Tacos Nirvana

Tacos--and I’m talking here about the soft ones, not the deep-fried kind that come from drive-up windows--just may be the world’s most perfect food.

Almost anything can be improved by being wrapped in a steamy corn tortilla. Obscure cuts of meat that some people wouldn’t consider eating even in sausage suddenly become delicacies.

I still think fondly of the tacos de tripas (made with the long, thin part of pork intestines) they sold at an El Gallo Giro that used to be dangerously close to my desk. The carefully cooked tripe had the sweetly liver-like flavor of foie gras and a tender chewy texture. Dabbed with tart green tomatillo salsa and folded in a delicate tortilla, it was probably as close to haute cuisine as street food can come.

Even run-of-the-mill taqueria offerings can be splendid: well-made carnitas (the ones that are crisp outside and succulent inside), carne asada (the more the fire’s in the flavor, the better) and al pastor (the really good ones have a nice smack of achiote paste in addition to the tangy hot sauce).

But as good as these meaty offerings are, it’s a shame no one is doing more with other kinds of taco fillings. There’s a whole range of tacos we almost never see in Southern California: tacos de requeson (filled with an herby ricotta-like fresh cheese), tacos de calamares (just like it sounds), even tacos with zucchini and sausage.

A great place to sample some of these is La Super Rica on Milpas Street in Santa Barbara. Already famous enough for being Julia Child’s favorite taco stand, it nevertheless deserves mention for being the kind of place that will open the eyes of even the most hard-shelled drive-thru addict.

All of this is brought to mind by a lunch there not too long ago with one of my daughter’s friends. As a fairly typical Southern California kid--culinarily, anyway--she’d eaten at a few neighborhood taco stands, but mainly of the fast-food variety.

Her eyes widened when I brought our order to the table. When I go to Super Rica, any thoughts of ordering a reasonable amount of food go out the window. I just start naming the things that sound good; if they sound really delicious, I’ll order two. That invariably leaves me with enough for twice as many people as I’ve brought, but somehow we usually manage to get through it.

The first thing that got her was the queso fundido--a bowl of melted ranchero cheese served with a complex red salsa. Then, when she tasted the tacos de rajas for the first time, she stopped dead. “I’ve never eaten anything like this before,” she said.

I knew the feeling; that was exactly what I said the first time I tasted them years ago. Rajas--literally “rags”--are made from sweet, long-cooked onions and shreds of mildly spicy roasted poblano chiles with just enough pleasantly sour Mexican cream to hold them together. And they are one of those perfect flavor combinations. Wrap them in a soft, steamy corn tortilla and you’ve got nirvana.

I always order three.

RAJAS

6 poblano chiles

4 onions

2 tablespoons oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

Chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons Mexican cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup queso ranchero, crumbled

Rajas can be eaten either as a taco filling or as a vegetable side dish to a fairly bland main course. I like them with sausages. Queso ranchero is a Mexican cheese that is tangy, mildly salty and melts softly. It--and many other Mexican dairy products, including the slightly sour cream--is available in almost all supermarkets these days. Cacique makes a particularly good one.

Roast peppers either under broiler, on grill or over gas burner until skin begins to blacken, about 10 minutes. Place in bowl and cover with damp towel to finish steaming. When cool, peel thin, blackened skin and discard. Remove seeds and stems and tear flesh into coarse shreds.

Cut onions in half, then in half-moons less than 1/4 inch thick. Combine in skillet with oil and cook, covered, over low heat until onions have thoroughly wilted and softened and are beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove cover and raise heat to medium. Add garlic and 1 tablespoon cilantro and cook until garlic is soft, about 5 minutes. Add pepper shreds and heat through, about 5 more minutes.

Just before serving, add cream, stir to combine and cook just long enough to thicken, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt, plus more to taste if necessary. Do not over-salt; cheese is somewhat salty. Remove from heat and add crumbled cheese and more chopped cilantro to taste.

4 side-dish servings or 6 servings as taco filling. Each of 4 servings:

185 calories; 690 mg sodium; 11 mg cholesterol; 13 grams fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 2.58 grams fiber.

Kitchen Tip

To prepare tortillas for soft tacos, either toast them lightly over an open flame or wrap them in a kitchen towel in bundles of 10 and put them in a steamer. After steaming for 1 minute, turn the heat off and let them sit in the pan for 10 minutes before serving.

Basket in photo above from Philip Paul Design, Venice.