The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Well, the reason is that Rick Bayless is a culinary god. If we pick a recipe at random from his cookbook, it is sure to be our new favorite.

In fact, Evie just recently told us this is her favorite meal.

The Journey:

I believe the first thing that piqued Evie’s interest is that this recipe includes lots and lots of chips.

This is actually quite a strange recipe. What you make is sort of a…brown lump. It’s like…brown, soggy nachos.

Hmm, this is not really selling it it.

Okay, well, it’s not much to look at, I will grant you, but it is delicious. And it is made further delicious by the toppings. Pretty much anything you would put on nachos works well here (cheese, sour cream, avocado, pickled radishes, etc.), but our two favorite toppings are smoky chipotle salsa, or grilled corn salsa.

This is a sweeter salsa (though still pretty spicy!), and the slightly blackened, grilled-corn flavor is just fantastic. It’s great for chips too (and anything else that you use salsa for), but it seems to work particularly well for chilaquiles.

The Verdict:

This is absolutely the tastiest brown…lump…loaf…thing I have ever eaten! We make this very frequently at our house, and the kids beg for it in their lunches the next day.

The Recipe:

Chilaquiles recipe from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.

• 2 cans of black beans (or 1 1/4 cups dried)
• 1 cup vegetable or chicken broth (plus 5 cups broth or water if using dried beans)
• 1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, plus 2 teaspoons adobo from the can
• 1 teaspoon salt (not needed if using canned black beans)
• 8 oz of thick tortilla chips (~8 loosely packed cups)

1. If using dried beans, rinse them, then boil with onion, garlic, and 2 of the chiles, partially covered on medium to medium-low heat for about 2 hours. Add water if necessary to keep the beans submerged.
2. Puree the beans (including liquid), onion, garlic, and 2 of the chiles in the blender.
3. Add bean puree to a pot. Add up to 1 cup of broth until the consistency is that of a thin cream soup. Taste and season with salt (most likely not necessary if using canned beans). Bring to a boil over medium heat.
4. Slice the remaining chile into strips.
5. Add the tortilla chips and the chile. Stir to coat the chips well, and cook about 2 – 3 minutes (chips will continue to soften once off the stove, so do not overcook).

Salsa recipe adapted from Local Kitchen Blog.

• 6 ears corn on the cob
• 2 ½ lbs tomatoes, diced (if tomatoes are runny, let some of the juice run off)
• ½ of a large yellow onion, diced
• 4 jalapeno peppers, minced (we included the seeds)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 ¼ cups white vinegar
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ cup, packed, chopped fresh cilantro

1. Grill the corn (instructions here). Allow to cool, strip off husks and slice off kernels with a sharp knife. (Save the cobs for corn cob stock!)
2. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
3. Combine vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt and cumin in a large, wide-bottomed stockpot and bring to a boil over high heat. Add corn, tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic and return to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 5 – 10 minutes, to reduce liquid slightly and allow flavors to blend.
4. Add cilantro and return salsa to a boil. Remove from heat and ladle into hot jars to ½-inch headspace; bubble the jars, adjust headspace, wipe rims, affix lids and process for 15 minutes.
5. Allow the jars sit for at least 1 month, for optimal flavor mingling