Shredded Beef Tacos and "Three Amigos"

Cinco De Mayo is only a few days away and that always puts me in the mood for some Mexican inspired foods. When it comes to Mexican food the first thing that comes to my mind are tacos! It was one of my favorite dinners as a child and I still love them to this day. Over the past few years, I've learned to make my tacos a little differently than I've had them prepared most of my life. Instead of using ground burger as our meat base, I use beef shoulder and braise it until it's tender enough to shred with a fork. Mixed together with stewed tomatoes, onions, spices, and chipotle peppers these tacos are sure to take taco night to a new level. As far the film for this week, I had to go with a film starring three of the funniest actors I know,"Three Amigos!" It's a film that never fails to make me laugh and it always makes me crave some Mexican cuisine. It will go perfectly with a nice plate of tacos and a cold margarita.

Serves 6 to 8

2lb Chuck roast
Vegetable Oil
Kosher Salt
Black pepper
1 large Red or Spanish onion (Sliced)
1 bell pepper (Sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (Minced or grated)
1 teaspoon of Ancho Chili powder
15oz can of diced tomatoes
12oz can of diced tomatoes with green chillies
2-3 canned chipotle peppers
16 flour tortillas
Desired toppings like Shredded Cheddar, onions, salsa, avocado, etc.

In a dutch oven or a large pot, about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the bottom of the pot. Bring the oil to temperature over high heat. Season your chuck roast really well with kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper. Once the oil is hot, sear the chuck roast on all sides until it's browned and develops that beautiful crust.

Once the meat is seared, set the roast aside on a platter and lower the heat. Add the sliced onions and bell pepper. Saute them together in the oil for about 10 minutes, stirring them occasionally. Once the peppers and onions have cooked together, add the two cloves of garlic and stir in with the other vegetables.


 Place the chuck roast back into the pot over top the peppers and onions. Be sure to pour any juices from the platter that your roast was resting on back into the pot as well. Next add the canned of diced tomatoes, the Ancho chili powder, and the can of diced tomatoes with green chillies.


Next add two chipotle peppers from a can into the tomatoes and vegetables. Chipotle peppers tend to be spicy so I start with two and you can always add more later on if you want the tacos to be spicier. The rest of the can of peppers can be placed in a freezer bag and popped in your freezer for next time. Add about ½ cup of water to the pot and mix everything together very well. Now just let the meat simmer on a low temperature for about 2½ hours giving a stir every once in a while.
 

After the cooking time is up, the roast will have become very tender and flavorful. Use a pair of tongs and a large fork to shred the beef. Once the meat has been shredded and mixed together with the sauce, season to taste. Now the only thing left to do is assemble our tacos and eat!

You can use hard taco shells or flour tortillas, which ever you prefer. Follow the instructions on the back on how to prepare them. Get any toppings you'd like to have for your tacos. I usually do any prep work that's needed for my toppings while the meat is still braising so I can eat as soon as the meat has been shredded. Classic taco toppings for me are shredded lettuce, shredded cheddar cheeses, onions, avocado, and either some salsa or some freshly diced tomato. Scoop some of the beef out onto your tortilla and add any kind of topping you'd like. Fold the taco up so that it stays together and slice the taco in half. I usually plan on serving two to three tacos per person but they are quite a bit more filling than ones made with ground beef. Serve the tacos with a nice cold beer or a margarita and this is one flavorful Mexican inspired meal. Now it's time for this weeks movie that helped inspire this dish, the classic comedy "Three Amigos!"

Steven Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase - need I say more? The three comedians play silent film cowboys who fight Mexican outlaws and bandits on the silver screen. When a woman is trying to find help for her village of Santa Poco that is being terrorized by an ruthless outlaw named El Guapo, she stumbles across a screening of a Three Amigo's film. Mistaking the movie for real life, she write the Three Amigos and asks them to save her village from El Guapo.

Lucky Day (Steve Martin), Dusty Bottoms (Chevy Chase), and Ned Nederlander (Martin Short) receive the letter for help just after learning that the studio has fired them and the Three Amigos are no more. Just as the woman made the mistake to think that the film of the three men was real life, the Amigos believe the letter to be from a fan and are just going to put on a live show.

No longer on the set of a movie, their enemies don't follow the scripts to set up their witty lines and and even worse - they shoot with real bullets! The Amigos certainly aren't prepared to battle real life outlaws and face the harshness of the desert. They'll have to harness the spirits of the fictional heroes they portrayed if they wish to make it out of Mexico alive. A humorous tale from start to finish, here is a link to the trailer for "Three Amigos!"