French Tacos, or, Entre le coma......

Tonight we had an eye of round roast. Although perfect by itself, I wanted to try a different twist after dinner with some of the remnants. From this experiment has emerged a new favorite--French Tacos. Wow! They are amazing. These will be developed in the near future into a main course, I'm sure. We were out of Brie (my first choice), so I used cream cheese, which worked really well. I may try brie next time, but then again I may stick with cream cheese. We will see.

French Tacos

(ingredients per serving)

1 slice cooked eye of round roast (~1/4 inch thick)
1 Tbsp balsamic reduction
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp cream cheese (or brie)
1 small handful watercress
1 flour tortilla

Melt butter and coat one side of tortilla. Add salt and place this side down on a plate Cover other side with balsamic reduction and heat in microwave 20 seconds or 30-45 seconds on stovetop in an ungreased pan. Remove from heat. Place cream cheese in center of balsamic-covered side of tortilla and spread, mixing well with balsamic reduction. Dice or cube beef and place in a line in the center of tortilla. Roughly shred watercress by hand and place in a line on top of the beef. Add a little salt and close the tortilla. Transfer to a new plate, remembering to remove excess melted butter with a paper towel. Serve with a southern Cotes-du-Rhone or Spanish garnache-tempranillo blend. Enjoy....just don't blame me for the coma.

Balsamic Reduction

I remember my first encounter with a balsamic reduction. I was entertaining a client at dinner early in my career and ordered the restaurant's specialty--their version of Beef Wellington. I was spellbound by the sauce, which I later discovered was a simple balsamic reduction. Simple...this is the perfect word to describe the preparation of this sauce, but not the flavors. So many flavors marry in a balsamic reduction that it is hard to describe them all. Years later I am still amazed at how many flavors can come out of such a simple sauce. I say simple, but that is a little misleading. The complexity of the sauce comes out of the complexity of the vinegar, so make sure you use a quality vinegar. You will not be disappointed.

Balsamic Reduction

(Adjust portions to suit your needs. Recipe yields 1/3-1/2 amount of vinegar used.)

1/4 cup good balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter

Add ingredients to a wide pan. (Based on portions, choose a pan large enough so that liquid is 1/2-1 inch deep.) Bring to a boil on medium-high heat then reduce to medium-low. Reduce liquid by half. Serve.

(See, I told you it was easy.)