As I've mentioned in a previous post, once a week, a couple of friends come over to watch an episode or two of HBO's 2002 series "The Wire". This usually means that I'll spend some time preparing dinner for everyone, and often times using them as my guinea pigs for recipe testing.
We changed it up from Wednesday to Tuesday this week and it just seemed right to make it Taco Tuesday! Since this was a last minute decision, I didn't have much time to pull together a lot of the supplies I would have liked to for taco filling. I ended up making refried pinto beans, roasting some mushrooms, onions and peppers I had on hand, mashing up a quick guacamole andturning to Bon Appetit for a tomatillo recipe I'd had my eye on.
The tomatillo recipe dates way back to a Bon Appetit from January 2006 and was part of a fish taco platter. If I'd had
more time, I would have prepared the "fish" with avocado instead, but there's still tomatillo left, so maybe next week. The original directions said to char some of the veggies directly on a gas flame, which sounded like a bad idea, so I skipped that step. Also, my garlic cloves did not make it onto the roasting tray so I just used one raw instead of two roasted.
12 ounces tomatillos, husked, stemmed, divided
4 green onions, white and green parts separated
1 jalapeño pepper
1 garlic cloves
1 1/4 cups (packed) fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lime juicePreheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a roasting pan. Put tomatillos, white parts of green onions, and jalapeño onto prepared roasting pan. Roast until all vegetables are soft, about 12 minutes. Cool.
Stem and seed jalapeño. Place all roasted vegetables, green onion tops, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon lime juice in blender. Puree until smooth, stopping to push vegetables down into blades several times. Transfer to medium bowl. Season with salt and more lime juice, if desired.
To make my refried beans:
1 Cup pinto beans, soaked for at least 6 hours
1 - 2 inch piece of kombu (a sea vegetable that helps reduce the gassiness of beans)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
Drain beans and transfer to a pot, along with kombu and covered with 3 inches water. Bring water to boil and reduce to a very low simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until soft. Since they are getting mashed up, it's okay if they are splitting.
Drain and return to pot, adding olive oil and garlic . Saute over medium heat, adding water as needed to moisten, about 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring frequently and mashing as you stir. Use a fork or potato masher to break up more. Once desired texture is reached, add salt, cumin, and chipotle powder. Add a little more water if beans have dried.
Makes about 4 to 6 servings.
To assemble our tacos, we spread a few tablespoons of refried beans over a soft wheat tortilla, then folded it around a filled hard shell corn taco shell. It's like a taco blanket that holds everything in all cozy and makes the hard tacos much neater and easier to eat since they don't break apart and leave the filling all over your plate, or worse, dripping down your arm.
1 Cup pinto beans, soaked for at least 6 hours
1 - 2 inch piece of kombu (a sea vegetable that helps reduce the gassiness of beans)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
Drain beans and transfer to a pot, along with kombu and covered with 3 inches water. Bring water to boil and reduce to a very low simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until soft. Since they are getting mashed up, it's okay if they are splitting.
Drain and return to pot, adding olive oil and garlic . Saute over medium heat, adding water as needed to moisten, about 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring frequently and mashing as you stir. Use a fork or potato masher to break up more. Once desired texture is reached, add salt, cumin, and chipotle powder. Add a little more water if beans have dried.Makes about 4 to 6 servings.
To assemble our tacos, we spread a few tablespoons of refried beans over a soft wheat tortilla, then folded it around a filled hard shell corn taco shell. It's like a taco blanket that holds everything in all cozy and makes the hard tacos much neater and easier to eat since they don't break apart and leave the filling all over your plate, or worse, dripping down your arm.
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