Chipotle Sofritas Tacos

Elk season. Cattle work this week. Patrick rode in the truck. He pointed out two heifers I had not noticed. He sees things I do not. The work is shared.

Patrick on the porch in the afternoon. Coffee in the good cup. The cottonwoods. Tuesday meeting in Roundup. Eight regulars. Three vets. I do not lead. I show up.

Elk chili in the dutch oven. Tomatoes from Meg's garden — Mom's old garden. Dried chiles. Non-alcoholic beer. Six hours low. Same recipe as always.

The sky was the sky. It held everything.

Drove the back fence line Saturday. Two posts down from elk. Replaced them in the morning. The fence held the rest of the week.

Took a walk to the river before supper Tuesday. The cottonwoods were silver. The water was running. I did not think much. I just walked.

Listened to the cattle market report on AM radio while I worked the shop. Beef is up. Feed is up. The math is the math.

Drove to Billings for parts Friday. Stopped at the cemetery on the way home. Stood for ten minutes. Came home.

Truck started cold Tuesday. Twelve below. Battery is the original. I will replace it before next winter. I always say I will replace it before next winter. I never have.

Three days of horses this week. The work is meditative. The horses know. The owners pay. The cycle holds.

The wood pile is half what it was at Thanksgiving. I will split another cord on Saturday. The cord will be ready by next winter. The wood always is.

A reader emailed about the elk chili recipe. Asked what beer to use if non-alcoholic was not available. I wrote back: any beer is wrong if you don't drink. Use stock.

Worked on the truck Saturday afternoon. Plugs and wires. Two hours. Hands black with grease. Came in. Showered. Ate.

A neighbor's heifer was choking on a corn cob. I drove over with my emergency kit. Cleared the cob with a length of garden hose. The heifer recovered. The neighbor brought a pie the next day.

Hank, the dog, herded the chickens by accident. He apologized in the way dogs apologize — eyes down, tail low. The chickens were unimpressed.

Hauled three bull calves to the auction yard Wednesday. Got a fair price. Came home. Counted the cash. Put it in the ranch account.

Mended the chute hinge Wednesday. Welder was finicky. Got it on the third try. Patrick used to do this. I do it now.

The Musselshell was clear Sunday. Could see trout in the deeper pools. Did not fish. Just watched.

Storm came through Friday night. Thunder. The dog hid under the bed. The kids slept through it. The cattle bunched up by the windbreak. Standard.

The Tuesday Roundup AA meeting was eleven this week — three new guys from a referral. The room was full. The coffee was strong.

Wrote a blog post Friday night. The first one in two months. About making chili in a snowstorm. Short. Practical. Posted it. Forgot about it.

Mr. Whelan from down the road came over Saturday with a story about a horse he sold in 1979. The story took an hour. I listened. He needed someone to tell it to.

The barn cats are doing their job. Down to one mouse this week, in the feed shed. The cats brought it to the porch as proof. They are professionals.

The reader who emailed about the elk chili — the one asking about beer substitutes — got me thinking about what makes that recipe work. It is not the elk. It is the dried chiles, the tomatoes, the patience. When I had a week with no time for a six-hour dutch oven, I pulled those same instincts into something faster: chipotle sofritas, same smokiness, same low attention, different animal entirely. The logic holds.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 40 min | Servings: 4 (about 8 tacos)

Ingredients

1 block (14 oz) extra-firm tofu, pressed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2–3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced (plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce)
1 can (14 oz) fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 small corn or flour tortillas, warmed
For serving: sliced avocado, pickled red onion, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

Instructions

Crumble the tofu. Use your hands or a fork to crumble the pressed tofu into rough, uneven pieces roughly the size of ground meat. Uneven texture holds the sauce better.
Brown the tofu. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu in a single layer and cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until the bottom is golden. Stir and continue cooking another 3–4 minutes. Remove tofu and set aside.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring so it doesn’t burn.
Add the chiles and tomatoes. Stir in the minced chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, fire-roasted tomatoes, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Stir well and let simmer 5 minutes to concentrate the flavors.
Combine. Return the browned tofu to the skillet. Stir to coat evenly with the chipotle-tomato mixture. Reduce heat to low and cook another 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce clings to the tofu and most of the liquid has reduced. Taste and adjust salt.
Warm the tortillas. Heat tortillas directly over a gas flame or in a dry skillet until lightly charred at the edges. Wrap in a clean towel to keep warm.
Assemble. Spoon sofritas onto warmed tortillas. Top with avocado, pickled onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Add sour cream or yogurt if you like.

Nutrition (per serving, 2 tacos)

Chipotle Sofritas Tacos — The Chili Mindset, Carried Into Something New