tacos with spicy corn & black beans

sometimes, rather surprisingly, i'm in the mood for spice.

and tonight i wanted corn. more specifically, corn + spice. i found a bunch of "mexican corn" and "spicy corn" recipes online, but i didn't have everything called for in them, mostly i was missing the green pepper. and i was worried that the "jarred salsa" would taste soggy, mushy, and not quite right. but i improvised anyway. and it worked...



...and ditto for the beans. i wanted to change it up, spice it up, so i read the recipe on the back of the goya can. i had maybe half the ingredients for that one too. oh well. so i improvised that one too. it probably isn't as good as the original recipe, but it was definitely better than plain old black beans from a can. (and i had everything already in my pantry)

spicy corn

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 cups corn
kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup salsa
2 tablespoons cilantro

1. in a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. add the onion and saute until starting to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. add the corn, salt to your liking, and cumin. cover and cook about 10 minutes.
3. add salsa and cilantro, mix, remove from heat, and serve or cover to keep warm before serving.

spicy black beans

15 ounce can black beans, rinsed
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
3 gloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt & pepper

1. in a saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. add the onion and garlic and saute until starting to soften, about 5 minutes.
2. add the beans, water, oregano, and season with salt and pepper. bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until most of the water has been cooked out.