, the buffalo, a stir-fry of onions and peppers, fresh guac, and a few other "fillers" such as grated cheese and chopped tomato.

Fish Tacos
(Yeah yeah...insert the joke... I know...)
And now that that is out of our system! Most of my inspiration (and even straight use) for this recipe comes from Cooking Light. But, of course, I made a few changes...

I like to start with either catfish or tilapia for these. Either one works extremely well and provides plenty of options for improvisation. Feel free not to follow along exactly if you are feeling adventurous. But following along with Cooking Light, I cut these pieces of fish up into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide and 1.5-2 inches long. If you are in a hurry, instead of mixing up the coating and shaking it in a bowl, just place the strips on a baking sheet and sprinkle red pepper and bread crumbs over them. I sprinkle lightly just to have a hint of breading rather than an actual coating. And feel free to substitute run-of-the-mill bread crumbs if you do not have panko handy.

While the fish is cooking, it's time for some fresh salsa! Cooking Light calls for peach salsa, but I much prefer to make these fish tacos with mango salsa. Follow along the recipe, but simply substitute two mangoes where it calls for two peaches. I prefer the contrast of the mango to the fish, but if you prefer stick with peach or do one of each! Get crazy!

Buffalo Tacos
Not feeling quite that frisky? Yes, you can simply use ground beef here instead. But who wants to do that when you could be using buffalo which is both more interesting and also healthier?

Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a pan (I always put in just a teaspoon or two at the most whenever I am cooking on the stove.) Heat the oil over medium heat and then add the ground meat. Sprinkle on black pepper and garlic to taste. Continue stirring the ground beef, making sure to chop it with a spatula as you stir. Cook until browned, about 15-20 minutes.

Guacamole
Personally, this is my favorite part. I make guacamole constantly and pretty much eat it on everything - veggie burgers, eggs, sandwiches, or just with chips. How can you go wrong with guacamole?

This recipe is estimated for two avocados, but feel free to adjust it for as many or as few as you want. Last night I used three, but have made as many as six at a time. Just make sure that you select very ripe, or even overly ripe, avocados. They should be definitely soft when you push on them but not so soft that they are pure mush in your hands.

As you follow this recipe keep in mind that I never measure; these are all estimates. Taste your creation and feel free to adjust to your own tastes. Do not worry about getting caught up in the details!

Peel the avocados and remove the pits. Chop the avocado into manageable chunks, probably no more than 1 square inch. Put them in a bowl with roughly 1/3 cup chopped onion (red onion is better here but any is fine), 2 crushed or very finely chopped garlic cloves, salt, roughly 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1/3-1/2 cup chopped tomato. Take a large spoon and mix together, but continually press the spoon against the avocado pieces, "mushing" them down until you get the proper consistency. It is great if little chunks of avocado are left but it should be smooth enough to easily eat with a chip.

Try not to eat it all before the guests show up.

Sides: Onions and peppers, tomatoes, cheese
You can prepare any other sides that you enjoy with your tacos. Last night I stir-fried some peppers and onions both as a side and also to double as a vegetarian option. I used green peppers and vidalia onions, which are my favorites. (Vidalia onions are the large, sweeter white onions.) Slice the vegetables into strips, heat up a little olive oil in the pan, and cook the peppers and onions until they are lightly browned. Make sure that you are stirring often to avoid burning. Also, do not be afraid if your pan looks a little overflowing when you start. The onions and peppers will shrink as they are cooked. Last night, I made 2 green peppers and about 1 cup of onions.

Finally, I completed our taco fillings with chopped tomato and grated cheese. You can use whatever cheese you want, but most supermarkets have a "mexican" mix that includes cheddar and monterey jack. You can also put out lettuce or any other personal favorites.

Cornbread
At last, as a side to complete our meal, I made some cornbread. This is an incredibly easy recipe. In fact, I simply made the recipe from the back of my corn meal. I won't risk any plagiarizing by re-typing it here, but simply buy a bag of corn meal and the recipe should be right there! It's very simple, with flour, eggs, etc. Mix it up, throw it into a pan, and bake away! It takes only ten minutes at the most to mix together but is an exciting, slightly more unusual side that goes well with the Mexican theme of the evening.

Let me know if you have any questions or other great taco night ideas that I missed!