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Refried Beans
Refried Beans
This is a very simple recipe to make homemade refried beans instead of buying the canned variety. Once you get this recipe down, it will be like night and day compared to eating store bought.I made my pinto beans in my Instant Pot. I kid you not, it took 25 minutes in total to boil unsealed beans. No more soaking of 8 hours and boiling for another hour for me. This has become a real game changer for me and beans. You can make the refried beans vegetarian if you’d like by using oil instead of lard. I happened to have a container of render pork fat from a whole pork belly that I made, so that was my fat of choice. There are many things you can add the the beans. You can add a little bit of cooked chorizo to your beans if you want them to have that flavor. Diced jalapeño would be great in your beans if you want a little spice. Refried beans are even better when topped off with some queso fresco cheese.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans
- 1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp lard/vegetable oil/canola oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- salt to taste
- pinto bean broth
Instructions
- If using an Instant Pot, add a whole bag of dried pinto beans to 4-5 cups of water. Set to Pressure Cook on high for 25 minutes. If doing this on a stove top, soak your beans over night or for at least 8 hours. Fill a stock pot up with water and boil your beans for an hour or until tender.
- Drain your beans. Save a cup or two of the bean stock water.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, sauté the onions in the lipid of your choosing. I happened to have some rendered pork fat from a whole pork belly I saved. Cook until browned.
- Add in 2 1/2 cups of the cooked pinto beans. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Using either a bean masher or the bottom of something flat like a ramekin, start mashing the beans while slowly incorporating the bean stock water. Continue this process until all of the beans are smashed and run smooth and are creamy.
- Stir in smoked paprika. Salt to your liking.
Pork Tongue Tacos with Tlaquepaque Sauce
Pork Tongue Tacos with Tlaquepaque Sauce
While this looks like a recipe for the open minded adventurous eater, it’s really meant for everyone to try. While tongue isn’t eaten very much in American cuisine, it is eaten by pretty much every other culture across the world. Tongue in Spanish is called lengua. While labeled an organ meat, it really is a big muscle. When prepared properly, it is one of the most tender and flavorful cuts on an animal. You will question yourself why you haven’t eaten this for your entire life. Because, tongue tastes…normal. Nothing gamey or organy tasting. There’s no tendons or veins running through it. It is very finely marbled with fat. Cooked like this, it looks like a pan of shredded pork. The same goes for beef tongue. One of the best parts of pork tongue is that it comes in fresh at my Asian market for $2.19lb. So get over yourself and give tongue a try sometime. If you don’t want to make this at home for fear of not liking it, try a lengua taco at a real Mexican restaurant first. You will learn the way…
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Pork Tongue
- 3 pork tongues
- 1/2 medium white onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt to taste
- 2 cups cooking water
Tlaquepaque Sauce
- 1 lb tomatillos
- 12 arbol peppers
- 2 guajillo peppers
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp instant coffee
- salt and pepper to taste
Garnish
- cilantro finely chopped
- white onion finely chopped
- green onion finely chopped
Instructions
Tlaquepaque Sauce
- Over medium high heat, bring the tomatillos, arbor and guajillo peppers, and garlic to a boil in a pot of water for 15 minutes.
- Add the tomatillos, peppers, and garlic to a blender or food processor. Add 1/2 cup of the cooking water and instant coffee. Puree until smooth.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Pork Tongue
- Wash your pork tongues.
- Turn your Instant Pot to pressure cook on high for 45 minutes. Add your pork tongues, white onion, garlic cloves, bay leaves, thyme, and salt. Cover with 2 cups of the leftover cooking liquid that the Tlaquepaque sauce ingredients boiled in. Put on the cover and press start.
- Remove the tongues from the Instant Pot and let cool.
- Make a slit with a sharp knife down the center of the tongues across the skin.
- You should be able to peel the majority of the skin right off. Any skin still attached should be cut off.
- Slice the tongue into chunks. Add the tongue to a skillet over medium high heat. Sauté for 15 minutes, slowly incorporating some of the braising liquid from the instant pot.
- The tongue should be fairly shredded and tender. You almost wouldn’t know it was tongue unless someone told you.
Taco Assembly
- Heat up some corn tortillas on an oiled griddle for a minute on each side.
- Add a small amount of the pork tongue to the center of the tortilla and roll it. Roll up a bunch of them.
- Place some of the rolled up pork tongue tacos on a plate. Ladle some of the Tlaquepaque sauce over the tacos. Garnish with cilantro/green onion/white onion mix.
Papas con Chorizo
Papas con Chorizo
Chorizo and potatoes. Simple enough. I like to eat this with a fried egg over the top with cilantro and green onion. Papas con Chorizo is also great in tacos and is a great filling in empanadas.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
Papas con Chorizo
- 1 lb chorizo
- 1 lb cubed potatoes
- 1/2 medium white onion diced
- salt
Garnish and toppings
- cilantro chopped
- green onion chopped
- fried egg
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet, sauté the chorizo and white onion until cooked.
- Stir in the potatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Plate up the chorizo and potatoes. You can eat eat just like this or you can top it with a free egg, cilantro and green onion.
