Black bean and fried egg tostadas
Great for breakfast, or breakfast-for-dinner
You voted, I listened. This newsletter will move back to being a midweek delivery. I do like that idea that I’ll be briefly distracting you from your work with thoughts of food. As I send this off, it’s a gorgeous morning. The door behind my desk is wide open and the dog is stretched out beside me in a big patch of sun. It’s easy to be optimistic at this time of year isn’t it? Daylight savings is only a few weeks away and summer is getting closer and closer.
The contents of our plates are going to get brighter and fresher and I’m so ready for it. There’s a late spring vegetable soup in my cookbook that has asparagus, zucchini and tarragon. It’s really good and I’m really looking forward to being able to make that recipe soon.
I love eggy dinners like the recipe I’m sharing today. They save the day when time is short. With this one, the beans can be made in advance, frozen even, and then it’s a really quick midweek meal or weekend brunch to prepare. I always feel like eating Mexican flavours. Give me spice and avocado and coriander and hot sauce - delicious. The tostadas are such a nice change (love some crunch) and almost everything benefits from a fried egg on top.
This was originally written for my veeeery lovely buddies at Otaika Valley. They have the best eggs.
Have the best week. Kelly x
Black bean and fried egg tostadas
Serves 4
Black beans
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 rounded teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon garam masala
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Generous pinch dried chilli flakes
2 x 400g tins black beans in brine or spring water, rinsed
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
¾ cup sweetcorn kernels (tinned or frozen)
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Olive oil as needed for sautéing and frying
Other ingredients
4 (or more) free range eggs
8 corn tostadas (we like a mix of white and blue corn like these)
1 ripe avocado, stone removed and sliced
Fresh coriander leaves to serve
Hot sauce (optional)
Beans method
Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add all the spices, stir well and give them a minute in the pan to become fragrant.
Add in the beans and the tinned tomatoes. Bring to a boil, before reducing to a simmer and cooking for 15-20 minutes until nicely thickened. Season generously.
Egg method
Heat a glug of oil in a large sauté pan over a medium-high heat (not so high the oil is smoking). Crack the first egg into a cup or ramekin. Hold close to the pan’s surface and carefully pour it in. this will give you an egg that forms a better shape in the pan and doesn’t splatter the oil as you drop it in. Repeat until you have 4 eggs in the pan. Turn the heat down if the oil starts to spit. Cook until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny. Turn the heat off and give the eggs one more minute in the pan to thicken the yolk.
Assembly
Place two tostadas on each plate. Top with the beans. Follow with a fried egg and avocado slices. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and hot sauce if desired. Serve immediately.
Enjoy! x
Truly crunchy roast potatoes are the best. I absolutely love them. My girls call these ‘magic potatoes’. That transformation into incredibly crunchy roasties is really celebrated in our house. They’ll wander into the kitchen as I’m serving dinner and ask if these roast potatoes are ‘magic’ ones.
Here in New Zealand it has to be Agria potatoes for the best result. I’ve never been able to get the same amazing crunch with any other variety.
Very crunchy roast potatoes
Serves 4 as a side
700g Agria potatoes, washed and cut into 4-5cm chunks
Olive oil for roasting
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
Place potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes before tipping into a colander to drain. Leave in the colander to dry out for 5 minutes.
Drizzle the potatoes VERY generously with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Toss well.
Place on a lined large baking tray (you want the potatoes to have plenty of space to crisp up).
Roast for 25-40 minutes until really crunchy. Flip just once during the cooking process.
Recipes from the archives worth making this week
A couple of weeks ago I shared this Red Curry Roasted Chicken recipe on radio New Zealand in conversation with Jesse Mulligan (his Substack is I Ate Auckland). It’s an easy and really delicious meal. One I always get fab feedback about. It’s a nice chat too, so worth a listen.
This beef and mushroom lower carb lasagne uses a really delicious cauliflower ‘bechamel’ and kumara slices instead of pasta. Yes, it’s a faff like all lasagne recipes but it’s also packed with goodness and is really yummy. A very tasty weekend recipe.
Some recent good listens
Song: Good luck babe, Chappell Roan
I’m bringing you nothing original here as it’s one of the biggest songs in the world right now but I just can’t stop listening to it. Such a good bop. I only really like pop music when it’s got a bit of a dark edge like she does. A rare song that my girls and I can agree on.
Podcast: Perfect Day with Jessica Knappet Episode: Dolly Alderton
This is the lightest of light chats. Both of these women are a delight. We recently watched the season of Taskmaster that Jesscia Knappet is in, as a family, and we were totally charmed by her.
Podcast: Wild with Sarah Wilson Episode: How do I parent in the face of so much existential crisis?
This is a topic we chat to our friends about; how to parent / protect / prepare our kids in the face of some much climate and global uncertainty. This episode doesn’t figure it all out but there are good points and I enjoyed hearing this conversation between Sarah Wilson and Anya Kamenetz, a climate activist, parent and author of Substack, The Golden Hour.
Podcast: Unspooled Episode: American Beauty
I enjoy Unspooled’s conversations about films when it’s one I’ve previously had strong feelings about or enjoyed. This episode is quite an amusing film to take a second look at because when it was released in 1999, I was 18, and remember that to me, it felt like a profound story. Boy, it really doesn’t hold up well upon second look.
This is one of my absolute favourite chapters in my cookbook. It’s packed with many delicious and useful recipes.
You can order signed copies HERE. I’m offering FREE SHIPPING this month! x
I think the tostadas could become as truly popular as the golden potatoes already are in our household - they look an absolute must do, and a boost to my jaded winter palate
So many good things in this newsletter. The tostadas are a must make, that lasagne looks just my sort of thing and I love a good podcast recommendation.
I love this time of year when the first new leaves appear and the anticipation of spring produce sets in. I still find the sharp change of seasons and consequent appetite cravings quite incredible here in NZ.