313- Homemade Taquitos

... es muy bueno!

So you remember that a couple of weeks ago I did a post about making my own Home Canned Beef. (Which turned out totally yummy!! We had some as just a roast beef dinner one night. Very tasty quick meal.)

The biggest reason I wanted to put in a store of canned beef is... TAQUITOS!!! Yum... I love taquitos!! In fact I've been regretting all day that I sent home all the leftovers with Stuart last night!

Taquitos are really very simple to make (uh, but, let's be honest... a bit messy!)

You need to have (these amounts are approximate... I don't measure):

1 can Canned Beef
1-2 tablespoons cream of wheat or malto-meal
1-2 dozen corn tortilla
oil, a bunch (yeah, this is the messy part)
toothpicks, ditto
paper towels, ditto
... and to go along with the yummy eating... guacamole and refried beans

You can get canned roast beef at most supermarket in the same aisle as the tuna...

First you dump your beef into a pan, gravy and all, shred it with a fork. Then sprinkle on some cream of wheat or malto-meal and stir while heating. The cream of wheat/malto-meal absorbs the liquids and makes for yummy, moist taquitos. You want to cook the meat mixture until it is hot and the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. (What you're looking at here is 2 quarts of home canned beef with about 1 cup of liquid and 1/4 c malto-meal.)



Next, pour about 1" of oil into a frying pan (the deeper the pan the better... less mess). Heat to medium hot. Quickly fry each corn tortilla to soften, only about 5 second per side. Remove to paper towels to drain. I find that I can fit 4 tortillas on each paper towel. Add another paper towel and keep going until all your tortillas are softened.



This is the part where I fell down on the photo-taking job. Our home teachers came and Camille and her room mates got here and they started rolling. So I hope I can describe it ok. Place about 1-2 tablespoons of beef down the center of each tortilla. Fold the tortilla over it and then slide the meat back towards yourself with your fingers and then roll the tortilla and secure with a toothpick. (Sorry... I should be fired as photographer)

When you have your taquitos rolled it is time to fry them up (at this stage Stuart calls them raw... funny boy!)

Add oil to your frying pan to 1" again. Heat to medium hot. Add taquitos, don't crowd them and fry, turning once. I like mine on the crunchy, brown side, but some people like theirs softer. It takes about 5 minutes.





Doesn't this just make your mouth water? Yummy! (Now I must tell you that I normally only use ONE toothpick per taquito, but we had a novice roller and we neglected to tell her ONEe was enough!) Crunch, yummy, lip-smacking-good.

OK, loser photographer again... I didn't get a photo of the yummy dipping beans and guacamole... but go here if you want to see it.

We had lots of fun with the making, visiting and eating... and then Camille and the rest of the girls cleaned up the kitchen! What a bunch of sweeties!