Taco Salad in Madrid on a Budget
Easy taco salad using local ingredients in Madrid, Spain
After seven months in Asia/Southeast Asia where accommodations were inexpensive and restaurants and night markets were cheap, arriving in Europe gave us sticker shock. As full-time travelers, it’s impossible to have every meal be an indulgent splurge meal. One or two a month is reasonable, but since we are here for 28 days, we needed to find some cheaper options. Tapas in theory seem like a good compromise, but patatas bravas, empanadas, and croquettes are heavier foods than we want to be eating in the heat of summer, and when you add the cost of a drink apiece, the price tag rises. We enjoy paella, but the cost of it here so far has been pricey considering the high ratio of rice compared to the amount of meat, seafood, or vegetables. We’re also craving some lighter meals, and the caesar salad we had was good but nothing special. It was affordable, but not local cuisine, except for the diced ham thrown in. So we figured that if we want to control the ingredients and eat more affordably, it only made sense to resume doing our own cooking.
Taco salad is easy to make, doesn’t require a ton of time or prep work, and best of all, it cost only €7.27 for two people, including a side of tortilla chips!
Our Madrid kitchen is a narrow space that barely accommodates one person, is fairly minimal, has one knife that’s fairly dull, and offers a single frying pan that is fairly worn. We’ll consider donating an inexpensive frying pan if we find one because it may be worth it to avoid ingesting microdoses of Teflon. Initially we had trouble finding a full-fledged grocery store, but we eventually found a Lidl Supermercados. We spent €60.38 and purchased enough for a variety of meals.
There weren’t a ton of seasonings in our grocery store, so our favorite homemade taco seasoning is below if you have access to more. This is far better than any prepackaged taco seasoning you can buy. Sometimes seasonings can be expensive, but our market had them for less than €2 apiece (and in some cases €0.99). You can also find them in farmers’ markets as well, including blends, which are ideal if you want to capture some of the local flavors at home (or your Airbnb). Fresh or prepared salsa would also be good, but we couldn’t find any already prepared and didn’t want to take the trouble to prepare our own. Here’s our first recipe from Spain using very basic ingredients.
Taco Salad
Ingredients
250 grams/half a pound ground beef €1.85
2 small heads Little Gem lettuce, washed and dried €0.72
2 tomatoes, cleaned €0.66
1/2 small onion €0.25
Gouda cheese, grated, about a handful per person €0.60
1/2 can yellow corn €0.90
Refrigerated guacamole (or fresh avocados; those in our store weren’t ripe) €1.05
Salt €0.02
Pepper, 1 teaspoon €0.05
Garlic, 1-2 cloves or 1 teaspoon powdered €0.05
Pollo seasoning, 1 teaspoon (yes, we’re making beef, but pollo is more practical for us) €0.05
Red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon or to taste €0.05
1/4 Large fresh lime, juice only €0.22
Optional: tortilla chips €0.80 and fresh salsa
Preparation
We get so much use out of these storage bags for leftovers!
Tear Little Gem lettuce into bite-sized pieces and coarsely dice the fresh tomatoes. You can keep them separate to prevent the lettuce from getting soggy. Season both lightly with salt and pepper. Drain the corn and reserve the other half for another use. In a hot, dry skillet, lightly roast the corn and then season it with salt after you remove it from the heat to retain moisture.
Dice half of an onion and in the same skillet you used for the corn, add two teaspoons of oil, a dash of salt to help the onions sweat, and sauté the onion until it’s no longer translucent. Add in the ground beef and season with 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, garlic, chicken seasoning and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, if desired. Drain the excess oil or blot with paper towels. Squirt 1/4 of a large fresh lime over the ground beef, or to taste.
Serve everything family style to prevent sogginess. Serve with tortilla chips if desired. Yield 2.
We store our leftovers in these fabulous reusable storage bags.
Note: To keep preparation and cleanup to a minimum, I doubled the amount of ground beef for an additional meal. Our store carries ground beef in a 500 gram package and I ended up using the whole package, but you can reserve it for something else if you prefer or purchase a smaller quantity.
Buen Provecho!
Judy’s Favorite Taco Seasoning
Thoroughly combine the following seasonings and store in a storage bag. Use about 2 Tablespoons per pound or 250 grams of ground beef. Seasons approximately five or more pounds of ground beef.
3 Tablespoons chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 Tablespoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
