Behold the first meaty dish I’ve made in some time: Tacos de Tinga Pollo

On Monday, I was surprised by a buzz at the door. When I walked down the stairs to see who it was (our intercom system goes in and out…it was out that day), I discovered a package addressed to me at the bottom of the stairs. It was obviously from Amazon, and I had an idea that it was one of the cookbooks on my wish list. It was Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday, sent to me by Andrew’s parents. I imagine that they decided on this one after recalling the flank steak and poblano tacos I made for them when they visited in June. I also made a point of showing them all of the “exotic” and essential ingredients for Mexican cuisine I can find just a half-mile away at a Mexican grocery. It was a good choice on their part, and of course, I’ve already read through it, each and every page, including the introduction and index. OK, maybe not the index, but I definitely did sit down and read through all of the recipes and the introduction on Monday night before going to bed. And I decided which recipe I’d start with: Tacos de Tinga Poblana con Augacate y Queso Fresco. While Bayless’ recipe calls for boneless pork shoulder,
I used chicken breasts. Andrew ate pork tamales last night at Neuvo Leon and I wasn’t really up for pork tonight. I also did something a little questionable. Instead of buying some homemade (Mexican) chorizo to sprinkle on top, as the recipe suggests, I defrosted some soyrizo that I knew we had in the freezer. Like I said, questionable, but surprisingly good. Especially if you fry it up pretty crispy in some oil. It’s not like I was using it for my health after all, rather it was one less thing to buy (and carry home).

Again, I find myself writing this when it past my bed time, so I’ll post the recipe later in the week with some more thoughts and comments.