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February 8, 2020Quick & Easy Dinner!
Black Beans & Rice with Chicken and Red Apple Salsa
Main
This recipe for Chicken, Black Beans and Rice with Red Apple Salsa is an oldie but goody at our home for a quick and easy dinner. To speed things along, I use canned black beans and a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
If you have time to make your own chicken, try my Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with herbs de Provence.
I like Trader Joe’s Cuban-style black beans with green bell peppers and onion. I add a little bit of cumin, red pepper flakes, and diced chipotles in adobe sauce to jazz it up. Any canned black beans will do, just something with a little pizazz in it. Dice the chipotles and add them with the adobe sauce a tablespoon at a time to taste. If you don’t want to hassle with dicing the chipotles and then storing the leftovers, La Costeña sells them already diced in a jar so you can easily keep the unused portion in the refrigerator.
Speaking of pizazz, add some to the rice by stirring in the zest of a lime and some thinly sliced green onions. If you are a cilantro fan, toss some of that in there, too.
They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and we love apples. In the past, our favorite apple by far has been the Envy apple. However, many new varieties of apples have shown up in the market lately. I recently picked up an Autumn Glory apple. It is a crispy, crunchy, juicy apple and the BEST PART is it has a cider-like aroma with hints of cinnamon and caramel (sounds like a wine description). Give this apple a try!
Another new apple variety is SugarBee, which is Tom’s new favorite (below). Autumn Glory has a tad less crispness than Envy or SugarBee, but I love the flavor, so any of these three works. A Honeycrisp apple would also work.
This is a fast, delicious meal for weeknights or any time!
Ingredients:
2 cans (15.5-oz.) Trader Joe’s Cuban-style black beans, drained, not rinsed
1 t. cumin
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 T. diced chipotles in adobe sauce (or more!)
1 2-3 pound rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded or chopped
4 c. cooked brown or white rice
1 lime, zested
3 green onions, thinly sliced, white and light green parts only
Kosher salt
Red Apple Salsa:
2 crisp red apples, cored and finely diced
1 small Serrano or jalapeño pepper, seeds removed and thinly sliced (optional)
½ small red onion, finely diced
½ c. fresh cilantro, chopped and stems removed
1 lime, zested and juiced (save the juice)
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients for the apple salsa, including the lime zest and juice, in a small bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat the black beans, cumin, red pepper flakes, and chipotle in adobe over medium heat until heated through. Season to taste with salt if needed.
Stir the zest from one lime and thinly sliced green onions into the cooked rice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
To serve, divide the rice and beans among the plates. Top with the shredded chicken and apple salsa.
4 to 6 servings.
Recipe adapted from Bon Appétit (January 2012 issue)
Based on 5 Review(s)
