Black Bean Tacos

After Valentine’s Day – a meal of sheer decadence, I think we need a little vegetarian respite.  Veggie tacos please… these are a cinch and by now I've done a couple variations of tacos, so you know the drill.  We do love our taco night.  The meal is made extra easy by using Costco guac.  I SWEAR it's good stuff.   No lyin’.  I know, I know – I feel like I’m cheating a bit too.   Hey, I’m a firm believer that homemade is ALWAYS better than store bought.  Nothing beats fresh, homemade guacamole.  But in the dead of winter nice avocados are super hard to come by in NYC. 

Black Bean Tacos

Can of black beans

2 tomatoes, diced separately

¼ onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Shredded green cabbage

Quac

Black olives

Sour Cream (or fat free greek yogurt!)

Cheddar cheese, shredded (just a sprinkling)

Salt

Pep

Vinaigrette (oil, lemon, honey, mustard – mix to the balance you like, I like equal parts of everything except half part honey)

Beans:

Heat a sauce pan on high heat, pour in a small glug of oil and the onions – salt and pepper.  Swirl around until they begin to soften and slightly caramelize.  Pop in the garlic – swirl around until the garlic just begins to color (never let your garlic brown!)  Toss in one diced tomato.  Swirl around.  Pop in one can of drained black beans.  Swirl around the pan with your trusty wooden spoon.  Pour in a splash of water, or chicken stock and cook until the beans are bubbling and gooey and a bit saucy.  If all your liquid evaporates, just add another splash of water – you want the beans to have a little bit of a sauce.  Hold over low heat until you get the rest of your taco assembly line together.

Tortillas:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Put your tortillas into a foil packet and pop them into the oven for 8 minutes or so.

Toppings:

Toss your sliced cabbage with a couple of spoonfuls of your vinaigrette and hold in a bowl in the fridge until you’re ready for assembly.  Line up all your fixins in a row – tomaters, cabbage, shredded cheese, sour cream, guac, olives and go to town!  I filled all my tortillas and served them on a platter, but you can surely have a D.I.Y. taco party.

Enjoy!