Vegetarian Burrenchiladas
Cooked up a pan of these the Saturday night. This dish received an "excellent" rating from my husband, the (retired) NYC Chef. I beamed, quite proudly. Use summer-fresh produce if available. If not, the canned varieties of the vegetables work fine. This receipe makes about 6 - 8 large Burrenchiladas, enough to feed 6 - 8 adults. And it's cheap!!!!! And you can prepare it in advance and pop it into the oven right before serving to heat up and melt the cheese, since everything is cooked by the time it reaches the baking dish!
Ingredients:
Flour Burritos
Black Beans (cooked and drained; reserve the juice)
Tomatoes (stewed and drained; reserve the juice)
Chili powder (about 2 tablespoons, depending on taste)
One Large Vidalia Onion, quartered and chopped
A couple of jalapenos or hot peppers, chopped (use per taste, some like it hot)
Olive Oil
Dash Salt
Dash Pepper
Cooked Rice, about 2 cups cooked (for more flavor cook the rice in vegetable broth)
Salsa (Canned or fresh)
Cheddar and Monteray Jack Cheeses, shredded (about 3-4 cups, depending on taste)
Rectangle baking dish (cake or casserole size - I use a glass dish)
1 glass of wine (for the cook) :-)
Preparing the Mixture and the Sauce:
Start Rice.
In a sautee pan, carmelize the chopped onions and peppers in the olive oil.
While onions and peppers carmelize, do the following:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In the baking dish, combine the stewed tomatoes and their juices, the chili powder, about 2 tablespoons of salsa, and about 4 tablespoons of the black bean reserve juice. Mix together well. Should have the consistency of a medium-thick sauce. Put in the oven for about 15 -20 min. Check periodically to make sure the sauce does not brown or get too thick. Add reserve black bean juice as needed to maintain medium-thick consistency.
After onions and peppers are carmelized, turn heat to med-low and add the black beans and a tablespoon of salsa. Stir well. Let simmer for about 5 - 10 min, to pull the flavors together.
Checkpoint:
Rice finished.
Onions and black beans simmering.
Sauce in baking dish in the oven simmering.
Construction:
Remove the baking dish with the sauce from the oven.
Spoon out about 3/4 of the sauce into a bowl - reserve for finish.
Turn off the onions and black beans.
Turn off rice (when finished).
Stuff the burrito:
Lay it flat, and using a slotted spoon, put about 1 spoonful of the black bean mix (let the juice drain back into the pan before spooning into the burrito), one spoonful of cooked rice, and a sprinkling of shredded cheese.
Roll and place in pan.
Repeat for as many burrenchiladas as you are making. A normal sized casserole dish holds about 4 rolled burritos.
Top each pan with the reserved sauce.
Spinkle the entire top of each pan with shredded cheeses, more or less depending on your family's preferences.
(What I love about this dish is that all of the above can be prepared in advance, and then you just pop the dish in the oven 20 minutes before you're ready to serve.)
Cover with non-stick aluminum foil, and bake for 10 minutes on 350 degrees. After 10 minutes, turn off the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. (If baking straight from the fridge, cook on 350 degrees for 20 min, then let sit for 5 to cool down before serving).
Serve with sour cream and chopped chives!
Recommended Beverage(s):
Sam Adams Summer Ale or Sam Adams Light (don't be fooled by the "light" word in the name of the beer - the beer is actually dark amber in color, quite flavorful, very full-bodied, and only 119 calories!!!)
Yummo!!!!! Enjoy!!!!!!
