Take Two

So I’ve already made this one, and even talked about it quite extensively, but this time I’ve got visual aids.

To rehash, for those of you just catching up, this is the Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw from Bon Appétit, which first came to my attention through Smitten Kitchen’s post about it. This is one of those recipes that falls onto the short list of Meals That Are Quick, Healthy, and Don’t Feel Like Cheating. (The complementary list of Quick Healthy but Cheating Meals includes things like Leftovers + Lettuce = Salad, and Omelets with Random Veggies.)

Take a quarter of a head of cabbage, core it, and slice very thin. Don’t bother with the mandolin. Mix it up with the juice from half a lime, a drizzle of olive oil, some salt, a shredded carrot, a good handful of chopped cilantro, and a couple of sliced scallions.

Let it sit while you check out the view from the kitchen:

(this is Mowgli pouting because I’m cooking and therefore not playing with him)

(and this is Mowgli suddenly VERY alert because he saw me whip out the camera. uh oh, the dog is starting to encroach on my food blog. he’s already taken over the bed, the couch, and most of the rest of my life. he’s even got his own blog, but clearly that’s not good enough…)

See? Look what happened while you were looking the other way: the slaw came together beautifully!

Now you take a couple of cups of black beans (a plain old can will do, drained and rinsed, but I had cooked up a pot the other day, and I think this is about 2 cups), and mash in a teaspoon of ground cumin. That’s right, mash it up, just short of refried beans consistency. You can get out the potato masher if you want, but a fork does the job perfectly well.

Crumble up some feta, grab a couple of soft tortillas, and heat up your frying pan.

Drizzle in a little olive oil and toss in the tortilla, with a big spoonful or two of the bean/cumin mixture. Let it heat in the pan for no more than a minute, probably less, then fold it up, and cook another 30 seconds on each side.

Transfer to your plate, and add the feta, some slaw, and as much hot sauce as you like. (I slathered the side under the slaw, which you can’t see, with the chili garlic sauce I made this past week. I’m getting kind of a taste for hot things–my dad will be so proud.)

Fold it back up, and, look! It’s barely a half hour later, from start to finish, and you’re ready to veg out and eat a delicious dinner while updating your blog!

A last note: the first time I made this, I cooked up all 4 tacos and froze #s 3 and 4, to be reheated at a later date. That was a mistake. It took significantly longer to reheat them than it would have to heat up a skillet and assemble from the prepared ingredients, and they didn’t taste nearly as good.