Crunchy Taco Ring

I am not sure what attracted me to this recipe. Maybe it's because I had a bunch of tortillas to use up. Maybe it's my continued desire to see if I can get things out of a Bundt pan. Hmmm. I don't even remember what I was originally looking for when I came across this, but, here we go.

Here's tonight's cast. The recipe didn't call for cilantro but I had some and thought I'd use it. I ended up putting it into a bean dip instead.

Chopped onion was added to a hot skillet with a tablespoon of avocado oil.

When the onions were nice and brown, the chopped red bell pepper and half a jalapeño pepper were added.

When the peppers were softened, the ground beef was added.

And when the ground beef was nearly cooked through, the packet of taco seasoning and the juice of one lime were stirred in.

Once the ingredients were nicely incorporated, I removed the skillet from the stove and let it sit for a little bit to thicken up and cool. 

The tortillas were sliced like so.

The idea is to line the well-greased pan with the middle strips of the tortilla. Unfortunately, I had the fajita size and not the burrito size. I decided to line the strips up with the outer edge and figure out how to cover the cone later. 

It looked pretty cool. Except for the naked cone.

I used a few strips to cover the cone and to hold it in place, I added half the meat mixture. Technically the first layer should have been cheese but I didn't think it was heavy enough to hold the tortillas.

Next a layer of cheese.

More tortilla strips.

More cheese.

Then a layer of crumbled tortilla chips. This is going to be interesting.

More tortilla strips.

The remaining meat mixture was put in and topped with the last layer of cheese.

Then the top layer of tortilla strips. In to the oven at 350F for 45 minutes and, in the meantime, hope that sucker comes out of the pan.

I cooled the pan for about 20 minutes before I began loosening the edges and center. The edges and top tortillas had gotten quite crispy but I could see that the oil from the meat was pooling a bit on the bottom. This was concerning; either the oil was going to help get the ring out of the pan or it would start to cool and congeal. Fortunately, the oil worked in my favor and the ring fell out with a rather satisfying plop.

Initially, the ring was easy to slice except for the crispy bottom and edges; my first slice fell apart because of it. As it sat, however, the crispy bits softened and the slices were much prettier. I personally liked that the meat juices soaked into the tortillas and gave them a bit of a chew. I didn't get a chance to ask my sons their opinion but I got the impression from Eric that he thought it was ok, but an odd presentation. Ah, what does he know? The Bundt released its grip and the ring was tasty!

Here's the promised link:

Crunchy Taco Ring