Mediterranean Merguez Tacos

My beau typically brings back sausage from his butcher runs, but this time he brought back merguez. True, it’s still sausage, but it’s made with lamb and spices that make it very different in flavor from the Italian sausage he usually gets. He suggested we use it for Taco Tuesday, but since merguez has a distinct flavor, you can’t really use standard taco toppings. And thus the Mediterranean Merguez Taco was born.

Normally, merguez is served in links, but for this dish, I removed it from the casing, crumbled it, and browned it up. No additional seasoning needed. While that cooked up, I made a quick sauce by mixing Greek yogurt, grated garlic, chopped cucumber (Persian ones, if possible), and scallions. The final garnish was chopped tomato, all served in a charred tortilla.

I happen to love merguez. It’s not something I get often here, but I ate it all the time in France. It was a staple at the backyard cookouts my French fam hosted that summer. It was nice to throw a spin on it. And this is a taco that requires so few ingredients/toppings to feel ultra put-together.

FYI: I served it with a couscous salad that you’ll find in another post. There’s a ton of overlap between the flavors in the taco and in the couscous salad. That’s why they go so well together.