One way I use ground bison meat is as a substitute in commonly prepared southwestern meals like Tex-Mex or Okla-Mex soft tacos, bison burgers, or spaghetti and meatballs. On this particular Saturday afternoon, we decided we were in the mood to take advantage of some fresh cilantro and avocado we’d purchased and some peppers that were freshly harvested from our garden. We live in a warm climate in the southwestern United States so our garden produces wonderful vegetables and herbs until the first frost in late October or early November.
I started by allowing my ground bison meat to come to room temperature while I diced up the vegetables for seasoning the meat and making our fresh pico de gallo. I bought this ground bison meat from a local specialty market and I would estimate its ratio of meat to fat at 95/5. You may purchase ground bison steak from some mail order bison meat producers if you wish to take the fat content even lower. Take extra care in how you season your ground bison meat. Select good seasonings like kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and perhaps some strong Mexican whole oregano like I’ve used here. Cook your ground bison on medium heat just until it browns and turn off the heat immediately. Most ground bison is very lean so you should use a small amount of good oil or use some onions to create some moisture while cooking. I did add some chopped banana pepper and onion to my meat while it was cooking. The banana peppers are from our garden. These peppers are low on the Scoville scale and mainly for flavor like the onions.
The pico de gallo is straight forward. It’s all about combining all fresh ingredients: cilantro, fresh lime juice, tomato, jalapeno pepper, onion, and avocado (optional). You may add some salt or garlic as well, but I generally do not add these. The idea here is to keep it fresh and leave out the contrived seasonings.
One thing you will notice about this recipe is that absence of cheese. If you’re ever in the southwest or in Mexico, one thing you’ll find is that cheese is more of an American thing or a regional Mexican aberration. Many small taco restaurants do not serve their tacos with cheese. We chose to keep our tacos as close to authentic as possible.
Finally, I purchased some good regionally branded flour tortillas from a local grocer that caters to the local Spanish population. We tied the whole entree together with some Goya black beans seasoned with a pinch of cilantro.
Ingredients:
1 lb fresh ground bison
1 big pinch Mexican whole oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 small onion
1 small avocado
1 tomato
1/2 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
small flour tortillas
2 small limes
1 can of black beans or 2 cups fresh black beans
1 small fresh jalapeno
Recipe: Season the ground bison with the salt, pepper, 1/2 of the diced onion, and garlic. Cook on medium heat until just browned. Removed from heat. Dice your tomatoes, cilantro, onions, jalapeno, and avocado and combine these together. Squeeze the juice of two limes on this mixture and allow it to rest. Heat your flour tortillas briefly in another pan, possibly with a few drips or sprays of water to slightly hydrate them. Heat your beans with a pinch of cilantro. Serve while fresh!