Part two, to not run up against image limits…
Pinto Beans and Peppers In A Buttery Tomato Sauce
from How to Cook Everything Fast
Pretty much what it sounds like. You start the sauce with butter and then tomatoes, chuck in some chopped bell peppers and a jalapeno and braise them a bit, then mix in pinto beans and some stock and let the whole thing bubble along for 10-15 minutes. The base recipe uses red beans, cabbage and ginger and again, might have to try that but I’m used to peppers and have done very little with cabbage, so I did that version first. Honestly, this didn’t quite feel like a full main dish to me. I’d maybe add some meat or serve it across rice or something.
King Ranch Casserole
from Cook Country Eats Local
This ended up being just a little too much casserole for the dish and leaked over the sides, so it’s not super photogenic. The recipe involves first spraying some corn tortillas with oil on both sides and baking them for ~12 minutes (for sort of a homemade chip effect). Then you build the filling, sauteeing a couple onions and jalapenos in butter with cumin, adding a couple cans of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes w/chilies, then thickening with flour, then mixing in a bunch of chicken broth and some heavy cream and thickening that some, braising some boneless chicken breast chunks in it for a few minutes, and then finally taking it off the heat and mixing in a pound of Colby Jack and some cilantro. At this point you break up the baked tortillas and fill the bottom of a baking pan with half of them, then half the chicken mixture, then the rest of the tortillas, followed by the rest of the mixture. Cover with foil, bake for 15 minutes or so, uncover, top with crushed Fritos, and bake for another 10 minutes or so. The result is pretty yummy, but I think I would go a little lighter on the chicken in future, since I am pretty sure that’s why it ended up being too much for the pan.
Broiled Ziti
from How to Cook Everything Fast
This is the baseline recipe of the variant I posted earlier with feta and olives. The main difference is this uses a full pound of mozzarella plus a quarter pound of parmesan, and of course has no feta or olives. Pretty tasty, but the variant is better, and this mix of cheeses would probably benefit from one of the other two variants presented as well (either adding ricotta or sausage).
Chicken and Black Bean Burritos
from How to Cook Everything Fast
No photo here because frankly, burritos, from the outside, are burritos.
This is a super straightforward recipe whose primary complication is recommending that you make homemade salsa as part of the recipe. If you want to skip that, you literally just have to cook some rice in one pot, while you chop up some boneless chicken thighs, and cook them in oil w/ salt and pepper for a few minutes until they’re not pink anymore, then add a can of black beans, some garlic, chili powder, cumin, and a bit more salt and pepper, and cook for like 5 more minutes. Put the chicken, beans and rice together in burrito sized tortillas (warm first in the microwave for 15 seconds or so), fold up, serve. The salsa? Chop a pound or so of fresh tomatoes, a small onion, a jalapeno, and a bunch of fresh cilantro and mix them all together in a bowl. Add two limes worth of fresh lime juice and some salt and pepper, stir. Done. Here’s the crucial mistake I made: you are meant to put the salsa and sour cream on top. I tried to make them part of the filling, and as such my burritos were way overfull and impossible to close even after I scaled down the amounts and made ~9 burritos out of a recipe designed to make four. They were really tasty, though!
I’ve also made more pasta with giardiniera and sausage, more bachelor spaghetti with peppers and onions, and a couple other retreads, all still fantastic.
