Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Sauce

You know how sometimes you find a recipe, are intrigued, and then after cooking, are disappointed by your efforts and the taste?
I'm happy to say this is NOT that recipe! :) I found this in an issue of O Magazine (Oprah mag.) and since we eat vegetarian occasionally I decided we'd give it a try. We eat meatless meals for health and money-saving reasons.  So whether for those two reasons, or if you have others for eating vegetarian, I can assure you this meal is outstanding!
This is a "taco" recipe made with potatoes, beans, onions, and garlic. The corn tortillas are cooked in a frying pan, and sprinkled with cheese. If you are a non-dairy house I think they would be delicious even without the cheese! These are also served with a quick, three ingredient blender sauce. We had this meal with salad with lettuce, tomato, red onion, green onion, and avocado. It was very filling! I had two tacos-Brett had three.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Sauce

Ingredients

Sweet potatoes:

• 1½ Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 large poblano chili or green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ tsp. kosher salt, divided
• 1 medium orange sweet potato, cut into ½-inch dice
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

To serve:

• 12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• Vegetable oil
• 2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Oaxaca or Monterey Jack cheese
• Chipotle sauce(see below)
• Pico de gallo (optional)

Chipotle Sauce:
Combine half of one SMALL can adobo chilies with 3/4 cup light mayonnaise and 1-2 tablespoons lime juice in blender. Add a dash of salt and pepper and blend until smooth.


These chilies come in a blue can and are found on the Mexican food aisle. They are very spicy so you might start out putting less than half of the can in first, and then adding more and tasting as you blend.

Directions

Active time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Preheat oven to 400°. Heat a heavy ovenproof skillet (cast iron is ideal) over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp. oil to pan, then onion and poblano chili or green pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized. Stir in garlic and 1 tsp. salt.

In a medium bowl, toss sweet potato with remaining ½ Tbsp. oil and ½ tsp. salt. Add to skillet and cook, stirring, 1 minute, then place pan in oven and roast 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare tortillas dorado: Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush 1 side of a tortilla lightly with oil and place oil side down in pan. Scatter a generous spoonful of cheese over center of tortilla and cook until cheese is melted and tortilla is lightly golden on the underside but still flexible. Place on a cookie sheet and repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese. When finished, lightly oil a piece of foil and use it to cover tortillas.

Remove skillet from oven and stir in black beans and black pepper (beans will warm through from the heat of the pan). Top each tortilla with sweet potato mixture, a drizzle of chipotle sauce, and a spoonful of pico de gallo (if using).

**Recipe notes: (sorry for the strange white background! It won't let me remove it!)
* I used olive oil, instead of vegetable oil to cook the vegetables in. 

*Also, I used a borrowed cast iron skillet and it worked beautifully for going in the oven.
*We ate our tacos without the pico!

*I used green bell peppers to cook with the garlic and sweet potatoes.

*To prepare the tortillas I sprayed one side with cooking spray and put it flat down in a skillet. I then put cheese down the middle, as instructed. If you do this don't leave the tortillas in the pan too long! I did and they got a bit burned. :(  It's not necessary to cover the tortillas with a piece of oiled foil afterwards either.

*Brett used the chipotle sauce on a steak the next night and said it was good on that too!

Happy Eating!
Sara :)