Potato Tacos with Pico de Gallo

Today's recipe is not only David's favorite meal of mine, it's also the easiest recipe in the world. I developed it early on in our relationship when one night we really wanted some potato tacos from Hole Mole, but we didn't feel like going out. At first this recipe was a potato burrito and I made it with real potatoes. It was kind of tasty, but not as good as the tacos from Hole Mole, so as I tried to make my recipe as close to the real thing, I finally got it right where I wanted it. In fact, David prefers my tacos to Hole Mole's now.

Potato Tacos

Ingredients (for 6 tacos)
25-30 frozen tater tots (or more depending on how much you love tater tots)
6 small corn tortillas (or flour if you prefer)
One recipe Pico de Gallo (below)
One recipe Guacamole (optional, below)
Your favorite hot sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In the meantime, prepare Pico de Gallo and set aside.

2. Layer tater tots onto a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on how soft or how crispy you want your potatoes.

3. Prepare tortillas by lining a separate baking sheet with parchment paper and layering the tortillas, set aside.

4. Once the tater tots are baked to preferred crispiness and out of the oven, preheat oven to Broil on High. Add tater tots to a bowl just a few at a time and smash them with a fork until all tater tots are smashed, place in the microwave without turning it on to keep warm (if they cool off before you can assemble your tacos, simply re-heat them in the microwave, no one will know the difference).

If you would like, add some oil of your choice to your smashed tater tots, one teaspoon at a time and some salt to taste. I skip this step because the tater tots are already a little oily, but sometimes they need a pinch of salt to bring them to life.

5. Add tortillas to oven and watch them carefully (you can also add the tortillas right on top of oven rack without the parchment lined baking sheet). The tortillas will warm up very fast under the broiler so keep and eye on them and take them out when they are just beginning to crisp up slightly.

6. Add desired amount of smashed potatoes to each tortilla, then top with Pico de Gallo and a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce, if desired. You can also add the Guacamole at this time if you so wish.

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients
3 Roma tomatoes
1 small red onion, halved
1 bunch cilantro
2-3 limes
1 jalapeno (optional)
Salt to taste

Slice tomatoes in half lengthwise, remove seeds and excess water from the flesh with your hands, dice and add to a medium bowl. Dice half of the red onion (or more if you like a lot of onion) and add to tomatoes. Finely chop cilantro, then seed and dice jalapeno, if you like some heat. Zest and juice the limes (always zest first). Combine all ingredients into the bowl and toss, add salt to taste.

Guacamole

Ingredients
3-4 Avocados
One recipe Pico de Gallo

Cut avocados in half lengthwise around the pit, remove pits and set aside in a small bowl. Carefully run your knife along the halved avocados lengthwise without cutting the skin to create slices, then run your knife in horizontal slices to create cubes, remove from skin with a spoon. Once all of the avocado cubes are added, smash with a fork or spoon until creamy, but with a good amount of chunks. Add one recipe of Pico de Gallo, stir to combine. Add more salt to taste and a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce for some extra heat, if desired. Add pits and mix them into the guacamole to help keep the avocados from browning too quickly.

I hope you enjoy my potato tacos!
~Andrea