February 10, 2020

That Dinner Party: Taco Fiesta

Hello hello! As many of you already know, I love to have people over. Intimate dinners, larger parties – I love them all. I am convinced that in a former life I was an Italian grandmother who loved to feed people. I constantly get asked, “omg, how do you do it?” or “I could never”; I figured it was time to start posting about my party menus, and it just might inspire others to start hosting.

Last weekend, I had 30+ of my friends over for a taco party. Unlike some of my dinners where I cook the whole, dang, thing, I made a few fillings in larger quantities and then had everyone bring a taco filling/topping of choice. To take the pressure off those who don’t cook, I threw out topping ideas ranging from rotisserie chicken (yes, one of my friends actually bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it!!) to avocados, limes, and taco shells.

Things I made:

  • Chicken Tinga: This has reignited my love for chicken tinga, and it’s shockingly easy to make. I used ~2 pounds of frozen chicken breast.
  • Ground Beef: I used a pound and a half of ground beef and swapped tomato sauce for tomato paste + water
  • Tofu and Black Bean Filling: I did 2x this but had so much leftover I was eating it for a week straight after. If you know other people are bringing fillings, I’d just do one portion.
  • Black Beans
  • Pico de Gallo: I don’t have a recipe for this – I just throw together tomatoes, white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper and let it marinade overnight
  • Topping board: I will toss my humility out the door and say that I was a genius for thinking to use my cheeseboard that I never have the occasion for. On the board: sliced red onions, cubed white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, sliced radishes, lime wedges, and avocado. I had extras of everything as well that I tried my best to replenish throughout the night
  • I also grabbed tortillas, cotija, sour cream (which I forgot to take out of the fridge -facepalm-)

I knew that people were planning on bringing chips and salsa so I didn’t grab any of those things. Friends also brought esquites (YUM, I was eating this by the spoonful by the end of the night), Guerrilla Tacos’ sweet potato taco filling (MAJOR YUM – I’ve been savoring the rest of the almond salsa), and the IG famous Caramelo duck fat tortillas.

Hosted: February 1, 2019