Do you know taquitos? A taquito needs to be a corn tortilla, filled with meat, rolled up, and fried until crispy. But the recipe for “Easy Baked Wonton Chicken Taquitos,” from Good Cook Everyday Cooking, manipulates the romantic impression of your taquito with a number of subversions. Fill a wonton wrapper with a mix of rotisserie chicken and premade salsa, roll and bake in a 400-degree oven. Crazy, crispy, and fantastic.
I used less than half a rotisserie chicken for this project, mixing the shreds with salsa, the tiny bit of cream cheese glue, and some Monterey Jack cheese. This was a low-anxiety mixture that was fun to roll up in 30 wonton wrappers.
Then, onto the baking sheet and into the hot oven for 10 minutes. I then flipped all the taquitos over, to bake on the other side for another 8 minutes. These taquitos made us feel the love that we dreamed of. All perversions were forgiven.
Since I had this hot oven going, I also made my own “Refried Beans,” from Cuisine at Home (recipe below).
Refried Beans
Cuisine at Home
Makes 4 servings
Cook:
2 strips thick-sliced bacon, diced
1 cup Green Mountain Gringo Salsa
Purée:
2 cans pinto beans, drained, rinsed and divided (16 oz. each)
Salt to taste
Garnish:
Crumbled queso blanco
cilantro sprigs
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Cook bacon in a saucepan over medium heat until crisp; transfer to a paper towel–lined plate. Drain all but 1 Tbsp. drippings from pan and increase heat to high.
Stir in salsa and boil until liquid is nearly evaporated, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Purée half the beans, bacon, and salsa in a food processor until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and fold in remaining whole beans.
Spread bean mixture in a 2-qt. baking dish, cover with foil, and bake 15 minutes. Garnish with queso blanco and cilantro.
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This cute recipe let me use bacon. I cooked down one cup of the same salsa I used in the taquitos above, making it thick and potent, like tomato paste. I pureed half my canned beans, added more than 1 tsp. salt, then baked the whole ugly mess. I did garnish with queso blanco. By this point in the cooking game, I was totally unashamed. I even opened up a container of premade guacamole, to help adorn my plate of treats.
PRICES:
Pinto Beans (2 cans) = $3.68
Yucatan Guacamole = $4.63
PREP TIMES: take your time rolling the taquitos, bake in 18 minutes; beans need 30 minutes of prep and cooking
TASTES: crispy taquitos can be dipped into guacamole and refried beans
Next time, I want to make the “Apricot-Strawberry Tart,” from the May/June 2016 issue of Eating Well, using my hands, a springform pan, and no white flour. Come back to my site next week to see it.
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