One Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta

August. Back to school. The annual rhythm. Sofia is a junior — the year of SATs and college applications that Sofia will not complete because Sofia is not going to college and the not-going is her choice and her choice is the bakery and the bakery is her college. Diego is a freshman at Bel Air — already pushing boundaries, already asking teachers questions they can't answer, already known among the faculty as "the kid with the drone and the bridge designs." Isabella is starting her sophomore year of nursing school — the clinical year, the hard year, the year when the theory becomes the practice and the practice becomes the person. Camila is starting fifth grade — ten in October, double digits, the edge of middle school, the last year of elementary school, the last year of being a kid in the way kids are kids before middle school changes them into whatever middle school makes.

Concha the dog has settled into the bakery like a piece of furniture — he sleeps under the counter during service hours, wakes up for dropped crumbs, and returns to sleep. The customers love him. Doña Esperanza brings him treats. The construction workers pet him on their way to the counter. Concha has become the bakery's mascot, the unofficial employee who contributes nothing to revenue and everything to atmosphere, and atmosphere is the thing you cannot put on a spreadsheet but that Sofia acknowledges is "material to customer retention." She said this about a sleeping dog. I love her.

I made tamales for the first week of school — the tradition that I started without naming and that has become the rhythm of September: tamales on the first day, the food that says go and come back and go again. The tamales are Rosa's. The tradition is mine. The combination is the bakery and the family and the life: old recipes in new rhythms, the past feeding the present, the present carrying the past, and the carrying is the life.

The tamales are for the first day — that is the ritual, and the ritual is not negotiable. But the first day becomes the first week, and the first week belongs to Isabella leaving early for clinicals, Diego arriving home late with drawings of things I cannot name, Sofia closing the bakery, and Camila needing dinner before any of them walk through the door. This one pot cheesy taco pasta is what September looks like after the tamales: the same familiar flavors from the same familiar kitchen, made on a Tuesday in thirty minutes, because the tradition feeds the first day and the week needs feeding too.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (80/20)
1 packet (1 oz) taco seasoning
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen or canned corn, drained
2 cups low-sodium chicken or beef broth
1 1/2 cups water
8 oz rotini or penne pasta, uncooked
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
Salt and black pepper to taste
Optional toppings: sour cream, sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, pickled jalapeños

Instructions

Brown the beef. In a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, about 6–8 minutes. Carefully drain off excess fat and return the pan to the heat.
Season. Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the browned meat and stir well to coat evenly, cooking for 1 minute until the spices are fragrant.
Build the pot. Add the diced tomatoes with their liquid, black beans, corn, broth, and water. Stir everything together, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add the pasta. Pour in the uncooked pasta and stir to submerge it in the liquid. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
Simmer. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12–15 minutes, until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. If the mixture looks too dry before the pasta is done, add water 1/4 cup at a time.
Add the cheese. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the shredded cheese in two additions, folding until fully melted and the pasta is creamy and coated. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Serve. Spoon into bowls and top with sour cream, green onions, cilantro, or jalapeños as desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

One Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta — The Weeknight Meal That Carries the Tradition Forward