Hey, remember yesterday? Which was the fifth of May, also known as Cinco de Mayo for those of us from states with huge Mexican populations*? Yeah. It was. And it totally snuck up on me this year. Meaning I didn't remember it was coming up when I was at the store last week (by myself! while A. baby-wrangled! it was very exciting). And so there was no guacamole. BOO. And no Corona. DOUBLE BOO.
I did manage a semi-festive meal from ingredients on hand, however. I made refried beans and mushroom taco filling. Let me tell you about them. Because the meaningless minutia of my life is what keeps you coming back day after day.
I make refried beans the way I saw Rick Bayless make them on his PBS cooking show many, many moons ago. I saw the show once and have been making refried beans this way ever since. And that way is: heat vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet--or a cast iron skillet that belonged to your husband's grandmother and is so old and well-seasoned that it's as non-stick as not-non-stick gets--add minced garlic, pour in a big can of black beans (including the sludge--YUM!), mash with back of spoon or potato masher, and cook down until desired thickness. Done!
And if you think using canned beans is cheating, then go ahead and go through the pain in the ass of making dried beans and add salt. Personally, I'd rather be a cheater.
The mushroom taco filling is a recipe from Mark Bittman that was in The New York Times a couple of years ago. You can go here to see it. It's got very few ingredients, but is really surprisingly good. Even A., who normally looks highly askance at anything trying to substitute for meat in a burrito, likes this. And I like it because it specifically calls for the humble white button mushroom. No fancy shiitake or oyster mushrooms here. Rock on.
So that was it. Our big Mexican feast. It wasn't the same without the guacamole and the Corona, but I do what I can.
* In case you haven't read every post I've ever written and remembered every detail of my life I've shared so far (AND WHY NOT?), I'm from Arizona.
Those tacos sound AWESOME. I am very sad I didn't get one sip of a margarita or Corona yesterday -- BOO.
ReplyDeleteOh, and do you have those super-awesome margarita-making skillz that all my friends from the southwest seem to have? I once drank a margarita made by a Texan, and I thought I had ingested hallucinogens. And I barely even tasted the alcohol! It was incredible.
ReplyDeleteI love meatless burritos. The mushroom recipe sounds simple and fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI don't know about my margarita skillz, but I do like the margaritas I make. They're not REAL margaritas, they're frozen margaritas involving lime juice concentrate and triple sec. We make them on really hot days in the summer. They're slushy and sweet and YUM. And I am really looking forward to having one this summer, since last summer was entirely margarita-less.
ReplyDeleteKristen,
ReplyDeleteThese days, even NC has a huge Mexican population!
Since you're from Arizona, I'd like to ask how do you feel about the law they recently passed to deal with illegal immigration?
ReplyDeleteHello - I would like to place my lunch order...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: Haven't you learned yet that this is no place for politics? I prefer to stick to safe subjects, like dead woodchucks and margaritas.
ReplyDeleteI heartily approve of margaritas, in case you were wondering.
Yikes! Not even a Corona?! Sadness.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, here in Cinco De Mayo HQ (aka, California), I had a G&T with my dinner of radish sandwich and fava hummus on matzoh.
You really don't get much less Cinco de Mayo than that.
Not that I don't love Cinco de Mayo, but, well, the Battle at Puebla isn't as close to my heart as killing the farmshare and the liquor cabinet.
You guys are making me hungry . And ready for a party. Beth
ReplyDeleteword verification 'hoidan'
what A says to his buddy dan as they pass each other in boats.
and when you get avocados and corona..you will just have to have cinco de mayo all over again.... on about nuevo de mayo or whenever it is.
I'm from Houston--everyday here is Cinco de Mayo. Like today--we drove to one of the parts of town where it's mostly Spanish and we saw the most awesome thing--an old school bus that had been made into a taco truck. it was EPIC.
ReplyDelete