Garlic and chipotle beef tacos with slaw

In my last post I talked about my love affair with Jamie O and his fish pie; I thought that for this post I could talk about my love affair with musicals but quickly came to the realisation that this is not a ‘personal hobby blog’ this is a cooking blog. So keeping right on the theme of cooking I am going to talk about another great love of mine: leftovers. Cold takeaway pizza from the fridge the day after – love it. Cold sausage from last nights barbeque with compulsory tomato sauce – love it. Yesterday’s cheesecake eaten straight from the fridge (and preferably for breakfast) – love it, love it, love it. You could call me a pig but you could also call me conscious about preventing food wastage. Did you know that Aussies and Kiwis throw away approximately a third of food purchased and some studies show that Americans throw away half? Some of this can’t be helped – there isn’t much you can do with banana peels and onion skins but a lot of it can and should be prevented. We have access to so much variety in supermarkets, farmers markets, restaurants and cafes that the thought of eating something for two nights in a row can seem dull. It’s just as easy to throw it out and try something different right? The real fact is that leftovers can be reconfigured into a completely different form from their first appearance and with a whole lot less effort than cooking a meal from scratch. The hard work was done the night before and with the addition of a few fresh ingredients they can be new, exciting and unrecognisable.

This recipe is leftover transformation at its best. Leftover braised beef gets a quick flash in the pan with garlic and chipotle peppers and is served with a zesty slaw and soft corn tacos. It won’t be long before this recipe (and its former in carnation) will be on regular rotation in your kitchen.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a light meal

• Braised beef:
• Leftover braised or roast beef, flaked (I used approx 2 cups)
• 3 Chipotle peppers (I used tinned, La Morena brand)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• Slaw:
• ½ red cabbage, finely sliced
• 1 apple, finely sliced
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 1tsp sugar

• Dressing:
• ¼ cup unsweetened yoghurt
• 1 tbsp chipotle sauce
• ½ lime, juiced
• Salt and pepper

• To serve:
• 1 small bunch coriander
• 8 soft corn tacos

Method

• --
• 1. Saute the garlic and chipotle pepper in oil. Add the flaked beef.
• 2. Mix the cabbage, apple, lime zest and juice and sugar in a bowl.
• 3. Mix the yoghurt, chipotle sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
• 3. Heat the tacos in a hot pan. Once soft and place braised beef in the centre then top with slaw, dressing and coriander, fold in half and eat!