Frijoles Refritos + Corn Tortilla Lasagna

Posted by Dana McMahan on February 17, 2008

For the last couple of weeks my husband has talked about concocting a black bean and tortilla lasagna. I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of it, but while watching Good Eats on Food TV one night, we saw Alton Brown make an appealing chicken and corn tortilla lasagna. “I can make that with beans instead of chicken,” my intrepid chef said. Always a willing a taste-tester, I told him to go for it.

He started the black beans in the slow cooker today, consulted some web sites for input on making Frijoles Refritos and Mexican lasagna in general (the biggest tip: fry your corn tortillas first unless you want corn pudding in your lasagna) and headed for the nearest Mexican grocery for the melty white cheese, jalapenos, corn tortillas and avocado.

This is an original recipe and we’ve tried to describe as closely as possible how to make it – fire away if you have questions. We’ll be certain to make this again.

8 corn tortillas
1 bay leaf
1 avocado
½ cup sour cream
1 can tomato sauce
2 jalapenos
3 cloves garlic
1 small white onion
1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight or quick-soaked
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs chopped cilantro, chopped
1 tbs dried oregano
8 oz quesadilla cheese

Cook beans in slow-cooker with a bay leaf on high for about 6 hours. Heat ¼ cup vegetable oil on medium heat in a heavy pot and add ¾ of the onion. Cook until translucent and add garlic. Cook 2 or 3 minutes. Drain beans reserving water. Add beans to onions in heavy pot. Mash with potato masher while adding reserved water. Continue until you reach desired consistency.

Heat 2 tbs of vegetable oil in small sauce pan over medium high heat. Add ¼ of the onion and cook until translucent.

Remove insides of jalapenos and dice. Add jalapenos to onion and cook 2-3 minutes. Add tomato sauce and reduce heat to low. Add chopped cilantro and oregano. Simmer while preparing tortilla shells.

Heat ½ cup olive oil in 9 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook tortillas for 5 -10 seconds on each side and place on paper towel. Salt and blot excess oil.

Preheat oven to 350.

Assemble lasagna
In a small square baking dish alternate sauce, a layer of tortillas, beans and cheese. Smother the top layer of tortillas with cheese and tent with tin foil. Bake for 20 minutes then remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.

Serve with additional cilantro for garnish, and sliced avocado and sour cream.

(By the way, frijoles refritos refers to beans that are well fried, not twice fried. In Mexico it is common to use the prefix "re" for emphasis. Who knew?)

TAGS: Mexican Lasagna, Refried Beans
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