There are so many great Mexican dishes, so choosing a menu for a Cinco de Mayo party is always fun. We have posted a lot of great recipes over the years and even included A Mexican Fiesta and Tex-Mex Brunch chapters in our cookbook, Recipes from Many Kitchens.
It’s easy to create when we have producers like Rancho Gordo who supports small farmers to grow their indigenous beans in Mexico as well as Zukali Mexican Gourmet and Zia Green Chile Company who source small batch pepper to make their delicious products ranging from hatch chiles like we used in these flautas to fire roasted poblanos which we used in our chicken tortilla soup.
So to kick-off your own fiesta, we wanted to do a lineup of some of our favorites. We hope you enjoy.
Starters:
Tacos:
Drinks:
Black Bean, Hatch Chile and Cheddar Flautas with Avocado Cream
Serves 4-6 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
15.5 oz can black beans, drained
½ cup roasted green hatch chiles
½ cup diced yellow onion (about ½ onion)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
2 tablespoons green salsa
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon lime juice
Canola/veg oil to fill a pot 2 inches high with oil
1 cup grated cheddar
1/2 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese
5, 6 inch flour tortillas (the small size makes for better frying so if you can’t find 6″ flour try corn or cut your tortillas down so they just overlap when rolling)
Avocado Cream:
1 Hass avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons milk
1 lime, juiced
Sea salt, to taste
Tomato, as a garnish
Method:
1. In a food processor or blender, puree your black beans and Zia Green Chile until smooth.
2. Next, in a sauté pan on med-high, add your olive oil and onion and cook until onion begins to turn translucent, about 5 min. Season the onion with salt and pepper.
3. Then add in your garlic, spinach, green salsa and cumin. Cook for 2 minutes or until the spinach is soft and cooked through.
4. Combine your with bean puree with onion mixture and season to taste with salt.
5. Then mix in lime juice, cheddar and jack cheese and set aside.
6. Fill a thick bottomed pot with oil to reach 2 inches up the sides of the pot. Heat to frying temp (360F).
7. Fill each tortilla with ½ cup of the black bean mixture and roll tightly. Secure each rolled tortilla with 3 toothpicks.
8. Fry in batches to avoid overcrowding. The oil is just right when it ripples as small little bubbles around the tortilla as it cooks. Each flauta should cook about 1 minute. They have a tendency to bob, so make sure you turn with tongs to make sure all sides cook fully and brown to golden. Once cooked, remove toothpicks and set flautas on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.
9. Mix the ingredients of your avocado cream in a food processor and season to taste with salt.
10. Cut flautas in half and serve with avocado cream and chopped tomatoes as a garnish.