A Taco Fern Likes!!!!!!!

I like tacos. I like them swimming in sour cream. I like lots of tomatoes. I like avocados and guacamole. I even like refried beans. 

Ryan doesn't like tomatoes, sour cream, refried beans or avocado. 

Fern doesn't like beans or sour cream by itself.

How to make everyone happy? I have to design a meal that can be plated differently for each guest.

Since I can't put sour cream on the taco for Ryan and Fern isn't wild about it either, I should use something else. They both like cheese sauce so that's what I'll make.  The beans need something too.  I put sour cream and fresh lime juice in to liven them up.  The guacamole had sour cream, salt and lime juice in it.  The salad was chiffonade cut garden lettuce with some fresh chopped tomato on Fern's and my plates.  I drizzled olive oil and fresh lemon juice over the lettuce and tomato.  The tomato also got some black pepper.

For the meat I used lean ground Angus. I diced and caramelized an onion, then added a finely diced carrot.  Finally I added a finely diced stick of celery.  When it was all sweated nicely I added the ground Angus and some salt.  I broke the meat up as it cooked and when it was nicely browned I added two tablespoons taco seasoning and a quarter cup chicken stock. Then I simmered that down again so there was just a little moisture when it was put in the taco shell.

The cheese sauce was a pad of butter and teaspoon of flour cooked off. Then 1/4 cup or less chicken stock and 3/4 cup milk. I sliced about 100gm or 1/4 pound of sharp cheddar and put it in the sauce to melt.

I plated the cheese sauce, then the taco with more cheese sauce over top and the lettuce on the side. Refried beans on the other side. All the plates are the same at this point.  Next I added guacamole to Fern's and my plate and tomatoes to our lettuce. I drizzled oil and lemon juice over the salad and sprinkled fresh chopped parsley over all.

Once he had time to taste each component Fern surprised me by saying, "I would pay $15 in a restaurant for this meal. It's really good."

Wow! Fern has never liked a taco and he's never said he'd go to a Mexican restaurant. I'm blown away. Ryan almost liked his meal.  That's a victory for food! I loved my meal, I don't know why I didn't do this sooner? Maybe I didn't know how.