Pumpkin and Rice Enchiladas with Beans

Happy Black Friday!

While everyone else is working their way through turkey day leftovers, I'm dealing with leftovers of a different variety.

Remember that pumpkin risotto? Well, I had a full serving still sitting in the fridge.

Sure, I could just reheat it, but that's not much fun.

I could have made Arancini di Riso - but I wanted something a bit lighter. Plus, have you ever deep fried something in small space, like a 750 sq. ft. apartment? It reeks for days on end.

So, I opened the fridge and just kind of stared into it. I saw some whole wheat tortillas and I started thinking that rice and beans are good in burritos.

Risotto is rice (duh) and I have a lot of black beans in my freezer. Then, I saw the salsa verde in my fridge and some corn tortillas and I started thinking about the awesome sweet potato enchiladas I made a long time ago.

Sweet potatoes and pumpkin are both orange.. so why not?

Now, before you think I've lost my marbles, hear me out. But besides the parm and little bit of ginger that went into the risotto, it wasn't far off from the beginnings of a great mexican-type dish.

So, tonight I re-purposed it by sauteing some garlic in a little oil, adding the leftover risotto, beans, and a little broth to soften it up. Then I added some cumin, chili power, more cayenne and a little salt and pepper.

Then, I used it to fill the enchiladas, topping them with salsa verde and pepper jack cheese.

And just like that it was an entirely new dish.

Pumpkin and Rice Enchiladas with Beans
Serves 2

2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 serving leftover pumpkin risotto -or- about a cup of cooked rice mixed with some pumpkin puree stirred in
3/4 cup black beans (about half of a 15 oz can)
Chicken broth as needed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or more to taste
salt and pepper
6 small corn tortillas
About 4 ounces salsa verde
1/4 cup (or more if you like) shredded pepper jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 450°

In a medium saucepan, warm the oil and minced garlic over medium heat. When the garlic starts to sizzle and is softening, add the leftover rice and beans. Add chicken broth to the pan just to help loosen things up and keep it creamy — I barely covered the rice with the broth.

Stir in the cumin, chili powder and cayenne, and let cook until warmed through, adding more broth if necessary to keep stuff from drying out. Season with salt and pepper

Warm the tortillas according the package directions.

Fill the tortillas with the rice mixture. I put somewhere near 1/4 in each tortilla, but eyeball it. Roll up each tortilla and place seam side down in casserole dish coated in cooking spray.

Cover the rolled enchiladas in the salad verde (I used about half a jar give or take) and top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 425° for 15 to 18 minutes, until warmed through and cheese is starting to brown.