It’s Refried Beans Friday!

I hear that some people sheltering in place due to COVID-19 are starting to lose track of which day it is. Well, friends, I can tell you that it is REFRIED BEANS Friday! And these beans are addictive, so you may want them every day… (Seriously, Mr. Flavorcollector has been asking me to make another batch, even though we still have a full tub in the freezer…)

This is an Instant Pot recipe which doesn’t require pre-soaking the dried beans, so it’s ready to go within 2 hours. Makes about 8 cups — plenty to freeze for later!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb dried pinto beans
• 6 cups of water with 4 tsp of chicken or vegetable bouillon
• 2 tbsp olive oil or bacon fat
• 1 small onion diced
• 1 jalapeno (seeds removed) diced finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 2 bay leaves

Chop your onion and jalapeno, and saute in the Instant Pot with 2 tbsp of your chosen cooking oil. Normally I’d go with bacon fat, but cleaning out the freezer, I found a tub of fat and drippings I had saved from our X’mas turkey, so gobble gobble, in that went. After 2 minutes, add the minced garlic cloves, and cook for another couple minutes. Deglaze with some of your water or stock, because nobody wants the Instant Pot burn notice.

Rinse the dried pinto beans and add to the pot with the rest of the ingredients. Feel free to reduce the amount of cayenne or leave it out if you don’t like the heat.

Cook for 45 min. on high pressure, then let it release naturally. Once the Instant Pot depressurizes, remove the bay leaves. Leaf it out! Also ladle out about 1 cup of liquid and set aside. Blitz the beans with an immersion blender until the mixture is silky smooth. If the beans seem thick, add some of the reserved cooking liquid until it’s the texture you like.

Enjoy on a tortilla, with rice… we’ve been having them in English muffins with cheese and lunch meat or Morningstar patties. Sorry it’s not photogenic, but I promise you it’s tasty!