Buffalo Sausage Tacos

I recently purchased Tacos, 75 Authentic and Inspired Recipes, by Mark Miller. The first taco recipe that caught my attention, due to the unique combination of ingredients, was the Buffalo Sausage Tacos. And, it so happens, this past weekend, we bought some frozen buffalo sausage from one of our favorite gourmet markets, Bristol Farms -La Jolla.

Mark Miller's recipe calls for oil-roasting the chiles, sauteing the apples on the stove, searing the sausages on the stove, and finishing the sausages in a 300 degree F oven. However, since it was such a nice summer evening, I opted to adapt the recipe for the gas grill.



Buffalo Sausage Tacos
Adapted for the grill, from Tacos, by Mark Miller
Makes 9 Tacos

Ingredients:

3 medium New Mexico green chiles, roasted, peeled, cored, and seeded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (for sauteing the apples)
2 Jonathan apples, cored and thinly sliced, and sauteed
9 oz. buffalo sausage
1/8 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, toasted and ground
1/8 teaspoon cumin seed, toasted and ground
1/8 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted and ground
9 (5 ½ inch) flour tortillas
Garnish: crumbled goat cheese
Accompaniment: Mexican Crema or sour cream

I was unable to find New Mexico green chiles, but Mark says to substitute Anaheim chiles, and add a couple jalapenos to the mix, since Anaheims are milder than New Mexico green chiles. I roasted 3 Anaheims and 2 jalapenos for our tacos. However, the buffalo sausage was very spicy on its own, and I 'm not sure the jalapenos were necessary!

After rubbing the chiles with a little vegetable oil, John roasted them on the grill, until charred and blistered all over, and then put them in a sealed paper bag to steam for about 15 minutes.

Once steamed, I scraped off all of the skin, seeded and cored the chiles, and sliced them into strips.

I toasted the oregano, cumin and fennel in a pan for 1-2 minutes and then ground the spices into a powder with a mortar and pestle. The spices are then sprinkled over the buffalo sausages after they are grilled and sliced.

I cored and sliced 2 Jonathan apples. The original recipe calls for peeling the apples, but I chose to leave the peel on. My apple corer sliced the apples too thick, so I sliced each piece again.

I melted the butter, drizzled it over the sliced apples, and cooked the apples in a cast iron skillet, right alongside the sausages.

We quickly warmed, and slightly browned, the flour tortillas on the grill and wrapped them in foil to keep warm. We sliced the buffalo sausage into 1/2 inch, diagonal slices and then sprinkled the ground spices over the sausage.

We assembled each taco using a warm tortilla, about 4 pieces of sausage, 3-4 chile strips, 2-3 apple slices, crumbled goat cheese, and a dollop of Mexican Crema or sour cream.

We really loved the combination of spicy buffalo sausage, green chiles and apples. The apples, goat cheese and sour cream cooled the spiciness just a tad and added such nice flavors. This recipe gets 5 stars from me and I can't wait to try more interesting and tasty tacos from this book...possibly for Sunday's Concert in the Park, Challenge Chiles!