Abuelita's Ground Beef and Potato Flautas

These ground beef and potato flautas are one of my Papi’s favorites that his mom made for him and still makes for him when they are together. I was able to get ahold of this recipe because I have the most amazing friends! For my bridal shower they asked each guest to bring a favorite recipe to share. It could be anything; desserts, main dishes, sides, family secrets, etc…! I am so grateful they did this as I now have a bunch of family favorite recipes to discover. When the recipe for these flautas came in from my Abuelita I was over the moon! Everything is in her head, nothing is written down and all her dishes are AMAZING! I couldn’t believe how easy it was; except… there weren’t any measurements. Of course! So I apologize in advance that there are no exact measurements but that will allow you to play around with how much you like. I have had the pleasure of eating these on multiple occasions but I don’t get to see her often so I am happy that I can make these any time, share them with my family, and think of her.

These ground beef and potato flautas pair well with Tomatillo Chile de Arbol Salsa.

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Makes 10 – 12 flautas.

Ingredients

4 medium russet potatoes
Salt
1/2 pound ground beef
Garlic salt
10 – 12 flour tortillas
Corn oil

Direction for Ground Beef and Potato Flautas

Fill a large pot with water and place the whole potatoes (with skin on) in the water. Bring the pot to a boil and cook potatoes until tender; approximately 35 – 45 minutes (depends on size of potatoes). Once potatoes are tender drain water and let them sit until cool.
While potatoes are boiling cook the ground beef in a large skillet until brown. Add garlic salt to taste. Set ground beef aside and start peeling the potatoes.
Place peeled potatoes in a large bowl and roughly mash until there are small chunks; add salt to taste. Add the cooked ground beef and mix together.
In a large skillet heat up enough corn oil to cover flauta when frying.
Place a line of ground beef and potato mixture on one side of the tortilla and roll it up. Place the flauta seam side down in hot oil to fry. You know oil is hot if you sprinkle a little bit of water into the oil and it sizzles. Repeat until skillet is full; cook 3 – 4 at a time.
Let the flautas cook and crisp up on both sides; turn flauta if needed to cook all the way through. Remove from oil and place on a wire rack with a baking sheet underneath to allow excess oil to drain off.
Roll flautas and continue to fry until all mixture is gone.

Eat up those bad boys!

Tools Needed

Green in the Kitchen

I try my best to be as green as possible in the kitchen using organic ingredients and using tools that can be handed down through the generations and/or are sustainably made. I am always on the lookout for products that support this vision. Though not perfect I still have tools that are not completely in line with this vision; however, I look forward to taking great care of them and using them as long as possible so they stay out of landfills. Once they have reached their end of life I look forward to introducing an eco-friendly version to the home.

I also look forward to sharing with you what can be composted from each dish so less food waste is sent to landfills. If you have an opportunity to use the unused portions of ingredients in another dish all the better but if you don’t have plans for… let’s say, that whole head of lettuce YOU CAN COMPOST IT!

What Can Be Composted From This Dish?

The skin from the potatoes can be composted. If the skin appears to be dark or black don’t include in the compost as this may be potato blight. Potato blight is a fungal infection that can cause potato tubers to rot and can infect tomatoes as well. Blight survives from one season to the next so prevention is key. If the potato and the skin appear to be white throughout it is a good indication that the potato is blight free and you can compost the peal with piece of mind. Potatoes contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium all the good good for your compost so add them in!