Taco Salad with Deconstructed Guacamole

Right so me and J are huge foodies. We LOVE food! When we were going out I hated looking at my bank statements as they just listed one eatery after another. Now that we have SB and don't quite have the flexibility (or the income) to pop down to the Merchant in Albany for a cheeky cocktail and their amazing sticky hickory pork ribs- yes I know I just mentioned cocktails and ribs in the same sentence, I have been forced to make these amazing meals at home *shock horror face* 

One of my ultimate favourite comfort foods are taco salads from Mexicali Fresh filled with Pork Carnitas. Now I've justified these as being healthy as they have "salad" in the description. But as much salad and vege they put in there, the taco iss till deep fried and the salad usually smothered in sour cream- not that I'm complaining. They are amazing! 

Here is the recipe to my healthy (and cost effective) option, the star of the dish being the deconstructed guacamole

Ingredients

Taco:

4 Tortillas

Olive Oil Cooking spray

Filling:

1/2 Chicken Breast cut into strips and fried with ground pepper, chili flakes and a bit of Moroccan seasoning (I used the other half of the breast for home made pizzas) 

Watties Chili Beans

Mesclun or Baby Spinach (half the bag) 

Deconstructed Guacamole:

1 Avo

4 Sun-dried Tomatos sliced thinly 

1/2 Red Capsicum

1T Olive Oil 

2 Cloves of Garlic chopped

Dried chili flakes

Crispy (but healthy) Taco Shell

I got these awesome taco molds from my friend who does Avon but I'm pretty sure I've seen them at Stevens. They are pretty handy to have around I've made individual quiche's and all sorts of other goodies with them

I just popped the tortilla in there and gave it a tiny spray of olive oil just so they would crisp up beautifully, as if they were deep fried. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for about 7-10 minutes but keep a close eye on them. 

Filling

Filling is pretty straight forward. This time I used chicken because that's just what I had handy but I have also used braised pork mixed in with 4 bean salad, sweet corn and parsley. Skies the limit with your protein options for this dish. 

I also squeezed a wee bit of lime juice into the Chili beans as J LOVES his limes! 

Deconstructed Guacamole

1. Saute garlic and chili flakes on medium heat in the olive oil until soft and fragrant

2. Add capsicum and avo until slightly softened

3. Add the sundried tomato and then COVER THE Pan- this is the most important bit

4. Lower the heat and let all those flavours blend for a good 4-5 mins

5. Once the sun-dried tomatoes darken in colour remove from the heat. You know it's done when there is a beautiful strong smell 

There you have it. Assemble just before eating and top of with a little bit of thick greek unsweetened yoghurt as a sour cream replacement and to cut through the heat of the chili!

J took the leftover taco for work the next day and said he had a lot of jealous workmates- wifey points scored! xx