Appetizer #2: Piled High Tostada Cups

"The tostada cups are good, and easy if you use pre-made fillings".






So says my sister-in-law J. of the second new recipe she tried for her weekend dinner party. This recipe idea comes from Bite Me, the cookbook that every female in my family received for Christmas. I think that the most important 'learning point' in this recipe is understanding how the cups are made. Once you have that mastered, you can fill them with pretty much anything.

Ingredients:
- 4, 8 inch tortilla wrappers
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Coat the cups of a standard sized muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray then brush both sides of the tortillas with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt. Cut each tortilla into 8 wedges. Working in batches, mold each tortilla triangle to fit the muffin cups (the effect will be somewhat freeform) and bake 7-8 minutes until crisp. Remove them from the muffin tin and set them aside, then start all over again. Fill the tostada cups with guacamole, some shredded roasted chicken or Mexican-style beans and some salsa.

Olé.

Editorial Note: This technique reminds me of what my mother used to do to produce individual serving 'cups' for holding Chicken á la King or Salmon with Creamed Peas. She would remove the crusts from 12 slices of bread, then butter both sides of the slices and proceed to fit them into the muffin tin cups, one slice per cup. They would be baked in the oven until toasty and cup-shaped (relatively speaking).