Tortillas, Frijoles Refritos, and Other Basics of Mexican Cooking

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And don't limit yourself to just hamburger, eitherl Almost any kind of shredded meat or poultry goes well in a taco . . . especially when seasoned with a teaspoon or so of a spicy, homemade salsa, or sauce.

I make our salsa by peeling and cutting up several ripe tomatoes. I then add about one-half cup of chopped onion, several diced green chilies (go easy on these peppers if you're not used to "hot" sauce), a crushed clove of garlic, a pinch of salt, and a dash of ordinary ground pepper.

The chilies for the above recipe, of course; must be peeled before they're diced. Place them under your oven's broiler (not more than three inches from the element) and toast and turn them until the chilies are brown and blistered. Then remove, cool, peel, and add them to your salsa.

TOSTADAS

Tostodas (tose-TAH-dahs) are very similar to tacos in that they are fried corn tortillas served with meat, frijoles refritos, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, etc. The tostadas, however, are fried flat—instead of folded—and are used as edible plates, instead of shells.

I like my tostadas to crunch, so I fry each one until it begins to turn brown. The gigantic, flat corn chips are then coated with a thin layer of frijoles refritos and topped with all the good things that we sometimes stuff into tacos.

BURRITOS

Unlike crisp tacos and tostadas (which are made from corn), burritos (boor-RHEEtose) are soft tortillas made of wheat flour and then wrapped around a meat and/or bean filling.

Since wheat tortillas destined to become burritos should be somewhat larger than normal, you'll probably want to roll them out with a rolling pin instead of trying to flatten them in either a store-bought or homemade press. Otherwise the basic preparation is exactly the same as for the wheat tortilla recipe given earlier in this article. You can, in short, make a large batch ahead and store them in your refrigerator or freezer.

When I'm ready to turn some of my griddle-cooked and stored, oversized wheat tortillas into burritos, I usually wrap them in foil and warm them for a few minutes in the oven. Then, when the tortillas are heated through, I place a dollop of hamburger and frijoles refritos in each one's center. A sprinkling of finely chopped onion, grated cheese, and salsa is then added and the burritos are rolled into a sort of sandwich and eaten. Make sure you fold up about two inches along the sides, so the filling won't fall out!

QUESADILLAS

If you like cheese, you'll love quesadillas (kay-sah-DEE-yahs). These delicious snacks or side dishes are also made with wheat flour tortillas . . . only this time the "pancakes" are folded in half around a thick slice of either cheddar or jack cheese.

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