This is a visually-exciting dish that offers a savory and tangy explosion of flavors and promises a crunch your neighbors down the street may possibly hear and be jealous about. Haha! Your conscience can rest easy too as this requires the flautas to be oven-baked instead of deep-friend. Yay!
INGREDIENTS:
10 oz ground pork
1 yellow onion, 1/3 chopped, and the rest thinly-sliced
1 1/2 TBS Tex-Mex paste (you can use store-bought or make your own*)
1 TBS Southwest Spice Blend**
6 flour tortillas (or use something low-carb like CutdaCarb flatbread)
1/2 c shredded Mexican cheese blend
4 TBS sour cream
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 Lime, zested, quartered
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425F and make sure to position your rack in the middle. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or drizzle with oil if you prefer that (I always use avocado oil).
Halve, peel, and thinly slice the onion and take some of those and chop up (the chopped pieces will be for topping/garnishing, so if you want a lot more on top, then just portion accordingly).
Time to work on the pork filling! Take a large pan and heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onion and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the pork and Southwest Spice and cook for about 6 minutes until pork is browned, the onion is softened. Make sure to break up the meat while cooking. Next, stir in the Tex-Mex paste and about 1/3c water. Simmer until the mixture is thick and the pork is cooked thoroughly (shouldn't be more than 4 minutes more). Take it off the heat.
Next, take your tortillas and brush them with 1 TBS olive oil (NOT extra virgin) on both sides so they crunch up and cook well in the oven. Fill with about 1/4c of the pork mixture and sprinkle with Mexican cheese before rolling up. When you roll them up, make sure the flap or seam is on the bottom so it doesn't roll open while baking in the oven. Keep them snug next to each other so they don't unravel.
Bake for about 10 minutes or until the flautas are brown and crisp.
While the flautas cook, make your pico de gallo. Take your diced tomato and combine it with the minced onion, half the lime zest, some lime juice, and toss together with salt. Always season and taste as you go so you don't go overboard! In another bowl, combine the sour cream, some lime juice and the rest of the lime zest. Drizzle some water in a little at a time while stirring until you get a nice consistency that lets you spoon to over the flautas. Again, season with salt as needed.
To plate, assemble flautas on a plate, top with the pico de gallo and drizzle with the lime crema. Enjoy while hot and crispy!
*Tex-Mex paste: Fire-roasted tomato purée, red chili pepper purée (chili pepper, salt), onion purée, salt, soybean oil, sugar, tomato powder, natural flavor, Chipotle chile, cocoa powder, garlic powder, spices, maltodextrin, xanthan gum, rice vinegar.
**Southwest Spice Blend: Cumin, chili powder, dried oregano, smoked paprika, ground coriander, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.