Gorditas filled with Ground Beef con Mole

I’ve been working at the Piggly Wiggly for the past month or so. For the past 8 years or so, I told myself I’d neeeeeever ever want to work at the stores! But after arriving back from New York and applying to several companies and getting very few answers back made me rethink my options…. Now I realize how darn lucky I am that my family has a business and that I am able to come in and learn everything about how a grocery store operates. I love food and I love business so the grocery store field might just be perfect for me.

First, I worked in the meat department and spent about two weeks wrapping meat. The butchers cut everything from pigs feet to rib eyes and ground their own hamburger meat. I was impressed how smoothly everything ran even though sometimes the work seemed endless. On top of all the cutting the butchers had to do, the customers made several requests, they often wanted their whole chickens cut, whole short ribs cut into steaks, even their sirloin steaks to be ground up in the grinder. Now I‘m out of the cold refrigerated meat room and in the office learning how to cash checks, do Western Unions, and pay bills for customers. In the office there is always something to be done, such as counting the safe, adding up checks to make sure they match our figures on the spreadsheets, rolling up coins, and the list goes on! I was very surprised to learn how quickly we go through money. My dad will often go to the bank and pick up at least 20 grand and we will sometimes have to go to the bank 3 or 4 more times that same day. So sometimes (especially Thursday and Friday when all the paychecks come in) we are cashing out over $100,000 in payroll and tax checks. Good thing for us, we charge a small fee to cash checks (1% for payroll checks and 2% for tax checks) so the office does make money, which most offices don’t. Often, I feel like I’m back into accounting class when I’m looking at the spreadsheets and having to record multiple figures to make sure the cashier’s tills and all the money balances out. I’m glad all the accounting classes I took in college are finally paying off! Next, I’m supposed to be working in the deli/bakery and then the produce department.

After working real working hours from 8-5 Monday to Friday, I understand the concept of simple weeknight meals. After working all day, who wants to spend hours cooking? I made “gorditas” which were sooo good but not super authentic but tasted fabulous so who cares. I tore out a recipe called ground beef con mole out of a magazine. Any recipe with “mole” in it is bound to catch my eye. These are two separate recipes but soo good and worked perfectly together. Now the gorditas could be filled with anything from shredded chicken to refried beans. The ground beef con mole could be used to fill up tacos or empanadas. Both of these recipes are incredibly versatile but work very well together.

I found the gordita recipe on epicurious.com and here it is Gorditas Recipe.

Ground Beef con Mole

1 red bell pepper, chopped

½ cup finely chopped onion
1 lb lean ground beef

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 TB dark chocolate

2 TB sesame seeds

1 TB chili powder

2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. dried oregano

2 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ cup canned tomato sauce

½ cup hominy

½ cup fresh cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

1) In skillet, cook onion and red bell pepper until slightly softened. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Add the garlic.

2) Reduce heat to low, add in the chocolate, sesame seeds, chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes.

3) Add the tomato sauce and hominy. Let simmer for about 5 minutes until mixture is combined and thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.