Cinco de Mayo!
Happy Cinco de Mayo AND taco Tuesday, everyone! Double the fun if you ask me. As I’ve mentioned before, tacos are my favorite food group and if I had the eat them all day, every day, for the rest of my life, you wouldn’t hear a peep out of me about it! Over the years of traveling to different states and cities, I’ve eaten some seriously delicious tacos. A few years back I visited Austin, Texas and basically ate my weight in tacos over the span of 48 hours. I distinctly remember eating a taco that was as much savory as it was sweet and refreshing and I’ve always wanted to recreate it. Rewind to a few days ago when I was planning my Cinco de Mayo menu, I was doing some taco research, as one does, and came across a recipe so similar to what I wanted to recreate. I’m not surprised it’s a recipe from my favorite food blogger, Half Baked Harvest. Have you seen her food photos?? Drool. Worthy.
Enter the spicy cider beer braised chicken enchilada/tacos with a sweet chili apple-pomegranate salsa. Except minus the enchilada part because I omitted the enchilada sauce. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Yes, you need to make it. Yes, it’s okay if you eat it all. Here’s the recipe, you can thank me later. Also, I let my chicken simmer in the sauce longer than the recipe calls for and I’m glad I did, it was packed with flavor.
The crunch of the apples and refreshing burst of flavor in the pomegranate arils in the salsa was such a great compliment to the spice in the chicken; it really balanced everything out. I love texture when eating a taco… like “oh, what’s that tasty little surprise crunch?”. Focusing on every bite, I could really taste every ingredient and I'm really happy with how they turned out.
I made a grilled Mexican street corn and quinoa salad as a side; it was equally as refreshing as it was satisfying. It’s also healthy, win-win! I can’t wait to make it again now that it’s definitely warming up in Southern California. It would make a great dish to serve for a large group of people because the recipe makes a lot and is also super easy to double. In fact, I’m adding that to my list of “summer party” foods!
Cinco de Mayo celebrations wouldn't be the same without a yummy and refreshing cocktail to pair with your meal! Half Baked Harvest came through, once again, with a killer drink! Honestly, I couldn’t even taste the tequila in it, which is a little dangerous, haha!
All of this can be made at any time, not just for Cinco de Mayo! I don’t think there’s ever a wrong time for tacos, a refreshing street corn salad, and a few cocktails!
Enjoy!
