Roast chicken and beet pickle tacos

I’m very close to declaring May as “no-blog-month”. But if you know me like I know myself, I probably won’t do no a no-blog-month because I don’t know how to relax. HELP me. I was supposed to come back from Seattle today (I also went yesterday. It’s a 50 min bus ride from my house), sit on the bed and scroll my phone endlessly. Instead I planted onions and now I’m writing this. I walked at least 20 km in 2 days. I don’t know what that means in steps but it was uphill, downhill, through a park, every floor of the library, into a Salumi line, past privileged Seattle, into a P-Patch and under the ropes at Rancho Bravo Tacos in no specific order.

My dearest first ever band-mate and secret drummer Maria who is leaving Seattle to go back to the east coast after taking a bicycle trip to LA was with me on Monday and did some of the things above with me and lent me a bag for a trip I’m taking next month. I’m going to miss her even though we didn’t hang out at all after rock camp. In the short time I ate with her I learnt that: a) she likes spicy foods b) she likes pickles (me too!) c) she likes tortilla chips but not-so-much corn tortillas. She’s part of the fabric of my 20s and omg we were in 3-Gemini 1-Taurus band!!! #neverforget

Maria and I went to eat some food in Capitol Hill yesterday and as a parting gift, I gave her one last lesson on sorting garbage/compost/recycle to take back to Boston. Nobody can ever take that moment away from us. She ate pozole, I ate enchiladas and we shared a side of chips and a water cup of pickles. She didn’t eat her soft corn tortillas so of course, I took them home and thank you Maria because you gave me more lunch for today. I don’t know when I’ll see my little gnome next so I made this blog post just for her (but not really because that would be awkward). I hope your lentils and mash taste spectacular, that you become one with the hills as you ride down the Pacific coast and your crotch doesn’t burn too much when you crawl into your sleeping bag. Here’s to your next best thing. Don’t forget meeee!!

What do I say about this recipe except that it’s all the best leftovers rolled into one satisfying bite. Can you tell I didn’t shop for groceries this week? The roast chicken was from dinner on Sunday. I linked the recipe in the ingredients below so use that one or any other favourite roast chicken recipe you have. I didn’t truss the chicken (chicken truss nobody #dadjoke). I just set it in a baking dish and surrounded it with 3 carrots, 1 leek and slices of lemon under the skin and wedges in the cavity. We salt+ peppered the almost 1 kg (2 lb) chicken and then rubbed it all over and under the skin with store-bought salt-free Mughlai masala. You should find it at your Indian store or online. I got mine from hereee. If you’d rather not, tandoori masala is a good substitute
You can make these vegetarian/vegan by marinating a hearty vegetable/tuber like squash, cauliflower or sweet potato in the masala+salt+pepper and leaving out the cheese in favour of a creamy garlic sauce combination (tahini+garlic+lemon+olive oil)

Ingredients

• 1 package soft corn tortillas
• 1 recipe roast chicken with modifications (see headnote), leftovers shredded
• Salad greens of any kind (peppery-herby ones are my favourite)
• Pickled beets (recipe below)
• Blue cheese

For the beet pickles

• 2 small beets, sliced into 1/8″ thin rounds (as thin as possible)
• 1 serrano or jalapeno, cut into rounds (remove some seeds if you want it less spicy)
• 1/4 large red onion, cut into slivers
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Toss all the ingredients in a bowl and let them sit for 30 minutes. The beets will get softer as they cure and lose some of their water. Store in a wide mouth glass jar or in a bowl with a lid. The pickle will be spicy initially but will get milder and tastier the longer it sits. It will keep well in the fridge for 2 weeks. Shake the jar occasionally (when you remember) to mix all the new juices up and use on everything!

BONUS: The leftover pickle juice will be great to use in salad dressings or to marinate meats.