A day late for #TacoTuesday with these roasted cauliflower tinga tacos. Taco Wednesday? I don’t know. In any case, sorry, but these are so good that you’ll forgive me soon enough. And now they’re ready for next Tuesday and every one after that.
I’ve been lamenting the lack of acceptable tacos in my not-so-new hometown, when really I should be lamenting the lack of tacos being made in my own kitchen. I guess that means that I’m lamenting my ex-gas stove, the perfect tool for perfecting the perfect but subtle char on my perfect Chicago-based corn tortillas. But I should know better than to hope for perfection every time, because that’s not real life.
Instead, I’m vowing that, despite somewhat sub-par tortilla preparation in my current home, I move ahead with a resolution to make more tacos as in the days of yore and I’m kicking it off with these ones, because if I’m honest, these will kick back.
I mean, spicy!
Well, as spicy as you want them to be. In this recipe, I used one whole chipotle pepper and two teaspoons adobo sauce and it still made my eyebrows rise.
The inspiration for these came from, you guessed it, chicken tinga, a perfectly acceptable filling for a taco if there ever was one. But, I felt the call of the veg, and here we are.
As for those veggies, they are simply my standard cauliflower and butternut squash mixture, roasted to perfect with salt, pepper, olive oil and crushed red pepper. My favorite for any time and any topping. Remember that vegetable shrink a lot in the oven, so while this seems like a ton of veggies remember the spinach effect, and trust my proportions.
Leaf lettuce was in my fridge and needed using so on that went. Cojita cheese seemed like the right thing to do, as did avocado. A squeeze of lime and sprig of cilantro finished them off, and that is always the right thing to do.
It really is as simple as all that.
Cauliflower Tinga Tacos
Roasted cauliflower is coated in spicy homemade tinga sauce and fills corn tortillas in these spicy cauliflower tinga tacos.
Ingredients
- For the vegetables:
- 1 large butternut squash, cubed (about 4 cups)
- 2 pounds cauliflower, cut into florets
- 2 TB olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- For the tinga sauce:
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
- 2 TB minced garlic
- 3/4 cup fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped, with 2 tsp adobo sauce
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1/2 cup water
- For the rest:
- 12 corn tortillas, cooked and heated through (preferably charred on a grill)
- 2 avocados, sliced
- 1 cup Cotija cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Step 2 To a rimmed sheet pan, add the squash, cauliflower, oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 60 minutes until tender. Set aside.
- Step 3 While the vegetables are cooking, to a saute pan, add the 1 TB olive oil and onion. Cook until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, water, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, oregano and cumin. Stir well and bring to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes. Add the lime juice. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.
- Step 4 Divide the vegetables between the tortilla shells, and top with cheese, avocado and a heathy bit of tinga sauce. Garnish with cilantro.
