Hot Summer’s Day Food

Black Bean Tostadas With Cherry Tomatoes

I admit it. I love black beans! I eat them once or twice every week in one way or another. I cook up a batch in the crock pot overnight on Monday and have them available all week. Lately I have had an abundance of cherry tomatoes from two Sweet 100 plants in my garden. Tomatoes love these hot summer days in Baltimore and reward us with plenty of great produce for about three months.

This Sweet 100 is a new variety I decided to try this year from my favorite plant and vegie farmer at the Baltimore “under the bridge” farmer’s market. They started out slow but by June I could tell these were going to be big. Apparently the bushes get up to 7 feet tall! And boy are they sweet and delicious!

With all these cute tasty little tomatoes rolling about I have used them in new and fun ways every week since they started producing 10-15 tomatoes per day. Yesterday I wanted something to use my hot red habenero sauce on so I dug the corn tortillas out of the freezer and when they thawed out the fun began. Now I rarely fry anything, but I figure it’s no big deal to do up these corn tortillas in one and a half tablespoons of olive oil. Especially since about half of it remains in the pan after frying them. I’m sure the oil I use is better than the oil used in most restaurants the fry tortillas.

So fry I did, and in no time at all I was munching these colorful discs of tastiness and spice. These tostadas can be a starter, a lunch main dish, or party food. You can add green chiles, squash, corn, or even kale. You can make them hot, or not. Goat cheese, and fresh basil would work well with olives thrown in for a Greek flavor treat. Just let your creativeness flow on this one and have fun. Nothing like hot and spicy food on hot summer days.

Black Bean Tostadas with Cherry Tomatoes

4 corn tortillas

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup cooked black beans

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, white or yellow

1/2 grilled bell pepper, red or green sliced thin

12 cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 jalapeno sliced thin, optional

In a saute pan cook the tortillas one at a time in the oil on medium to medium high heat just until brown on the edges. This takes about 2 minutes on the first side and a little less time on the second side.

Drain on paper towels.

Drain oil out of the saute pan and heat the black beans for about 2 minutes. This is a good time to add some cumin or chili powder if you like. A 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon should be enough. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now it’s time to build your tostadas. Put 1/4 beans on each, followed by cheese, tomatoes and jalapenos. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 4-6 minutes until cheese is melted. Serve with a side of sliced avocado, shredded lettuce, salsa, black olives or any combination of these ingredients.

Serves two.

Note:

These can be cut in half or quarters for a nice party snack.

Pinto beans/refried beans would be good in place of black beans.

Canned beans can be used if you don’t want the bother of waiting for the crockpot beans.

Crockpot Black Beans

2 cups dry black beans

6 cups water

1/2 yellow onion chopped

1 clove garlic minced

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

You can shorten this time if you start out on high and reduce to low heat an hour later. This cuts about an hour off the total cook time.