McKerracher Family Farm
Certified Organic · Northern Idaho
Tortilla Taco Salad
Taco salad starts with what’s already in the CSA bag. Five ounces of our spring mix, five ounces of arugula, chopped down into small dice-size bites so every forkful gets a little of everything. This is not baking. You really can’t mess it up, and anything you’d put in a taco you can put in the bowl.
What goes in
The bowl
- 5 oz spring mix (three kinds of lettuce, spinach, kale, mustard), chopped small
- 5 oz arugula, chopped small
- 1½ avocados, sliced
- A scoop of pineapple coleslaw with hot garlic honey from Triple 5 Farm
- A few salad turnips
- White onion, diced real small
- Whole kernel golden sweet corn (no preservatives, no artificial colors, just whatever was down in the pantry)
- A handful of microgreens from Paul at the farmers market, a mix with broccoli, amaranth for the shock of pink, and cantaloupe
The protein
- Soyrizo or beef from Triple 5 Farm, your call
- Taco seasoning (the bulk bin at WinCo)
The chips
- A few Rodriguez Bakery yellow corn tortillas, fried, or a bunch of corn chips broken up
- Olive oil and salt for frying
To finish
- Cheddar, or nutritional yeast (Ann prefers it to cheddar)
- Cilantro, unless you’ve got the accursed gene
- A lime, quartered
- Salt, pepper, maybe a little chili powder
- Hot sauce, salsa, sour cream, all fair game
How it comes together
- Chop the greens. Spring mix and arugula down into small, dice-size bites, all of it into a really big bowl.
- Brown the protein. Soyrizo or beef into a pan, heat it up, add taco seasoning until it changes color. That’s usually all it takes, then season to taste. No chicken on hand today, so the bowl went meatless with soyrizo and beef stayed on the side for whoever wants it.
- Fry the tortillas. Heat a pan with olive oil, lay in the Rodriguez Bakery yellow corn tortillas, Idaho made, baby, and when you flip them add a little salt, because oil and salt are the secret to making chips work in the first place. Pull them half crispy, half chewy, then dice small. Got corn chips? Break up a bunch and use those instead. It’s not a real taco salad without them.
- Build the bowl. Avocado, pineapple coleslaw, salad turnips, white onion, corn, microgreens, and the fried tortilla bits over the greens. Salt, pepper, maybe a little chili powder.
- Finish at the table. Cheddar to be ultra indulgent, or nutritional yeast for that healthy cheesy flavor, which Ann prefers to cheddar. Cilantro if you’re not cursed. A squeeze of lime. Whatever hot sauce, salsa, or sour cream you want.
