I have a bad habit.
I get ideas to make crazy dishes with limited use ingredients and overbuy said limited use ingredients. Herbs, heavy or light creams, spices, some of them are shelf-stable for a long time. Others, well, let’s just say that sometimes, my food waste habits are a bit shameful.
A week or so ago, I had a crazy idea to make a crunchwrap. It was borne from an inside joke in an e-fed that I’m in, so while it would be good fodder for a post here, well, it’s mostly for me and a select group of people. The moral of the story is that I found a bag of pre-fried tostada shells, which are basically the taco shells you get in those White Person Taco Night kits only flat instead of u-shaped, at Lidl. They were perfect to serve as the median between the hot ingredients and the cold ones. There were like 20 in the pack, but I only used four that night. The options were to use them for something else or let them rot until they accrued mold.
Honestly, enough was enough, and it was time for a change1.
While I had a pound-and-a-half of ground chuck in the freezer, man, I pretty much exclusively make ground beef taco dishes for my son and I on Mondays. What would be good to use as a set piece for dinner that was different and that he would like, especially since I was planning on making Instapot chicken tacos for my daughter later in the week? It struck me like a bolt of lightning from The Hill of Coatepec2. Mushrooms would make a perfect central ingredient.
I got the ingredients together. Refried beans would schmear the bottom of the pile/top of the tostada. I have made them before, but they are labor-intense. Canned would do just fine here. There’s no shame in improvising on a weeknight when you’re a parent. Next would be the mushrooms. I would love to try this with some fancy ones like shiitake or chicken of the woods, but I’d have had to have spent more money than I would’ve been comfortable doing even at the wholesale produce stand. Button mushrooms, the pride of Kennett Square, PA, would not only “have to do,” but they would thrive in this application.
First thing I did was chop up all the mis en place. Shallots and jalapenos were diced, and I decided to slice the garlic thinly rather than grate it so I could cook it in the fat longer and impart more flavor in it. Then I removed the mushroom stems and sliced the caps into slivers about an eighth of an inch thick. Then I cut up half a large onion and two more jalapenos for garnish/topping. Next up, in a heavy-bottomed cast iron Dutch oven, I melted about two tablespoons or so of butter and dumped in the aromatics, seasoning with salt and pepper. After they got soft, I dumped in the mushrooms, salted and peppered again (season in layers, people), and then when the mushrooms had released enough liquid, I dumped in a packet of store-brand taco seasoning. AGAIN, you can make your own. I didn’t feel like playing around with spices, so I just let the Ortega company do it for me under the guise of the store’s generic brand. You didn’t know that most generics were actually name brand overspill? Well now you do! I also added the slightest dash of oregano, because that’s one powerful herb, especially dried, and Mexican food kinda needs it.
Simultaneously, I toasted the tostada shells lightly in the air fryer/toaster oven to get them warmed and crisp. I heated up the refried beans in the microwave, all while watching and stirring the mushrooms. Once enough of the liquid had reduced, I took the pot off the heat.
The tostada construction would start with the shell, then the beans, then the mushrooms. Next, it was time for a modest sprinkle of raw onions and jalapenos. Then, a couple of dabs of Cholula hot sauce (your favorite is fine here too), a sprinkle of queso fresco, and finally, a squirt of sour cream. The end result was something you might pay anywhere between $8 and $20 for at a Mexican restaurant, depending on how snooty it was. The flavors melded together perfectly with the umami from the mushrooms, the richness from the beans, the acid and heat from the hot sauce, the bite from the veggies, and the creaminess from the dairy. Not bad for trying to clear out the pantry, huh.
The moral of the story is to think a little outside the box and use the ingredients you have instead of spending money on stuff new every week. It’s no secret wages aren’t going up, but costs at the supermarket and the gas pump are. They don’t care about us, so we have to care about each other, and part of that is giving out nice tips for people to stretch their grocery bills further. Don’t be afraid to use something you thought you’d only utilize for one dish. And when it comes to Mexican food? There are hardly any wrong answers. Unless you’re from the UK. Then every answer is probably wrong.
A quote from the late, great Owen Hart. Rest well.
Saying “from Mount Olympus” would be inauthentic because I wasn’t making gyros. Shouts to Huitzilopochtli.