I was thinking about what to make for dinner the other night, and burritos seemed like a great idea. It was pretty hot out, and I love that type of food in this weather. I decided I'd class it up a bit by making my own salsa and own refried beans for the recipe, so that's what I'm going to share with you.
Now, there are MANY ways to make salsa, and I'm just going to give you the way that I made it. You can vary any ingredient and add pretty much anything you want. For the refried beans, the same goes. These recipes are really just basics that you can change in any way to meet your tastes.
So, we actually need very few ingredients for this, there's a lot of overlap.
For enough for three burritos you'll need one tomato (any kind you like: I chose plum), a shallot (or small onion), one jalapeno, a line, a small can of black beans (or red kidney if you prefer), and some fresh cilantro.
The first step is to dice up the tomato, using a serrated knife. I showed you this in the
tomato fresco recipe a few weeks ago.
You could make this a "peach salsa" if you diced up some peaches (or mangoes) and threw it in now as well.
Next up is dicing up about a 2 teaspoons of shallots and throwing those in.
At one point I was thinking about making little crescent moons of shallot for a nice presentation, but I decided to dice instead. At this point the in the dicing, where you're getting everything in to small bits, it's important to keep the tip of your knife on the board. It will stop the knife from slipping and save you some trips to the emergency room. (Other than that tip, my knife skills are meager)
Finally, some heat! Dice half of a jalapeno (I had a small one) in to little bits. First, remove the seeds. So, slice it open and you can just pull out the pith and seeds with your fingers.
I've told you once, and I'll tell you again: WASH YOUR HANDS after handling any sort of hot pepper. I was sweating a little bit and rubbed my face and basically set it on fire. NOT PLEASANT.
Okay, to dice a jalapeno, I cut the pepper into matchsticks like below then turn the sticks and cut small squares.
Throw this in the bowl with a half teaspoon of grated garlic and the juice of half a lime. Then add about a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of cilantro and put it in the fridge to allow the flavors to marry. Let it sit for about an hour, but more time is even better.
The colors are really pretty. You can't see the pretty little purple bits that well, but it's mostly my photography that's failing here.
Now it's time for some refried beans. I found a recipe for them in Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything", which is a veritable bible of home cooking.
Start with a few (like two) tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add in about two a tablespoon, maybe more, of diced shallot.
Let this cook for about five to eight minutes over medium heat, until the shallots start to brown.
See the bunch near the bottom of the photo, that's the color we're looking for. Then add in the rest of the jalapeno, diced again and let cook for a minute or two. (You can add the rest of the clove of garlic from before at this stage also. I actually forgot while I was doing it). Add about two teaspoons to a tablespoon of ground cumin and let it go at this point too, until you can smell the cumin in you kitchen.
Now the fun part. Add the beans and give the pan a stir. Find a fork or masher and go at it.
Sorry it's blurry, my left hand was a little shaky. You get the idea though, you want to mash most, but not all of the beans. When you're done it should be a pretty dark purple and look like mush. Add in salt (to taste, about a teaspoon) and some more cumin (about half a teaspoon, but again, to taste) and transfer to a bowl.
See the consistency? Mushy, but you can still make out some whole-ish beans.
Now, you can do anything with these two. I made chicken burritos by sauteing some chicken in a skillet, and making saffron rice. Really, you could do anything, but I think that rice is a must.
So many colors in a burrito: beans, rice, chicken, cheese, salsa, lettuce, cilantro. It's a beautiful taste party. I think I'll make these again soon.
Quick Salsa
1 Plum tomato, diced
2 teaspoon shallot, diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 - 3 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp grated garlic
1 tsp salt
Combine ingredients in a bowl, cover, and let sit for at least one hour.
Refried Black Beans
1 small can black beans
2 tsp - 1 tbsp shallot, diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 -3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp grated garlic
1. Saute shallots in a pan over medium heat until just brown.
2. Add in jalapeno and garlic and saute for just a minute or two. Finally, add in most of the cumin and saute until fragrant.
3. Pour in black beans, stir and let warm for just a minute.
4. Using a fork or masher, mash the black beans in the pan until they form a paste with some beans still visible.
Enjoy guys, and remember, you can alter these recipes in a thousand different ways!
