Bacon potato tacos

One of my favorites restaurants in Olympia is Quality Burrito.  They make these amazing potato and potato bacon tacos that I absolutely love.  I figured they couldn’t be that hard to make at home and after a little experimenting I came up with something just as tasty as the QB original. 

The basic ingredients are obvious: bacon and potatoes.  I bought two slices of thick bacon at the deli counter since I don’t cook bacon very often and whole package seemed like a bit waste of space in the freezer.  The key with bacon is to cook it slowly over medium heat.  While that was simmering away, I peeled two pounds of potatoes (tasty ones from my garden now stored in the garage for the winter) and cooked them in a little water until they were soft enough to stick a fork through them. 

When it was crispy on both sides I pulled the bacon out of the pan, patted it dry with a paper towel, crumbled it into tiny pieces and set it aside.

I drained the potatoes and dropped them in the bacon grease.  I used the back of a wooden spoon to smash the potatoes and turned them often, slowly browning them. 

When the potatoes were the color of breakfast hash browns, it was time to add the fix’ns.  Most important is the cheese.  By adding it now I was able to spread it evenly through the mixture and get it thoroughly melted.  The key to these tacos is to use both shredded pepper jack cheese and a bit of cotija – a salty Mexican cheese with a crumbly texture like feta.  Finally, I mixed the bacon crumbles back in.

This mixture of bacon, potatoes and cheese will keep well in the frig for a few days and it’s easy to reheat.  I made the tacos up right before sitting down to dinner.  I heated soft tacos in the often on a low temperature, filled with a generous scoop of potato mix.  A handful of chopped fresh cilantro, a spoonful of sour cream, and voilà!

There are endless possible variations – leave out the bacon and cook the potatoes in butter instead, add grilled onions and other veggies, try different cheese, top with salsa, etc.

Now if I could only figure out how to make their amazing fresh tortilla chips… and their salsa… and those burritos…