I wasn’t so sure about this recipe from the recently released cook book Mexican Modern: New Food from Mexico. Not because it didn’t sound delicious but because the original recipe called for duck. Now duck and orange go swimmingly together but I couldn’t readily get my hands on a cooked duck so I substituted chicken. A few other minor adjustments were also made in light of the chicken vs. duck decision. I am sure the results would have been even better with the duck but as my wife proclaimed, “These are the best tacos you have ever made.” And that is saying a lot considering how often I experiment with the venerable Mexican street food. I cheated and use the whole rotisserie chicken and picked it clean. Do the same.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 whole cooked chicken, meat picked from bone and shredded
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 5 dried guajillo or pasilla chilies, stemmed and chopped rough
• 2 large yellow onions, chopped rough
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped rough
• 2 small tomatoes, chopped rough
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
• 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced roughly
• 3/4 cup Mexican creama or sour cream
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• pinch of cayenne
• 1 cup shredded Cotija cheese
• flour tortillas

PREPARATION:

In a large skillet or saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the peppers, onions and garlic then cook until soft but don’t brown them. About 5 minutes. Next add the tomatoes, oregano and sage and cook for about another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer this mixture to a food processor and puree’.  Return the mixture to the pan and stir in the orange juice and vinegar and then add the chicken. Season with salt, pepper and cayanne to taste, and simmer for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid cooks away. Meanwhile make the avocado creama by pureeing the avocados, Mexican creama and lemon juice in a food processor. Then salt and pepper the creama to taste. Next, warm the tortillas on a hot griddle or in an iron cast skillet for about 5 – 1- seconds per side. Build the tacos by adding the meat mixture to a tortilla, then the shredded cheese and then top with the avocado creama.

Serves 6 – 8

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