Beef and Potato Flautas. An Easy Mexican Meal for Beef and Potato Leftovers!

I love this dish. It combines the heat and depth of flavor of Mexican food with the rich soul satisfaction of a braised beef and potatoes meal – and then it's fried crispy, and that just makes it perfect!

You will, at some point this winter, have in your fridge some beef and potatoes lurking as leftovers. You could just reheat for another take on last night's pot roast or beef stew (or roast beef) or you could take that leftover beef and mashed and bring a little south of the border to your dark winter kitchen.

Flautas are super easy, and in fact won’t take you much longer to prepare than simply heating up the leftovers themselves would!

Beef and Potato Flautas (for as many people as you need to feed)

• Corn tortillas (figure about 4 per person for a hearty meal. Flautas are pretty thin.)
• A small chunk of leftover braised or stewed beef (Say about 3 ounces) per person
• Leftover mashed potatoes. Say 1 cup per person. (These should be rich with butter or cream and seasoned with salt. If you're going to deep fry, you might as well put a little butter into your potatoes!
• A spicy tomato based jarred salsa or enchilada sauce
• Sour cream
• Onion slices
• Vegetable oil for frying

1. Using your fingers, shred the leftover beef into ½ inch shreds (just follow the grain of the meat). Mix with the potatoes and heat it all hot in the microwave.
2. Spread your corn tortillas out on a work surface and divide the beef and potato mixture up evenly between the tortillas. (Do not pre roll, just roll them up as you add them to the oil)
3. Heat about ½ an inch of vegetable oil over medium high in a heavy skillet.
4. Working one at a time, roll the tortilla around the filling, and then grasp it closed with kitchen tongs. Lower the flauta into the hot oil and keep it closed with the tongs. After about 10 seconds, the tortilla will harden in place and you can release the tortilla – it will not unroll.
5. Fry each flauta for about 1 minute per side, or until crisped and golden brown. Let drain on paper towels.
6. Repeat with remaining flautas until finished. (Watch the heat of the oil; it can sometimes get too hot as you fry. You may need to reduce the heat as you go if they start burning.
7. Serve on a serving plate topped with spicy tomato salsa (or enchilada sauce is even better) sour cream and thinly sliced onion.

Perfect - A great change of pace from yesterday's beef stew!

Potatoes and some type of meat are actually a very common type of taco or flauta filling in Mexico. This dish is actually pretty authentic.