Extra Holiday Brisket? Make Shredded Beef Tacos

  Okay, so I made extra.  But having more than enough is a good thing.  Especially with something as delicious as braised in brown ale Beef Brisket.  I got the recipe from Adam's site, the Amateur Gourmet, who truth be told, is no longer all that much of an amateur.  We had a sort of pot luck Christmas dinner, in that people brought things, without any duplication, and pretty much all the niches were taken care of.  Shredded pork, leg of lamb, and my brisket being the meat section.

After resting in the fridge, the fat is easy to remove, the beef can be shredded, and a bit of seasoning tossed in.  Well, lots of zippy Mexican style spices, onion, garlic, and a few tomatoes were all fried together.  Now you have the basic filling for some super tacos.

Serve with little side dishes of things people can add as they like: diced onion, cilantro leaves, hot sauce, roughly shredded lettuce, grated Oxaca cheese (or Monteray Jack).  And, of course the warmed corn tortillas.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Serves 2-3
1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 dry chipotle chili, soaked in 1/2 cup hot water for 1/2 hour or so (until soft), then chopped
2 tablespoons corn oil
2 or 3 tomatoes and their juices, diced or crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 cup beef braise stock
3 cups shredded beef
salt and pepper to taste
6-8 corn tortillas (depends on how many you eat)

In side dishes:
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
2 cups shredded cheese - Oxaca, Monteray Jack or Mozzarella
1/2 cup minced onion or green onion
2 cups roughly shredded lettuce
sliced black olives (optional)
Salsa or hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350F
In a medium skillet, on medium high heat, add the oil.  Fry the onion in the heated corn oil, stir until softening, then add the garlic and cook a few minutes more, add in the softened, chopped chili pepper, the tomatoes, stock and spices.  Cook until the sauce has thickened a bit and stir in the beef, mix well and season to taste with extra salt and pepper if needed.

While the beef filling is heating up, wrap your tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for about 15 minutes.  By then everything should be ready, and the condiments arranged on the table.  Roll one up and dig in.   Since good things should be shared, I'm linking this to the Hearth N Soul Blog Hop, co-hosted by Girl Chef.