Homemade corn tortillas -- you'll never look back

OMG. That's all I can say about homemade corn tortillas. Warm and soft, with a dense, yet supple mouthfeel that you could just sit and eat plain while making happy little noises. But when you fill them?  Oh my. These are nothing like the cardboard-textured nastiness you get from the supermarket. 

But first, a funny story: this weekend I met a woman who was telling me about all the things that were on her bucket list and she asked what was on mine. I told her I didn't think I had anything on my bucket list, that I was happy with how my life was right now and couldn't see how it could be better. After I made the tortillas I realized that it had been on my bucket list all along. So, check!  

A couple of recipe notes: The main ingredient in these tortillas is masa harina, a specific type of flour made from dried corn. It's hard to find around here; Wende ordered it for me from Amazon.com. You MUST use masa harina; corn flour or corn meal will not work (and yes, I know this from personal experience). Second, you need to flatten the tortillas. You can use heavy books, skillets, a rolling pin, whatever floats your boat. I used this tortilla press. It was awesome. 


Ingredients:

2 cups Masa harina
1 teaspoon salt
water (probably about 1 and 1/2 cups or so)

Directions:

1. Put masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Add water until it's a consistency that holds together, as in the first photo below. I suggest using your hands; you need to feel this. 

2. Preheat a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. When it's hot, melt some fat on it, such as butter or oil. 

3. Form the dough into balls a bit larger than golf balls. Line your tortilla press with plastic wrap to prevent sticking. Place a dough ball on the press and flatten slightly. Now press it!!!! The result is a flat, little pancake. Toss that on your hot skillet and cook for 30 seconds on each side. Set each warm tortilla aside and cover with a towel to keep warm and moist while you finish cooking. Keep adding fat as needed to the skillet. I re-coated my skillet after each batch. 

I doubled this recipe for 7 people, by the way. Originally, I just made one batch with the 2 cups of masa, and my husband walked by, looked at the plate, tasted one and said, "You need to make more." So I did. 

For fillings I made short ribs seasoned with Arizona Dreaming spice (cooked all day and shredded), traditional ground beef with my own, homemade taco seasoning, and shrimp cooked in olive oil and seasoned with Old Bay. I also whisked up some chipotle sour cream and, of course, had the traditional cheese and lettuce. I forgot to buy tomatoes, but I don't think anyone missed them!

Here are my photos:

Notice how the dough sticks together, like Play-Doh.

This was the first batch. I doubled this and they all got eaten because they were so good we just couldn't stop nomming on them.  

Lovely little sliders

I had my first homemade mayonnaise fail yesterday. It made me sad because it uses a whole cup of olive oil, and I don't want to waste it. So, I put the runny mess in a container in the fridge and figured I'd figure out what to do with it later. 

Then, today, I was trying to think of what to have for lunch and just had this vision of adorable little sliders drizzled with my garlicky mayo fail. 

I just happened to have a pound of grass-fed ground beef in the fridge, and remembered that I had some leftover Penzey's Arizona Dreaming spice mix from Cinco de Mayo, when I made short rib tacos (which were devoured). Southwest sliders? Sounds good to me!

Here's the thing about sliders: they're fun. Even low-carb folks, like me, eat a lot of burgers, we just forgo the bun. And it's easy to get tired of burgers, but sliders make it seem like it's a whole different meal.  

I plopped the meat into a bowl. Added an egg, some chopped onions, fresh parsley, Arizona Dreaming spice (about 1/2 tablespoon), garlic and mixed it all together. While I was forming them into meatballs, I preheated a griddle on a burner of my stove on medium. When it was hot, I melted a bit of coconut oil on the griddle. When it was hot, I flattened the meatballs and plopped them on the hot skillet. 

This is what that step looked like: 

I cooked them for about 7 total minutes, and drizzled them with my mayo fail. For a side, I had fresh veggies I got from the farm store (broccoli, kohlrabi and carrots) with my homemade ranch dressing for dipping. And here's the finger-licking good lunch I ended up with:

I say finger-licking good because you can eat these cute little sliders with your hands, they're that small and perfectly-shaped. Now that's a happy meal.