Bean and Cheese Tacos

More simple food today. I made another huge vat of meat sauce, and now I'm just waiting until after my test tomorrow to can it all. With all the time that stuff takes to cook, I wanted to just have something simple for dinner, with a flavour profile that's not hugely complex. I had cooked some beans ahead (chick peas, pintos and kidneys) and froze all but 2 cups of the pinto beans. I'd like to eat those a little more often. Anyway, rambling aside, a nice batch of refried beans sounded really good, and even better in tacos. Hope you enjoy!

Rice:

1 cup rice
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
pinch salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Combine rice, salt and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Cook 10 minutes, then turn off heat and let rest, covered, 15 more minutes. Fluff rice and mix in lemon juice.

Beans:

2 cups pinto beans
approximately 1/2 cup cooking liquid or water
1/4 teaspoon each: ground cumin, black pepper, seasoned salt, regular salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic*
2 tablespoons lard/shmaltz/oil/fat of choice
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Melt and heat fat. Add beans, garlic, lemon and spices. Smash the beans up, adding water or cooking liquid as you do so (they don't really smash right if you don't add some liquid; kind of the same as with mashed potatoes). I add enough water to make them kind of runny, then cook them over low heat for 15-30 minutes, or until thick again, stirring periodically.

Remaining Ingredients:

4 tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
hot sauce

Assembly:

Spoon 1/4 of the bean mixture onto a tortilla. Top with a large spoonful of rice. Top with cheese and optionally, hot sauce. Makes 4 tacos.



*Sorry about the late addition of this ingredient to the recipe. I spaced writing it in there, and while I kept thinking I'd left something out when I wrote it down, it wasn't until now that I realised what the missing item was.

Comments

  1. Mary Bergfeld11:40 PM

    I'm going to have to start to do morewith beans. Your tacos look delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Justin5:21 PM

    really, that's it to this recipe? well, you live in Texas, so you must know better than me, but I thought it took more work to make tacos. yum.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Allie6:59 PM

    Thanks, Mary! I've really gotten into beans a lot lately. They're easy to make, filling, nutritious and flavourful. So it's win all around, really.

    Justin,

    That's it to the recipe, yep. :) Tacos can be as complicated or as simple to make as you like. The only real requirement is that some sort of filling goes inside a tortilla. Some fillings take a really long time, some are fast. I just wanted to go with something that was quick but still had a lot of flavour and nutrition, so here it was. I love making breakfast tacos for us, too. In those, I put eggs, potatoes, cheese and bacon. With salsa, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Astra Libris5:34 PM

    Mmmmm, rice, cheese, and beans are one of my favorite comfort foods ever... These look so delicious!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Allie9:39 PM

    Totally with you on that one, Astra. Some days, all I want to do is sit down and eat bowl after bowl of rice (sometimes w/ beans and cheese).

    ReplyDelete
  6. CJ5:26 AM

    Tacos are one of my favorites - I use this vegetarian recipe a lot too - both the carnivores and the veggie eaters love this one - Tacos for vegetarians

    ReplyDelete
  7. Allie3:44 PM

    CJ, thanks for the link! I hope you enjoy these ones just as much as the El Paso ones!

    ReplyDelete

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