Tacos

This is another recipe that has been passed down by the family. We had taco night all the time when I was growing up. But these weren't a store-bought mix with the hard shells. My parents bought ground beef, added spices and we always had the soft taco shells.

Tacos were also one of the first things I cooked for others, I remember making them for my roommates in college. They were always a favorite. When I moved to Ukrainian Village back in 1999 I was able to take them to the next level. There's a local grocery store at Chicago Ave. and Western Ave. that I started shopping at. It's an interesting store because it caters to the Latino, the Ukrainian, the African Americans and hipsters that shop there. It's there that I found the taco meat as they call it. It's basically a chopped steak and they make a great taco.

On Friday night I made a some for Rory's brothers, Shea and Ryan, and Shea's girlfriend Mary.

This made a lot so you can cut back as appropriate.

3 pounds taco meat
1 large Spanish onion (diced)
1 large pepper (diced) (you can use green, red, orange, whatever you want)
1 small can of tomato sauce
3 TBLSP ground cumin
1 TBLSP ground cayenne pepper
1 TSP paprika
salt and pepper

Dice the vegetables and sautee in vegetable oil until almost brown. Add the taco meat and cook until brown. Add the tomato sauce and spices, turn down the heat to medium low and let cook, stirring occasionally.

You can let this cook for as long as you want, but I suggest letting cook for at least an hour so it soaks up all the good flavor and the meat becomes tender. I serve on flour tortillas with cheese, sour cream, salsa and lettuce.

I took a photo but I can't get it to post correctly. I had to rotate it in iPhoto but now it won't post that way and I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?