Partnering with Spice Tribe, I decided to come up with a quick and easy meal that can satisfy some of the pickiest eaters. I love a good taco night but unfortunately I tend to get a little bored of the same kind of tacos every Tuesday, so I wanted to switch it up a bit! The California Love spice blend is full of roasted California chiles, garlic and cumin and this was a great flavor profile to pair with crispy bacon, sweet potato, and plantain for the taco filling.

This recipe works fairly quickly, and in one skillet (even better!) so it’s going to be important to have all of your mise en place for cooking. And once you have the filling completed, you can assemble the tacos how you like. For vegan tacos, simply omit the bacon and use extra virgin olive oil to sauté the vegetables and substitute a vegan cheese for the garnish. Let’s get cooking!

Serving Size: 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 slices of bacon, thinly sliced
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 tsp California Love All Purpose Chile Blend
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small ripe plantain, peeled and sliced into half moons
• Small corn tortillas, toasted for serving
• Crumbled cotija cheese, for garnish
• Cilantro, finely chopped, for garnish
• Lime wedges, for garnish

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Directions

1. in a large skillet, cook the sliced bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 7-10 minutes. Once the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy, remove from the skillet and set aside to drain on a paper towel lined plate.
2. Then, in the same pan, sauté the diced sweet potatoes for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the edges get nice and crispy. Next, add the red onion and stir until the onion is slightly translucent, about another 5 minutes.
3. Season with the California Love spice blend, kosher salt, and black pepper. Add the rinsed and drained black beans and stir. Move the sweet potato mixture to the side of the pan and add the ripe plantain to the other side to sauté. Get a little color on one side of the plantain and film them over as needed to heat them through. Gently fold all ingredients together and taste. Adjust any seasoning as you see fit.
4. Serve the filling inside two warm and toasted corn tortillas (you can toast them over the eye of a gas stove or in a dry cast iron skillet). Sprinkle with a little more California Love spice blend, cotija cheese, chopped cilantro, and a nice squeeze of fresh lime juice.
5. ¡Buen provecho!