Mexican-Style Ground Beef
Mexican-style ground beef–a terrible title for an excellent dish–came about by accident. So many recipes do around here.
After a recipe fail, a plumbing mishap, and the last-minute cancellation of oral surgery, dinnertime had the temerity to roll around. Your hostess was on prep duty. Of course.
The IK currently has no front teeth. Well, I do, but they’re purely cosmetic. I can’t actually chew with them or anything. They’d break. And then I’d really have no front teeth.
This means I’m on the mush diet until my dentist can give me stronger fake teeth. You know, the kind a girl can chew with.
Other bloggers may evoke envy with their tales of social media influencing or as they divulge the details of their many-numeraled book deals. Here at the IK we talk blocked toilets and failing teeth.
Reality. It’s a thing.
Enter Mexican-Style Ground Beef. It began life as Mexican Tinga Poblana, which appears in Diana Henry’s Plenty.
Henry’s recipe, which I’ve made before, uses pork loin, and is, like all Diana Henry recipes, delicious. My recipe, which differs vastly, calls for ground beef and is more like a deconstructed taco–mind you, in a good way. Brown your ground beef, blot or pour the fat off, add minced garlic and onion, dried hot pepper, cumin, oregano, and tomato sauce. Cook this down for about 15 minutes. Dinner.
Doll this up with all manner of sides–black beans, white rice, avocados, green salad, tomatoes, charred bell peppers, salsa, sour cream, cotija cheese, tortillas–or throw health to the winds and rip open a bag of tortilla chips (guess which we did), and call it a night.
Don’t forget the cold beer.
Mexican-Style Ground Beef
Adapted from Diana Henry’s Mexican Tinga Poblana Recipe in Plenty
Preparation time: 20 minutes to rehydrate dried pepper; 15 minutes to cook
Serves 2-3; amounts easily scaled upward
1 pound best-quality ground beef (See notes for a discussion of ground beef and alternatives)
1/2-1 dried New Mexico Chile or other dried hot pepper of you choice, rehydrated in hot water for 20 minutes, seeded or not
small amount of olive or canola oil, for pan (see discussion in instructions)
1 small white onion, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 fifteen-ounce can whole plum tomatoes in juice
salt and pepper to taste: tomato sauce may be salty
lime juice, to taste
cilantro or parsley, for the top
To serve: all, some, or none
salsa
sour cream
tortillas
salad greens
finely shredded green or purple cabbage
lime wedges
cotija cheese
shredded white cheese
avocado
taco shells
tortilla chips
your favorite bottled hot sauce
Unless your kitchen is extremely warm, remove ground beef from the refrigerator 10-15 minutes before cooking.
You’ll need a large, heavy-bottomed pan, about 12-14 inches across. I used my Staub “Everyday” pot. It is 14-inches across and made of enameled cast iron. Heavy nonstick, ceramic, or metal like All-Clad would also work. Avoid cast iron, as it will react with the tomato sauce.
If you are using nonstick pans, you won’t need to oil the bottom of the pan during cooking. If you use metal-bottomed pan, start browning the meat with about two teaspoons canola, olive, sunflower, or grapeseed oil.
Start with the dried pepper. Boil a cup of water in the microwave. Rehydrate dried pepper, 15-30 minutes. Once pepper is soft, cut small or, if you wish to remove it from finished dish, leave it in larger pieces.
Brown the beef:
Place pan over medium heat. Add a small amount of oil if necessary. Add the beef, breaking it up and keeping it moving with a spatula. The heat should be high enough to cause a sizzle; increase if necessary. Cook, stirring, 3-5 minutes. Once the beef is separated and browned, decrease heat and either carefully blot excess fat with paper towels (my choice) or pour it into heatproof container (canning jars are good for this).
Add the rehydrated pepper, garlic, and onion, and stir.
Add the cumin, oregano, tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Remember tomato sauce can very salty, so go easy on the salt; tasting carefully.
Simmer 10-15 minutes.
Taste, adding lime and correcting for salt if necessary. Top with cilantro or parsley, and serve with some or none of the above accompaniments. This is especially delicious, if not very healthy, with tortilla chips.
Mexican-Style Ground Beef keeps, refrigerated, in a covered container up to five days. You can freeze this, but the flavor suffers.
Notes:
Mexican-Style Ground Beef is also delicious prepared with ground pork. Though the dish works using with ground chicken or turkey, the strong spices tend to overpower these milder meats. Be sure to use poulty with enough fat or dish will be inedibly dry.
Preferences for dried peppers vary; use what you like. I’ve used both dried New Mexico Chile pepper with the seeds and chipotle peppers. Be sure to wash your hands carefully when handling hot peppers, and avoid touching your eyes!
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