What's For Dinner: Mexican Tortas with Black Beans and Chorizo

Before my last trip to Whole Foods, I flipped through my binder of recipes (worthy of a post of its own) for some inspiration. Rather than writing out an ingredient list, I decided to just bring along the binder pages with the recipes on them so that I could reference the pages as I shopped. One of the pages I pulled was from an issue of Food & Wine magazine and featured a recipe from Rick Bayless for Mexican tortas (sandwiches) with black beans and chorizo. Though I never managed to hit up any of his restaurants when I lived in Chicago, I've long been a fan of Bayless' -- and was totally rooting for him to win the first season of Top Chef Masters, which he did. The sandwiches were good, if a little dry, hence I added on a little salsa. (Later in the week I may have made a little déclassé version with ketchup; dare I say it was even better?)

Mexican Tortas with Black Beans and Chorizo (printer-friendly version)

makes 2 servings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 lb (antelope) chorizo sausage

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup arugula

2 tablespoons goat cheese, softened

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cut into slices

2-4 tablespoons salsa [optional]

2 Kaiser rolls, split into halves

organic olive oil cooking spray

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chorizo and cook until browned, about 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add in the black beans. Use a potato masher to mush the beans up.

2. Cook until the black beans are heated. Remove from the heat.

3. Move a rack into the top position in the oven. Turn on the broiler.

4. Cut the kaiser rolls in half. Scoop out some of the bread from the bottom half of each roll.

5. Spray the roll halves lightly with olive oil cooking spray.

6. Place the rolls on the top rack in the oven and toast. Keep your eye on the rolls as they can quickly burn.

7. Once the rolls are toasted, remove them from the oven.

8. Spread the goat cheese on the top half of each kaiser roll.

9. Spoon the chorizo-black bean mixture into the scooped-out portion of each roll's bottom half.

10. Top with arugula, avocado slices, and a spoonful or two of salsa (if desired).

11. Place the top half of each roll on each sandwich, and serve immediately.

(adapted from this Food & Wine recipe)

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