mexican

Grilling Side Dish: Corn and Bean salsa/Salad

/ Bianca Mercuri / Leave a comment

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This is a perfectly light and tangy side for grilling this summer. This is also awesome on tacos or Fajitas or even alongside fish. This is such a versatile recipe that everyone will love. You can use frozen corn for this recipe (I did), although if you would like to use corn on the cob and grill it before using, that would work really well too.

Ingredients

  • Corn (frozen or on the cob)
  • 2 Bell peppers
  • 1 bunch of Scallions
  • 2 Jalapeno peppers
  • 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 limes
  • 1 can of Navy beans or black beans
  • Cilantro (optional)

Spices

  • 1/2 tablespoon of Garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon of Chilli powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon of Oregano
  • 1 tablespoon of Cumin
  • Salt to taste

To make the dressing, start off by zesting your limes in a bowl. Then, roll your limes on the counter to loosen them up and squeeze the juice of all 3 limes into the bowl as well. Whisk in your 2 tablespoons of olive oil until emulsified. Add your spices and whisk until all is combined well. This dressing can chill out while you prepare your ingredients.

Next, cook your corn. If you’re using frozen corn, cook it in boiling water until tender and then let it drain extremely thoroughly until it is dry and cooled down to room temperature. If you’re using corn on the cob, I would suggest grilling it and getting a char on the cobs first.

Finely chop your bell and Jalapeno peppers. Then, on a diagonal, finely chop your scallions. Mix all your vegetables in the bowl so its all evenly distributed.

Drain and Rinse your beans and place in the bowl with your scallions and peppers and give it another toss. Once your corn is ready to use and cooled down, place it in the bowl as well and give everything one final mix. Pour the dressing over the salad and combine thoroughly.

I would suggest placing this salad in the fridge for about an hour to chill and let the flavours meld together better. I personally like to add some cilantro right before serving, but that’s totally optional. Once chilled, this salad is tangy and fresh and perfect to cut through fatty meat or fish and hardier sauces like sour cream.

 

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Mexican Inspired Black Bean and Potato Hash

/ Bianca Mercuri / Leave a comment

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This recipe is amazing for a weekend breakfast, lunch and even great to pack up for the next day. The amounts that I am using was enough to feed 6 generous portions. In total, from prep to table, this recipe should only take about 30 minutes!

Ingredients

  • 10 scallions
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 can of Black Beans
  • 3 cups of spinach
  • 1 can of chipotles in adobo sauce
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • A handful Cilantro
  • 6 cups of white or red potatoes

Spices

  • Chilli powder
  • Paprika
  • Garlic Powder
  • Cumin
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Smokey Steak Spice (optional)

Prep

This recipe requires some prep. To get started, preheat your oven to 400 degrees celsius. After you wash and peel about 6 cups worth of potatoes, cut them into cubes. One inch cubes work best for this. Finely chop the scallions, garlic and cilantro. If you don’t like Cilantro then by all means, leave it out. I think that it really adds some freshness to a heavily spiced dish such as this one. You can replace the Cilantro with some fresh chives as well. If you want to cut down on the potatoes, feel free to add some vegetables in the mix and make it more veggie packed. It would work all the same. Rinse and drain your black beans. For the Chipotle peppers, remove the peppers and chop up as many of them as you would like. I would say medium heat is about 3 or 4 peppers. If you like it spicier, add in some more. Reserve all the sauce in the can. As for the spinach, I like to chop mine up finely but you can leave the leaves whole if you would like.

Potatoes

I would suggest after cutting your potatoes, to place them in some parchment paper and put it in the microwave or in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Or you can boil your potatoes for 3-4 minutes. This is just to give the potatoes a little bit of a head start.

In a large bowl, mix your potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix in the reserved adobo sauce from the chipotles into the potatoes. Add about half a tablespoon of chilli powder, a teaspoon of garlic powder, a tablespoon of cumin, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of paprika and about half a tablespoon of smokey steak spice. This is optional but I like that it mimics the smokiness from the chipotle peppers. Once everything is nicely coated in the spices and sauce, lay the potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the oven to bake. Set a timer for about 30 minutes and place the tray in the middle of the oven. Every so often (once of twice during the 30 minutes), mix the potatoes in the tray so that they get an even crisp.

Skillet

In a skillet, heat up half a tablespoon of olive oil and stir in the garlic and scallions. Add them to cold oil so that the garlic can infuse the oil with flavour right away. Then turn the heat to medium and let it come up to temperature and cook until fragrant. At this point, add the chopped up chipotles and the drained black beans. Season this mixture with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of chilli powder. I used another teaspoon of my smokey steak spice to this mixture, but this spice is completely optional so add a little more chilli powder as a substitute if you’d like. Once the beans are heated through, stir in your spinach until it wilts down.

Once the potatoes are done, they should be tender when you poke them with a fork, transfer them into the pot of your black bean mixture. If your potatoes are not fork tender, just keep cooking them until they are. If needed, place some foil on the top of the tray to prevent the top from burning. Combine everything well. Taste for seasoning and adjust the spice as you wish. If you like a lot of heat, cayenne pepper is an awesome fat burner that adds a nice heat. Cayenne pepper has a lot of healing properties and I like to add a shake to most of the recipes I cook. This is the perfect time to add your fresh herbs. Add the cilantro and gently fold through the mixture.

Final Touches

Once everything is well combined and seasoned to your taste, the dish is done! I topped mine with an over-easy egg and some cilantro as garnish. I also like to eat mine with some organic salsa. Sour cream, cheese, or avocado would also be a great addition. I highly recommend eating this with a runny yolk. It is seriously delicious!