Beef tacos with pickled cabbage and creamy avo
Got a crowd to feed? Here’s your gig. We figure it’s not worth cooking up this style of a long-braised beefy storm for the average nuclear family but if 2.7 diners is all you’re mustering, just halve everything and be prepared for leftovers. No biggie. The cooked meat will freeze. TBH we don’t think our butcher heard us when we said ‘give us about a kilo of your finest beef chuck, please’. It just goes to show that one man’s ‘about a kilo’ is another person’s ‘absolute s%#!-ton’ and once we hauled what felt like half a freaking cow home, we figured we may as well make a cracking big batch of kai. Sometimes it’s great to have a dish like this in your arsenal when you’re feeding The Masses, or fancy having leftovers for a lazy dinner the next day. It’s the sort of recipe you can attack in stages, none of them hard. Rustle up the quick, pickled salad the night before, get the beef going in the arvo (or the day before and reheat it), then organise your tacos and whizz up the avo right before you serve. Just lay everything out for punters to help themselves; they can load up their tacos with as little or as much of the fixings as they like. It’s hard to say exactly how many tacos you need as it depends what size you prefer and how stuffed-full people make them. Go for a packet more than you reckon, and freeze any leftovers for when you next fancy tacos. Ditto the avocado – go for three if you love the things or yours are smallish. You could just slice them and serve the sour cream separately for dolloping; whatever floats your boat. Gosh in that instance, you might need four. And yes, we are Over Caterers. We love a heaving-full table.
SERVES 8
80ml (⅓ cup) canola oil
1.6kg-1.75kg boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 6 large pieces
2 onions, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, finely minced or chopped
3 tbsp tomato paste
1½ tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp sweet paprika
½ tsp ground allspice
2 fresh bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
625ml (2½ cups) beef stock, approximately
250ml (1 cup) orange juice
80ml (⅓ cup) lime juice
1½-2 tbsp chipotle in adobo, or to taste
about 24 soft wheat or corn tacos, to serve
coriander sprigs, to garnish
Pickled cabbage salad
¼ smallish red cabbage, finely sliced
4 cups (1 litre) boiling water
1 small carrot, shredded
1 small red onion, halved and finely sliced
1 large green chilli, finely sliced (optional)
100ml apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
Avo cream
2-3 ripe avocados, coarsely chopped
85g (⅓ cup) sour cream
lime juice, to taste
For the pickled cabbage salad, place the cabbage in a colander in the sink, pour over the boiling water, then drain well and cool. Use your hands to massage the cabbage a bit to soften it. Combine in a large bowl with the carrot, onion, chilli (if using), vinegar, 1/4 cup (80ml) water, salt and oregano. Use clean hands to toss everything together really well. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight for the mixture to lightly pickle.
Heat half the oil over medium-high in a large, heavy-based frypan. Add the beef, in batches if necessary, season well with salt, then cook about 5 minutes on each side or until well browned all over. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large, heavy-based casserole or saucepan. Add the onion and garlic then cook, stirring often, for 7-8 minutes or until softened. Stir in the tomato paste and the herbs, spices and aromatics, then stir for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the stock, orange juice, lime juice and chipotle in adobo.
When the beef is well browned, transfer to the saucepan. Working quickly, add about 250ml (1 cup) water to the frypan, stirring to dislodge any stuck-on bits from the base of the pan. Stir the liquid briefly, then pour it into the saucepan. The beef should be almost covered; add a little extra stock or water if needed, but don’t drown it. Bring the liquid to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pan, then cook the beef for about 2 hours or until very tender, turning it once or twice. Remove the beef from the pan, skim off any excess fat from the surface, then bring the liquid to the boil. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes or until it is very reduced and thickened. Using clean hands or two forks, coarsely shred the beef, then return it to the sauce, tossing to coat. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200˚C. Wrap the tacos in foil, and heat in the oven according to packet instructions.
For the avo cream, combine the avocado, sour cream and a dash of lime juice in a food processor, then process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You don’t want too much lime as the salad is quite puckery.
Drain the excess liquid from the salad, then arrange the salad, avo cream, the hot beef, tacos and coriander sprigs in bowls and on plates. Summon your crew, arm them with plates, plenty of paper napkins and cold beers, then firmly instruct them to dig the heck in.
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