Black bean tacos with strawberry salsa

A middle of the night recipe idea comes to life

As always, you can find a printable version of the recipe below.

At 2 or 3 am during one night last week, my daughter woke me because she had a nightmare. After she crawled into bed, she fell asleep almost instantly. I, on the other hand, lay there with my mind spinning. 

Did I send the birthday party invitations? Yes. 

Will I have time for the farmers market on Saturday before my daughter's play? Yes. 

Was buying that Costco membership *really* worth it? And should I have purchased the more expensive membership? I'm still trying to figure it out. 

I live a solid half hour from any Costco, so in the past, I've mooched off of someone else's membership to buy food or supplies before a party. 

With many of my favorite foods spiking in price, I thought it might be time I embrace Costco and its lure of bulk items for discount pricing. So I set up a trip with my friend and her mother-in-law, the keeper of a Costco card. 

I grabbed myself a big cart. In went boxes of snack foods for my daughter, impulse buys like ready-to-eat pupusas, and oversized jars of Rao's tomato sauce. 

I debated for two minutes whether to buy the Himalayan pink salt packaged in a plastic jug or a giant version of the kosher salt I usually get in a cardboard box. I ended up with neither.

The $10 ten-pound bag of organic sugar, a 3-pound pack of frozen sockeye salmon, and towers of good-quality canned salmon and tuna made the whole trip worth it, I think. 

At the checkout, I decided I wouldn't use my friend's mother-in-law membership as planned. It was time to become a real suburban grown-up and get my own. But I'd start with the lower-cost one, thank you. 

Then the hard sales tactics began. Well, if you're going to spend like this regularly, you'll want the next-level membership because you'll get cash back. 

Right, but I don't KNOW if I'll spend like this regularly because I live far away, and I'm not sure what I'll buy again. I need to try the food first. 

Well, you can upgrade later, but you won't get the cash back on this order. Do you understand? 

Yes. I understand I won't get $12 back for spending an extra $60 now; thanks. 

By the time I got home, I felt cranky and wrung out. 

Time for a heat-and-eat pupusa, which was, unfortunately, a chalky, bland-tasting disappointment. 

Then came more disappointments:

Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies…are the Costco versions not as good as the usual ones I buy or is it just me? 

Rao's Marinara Sauce…the texture of the Costco version seems thinner, no? 

A flat of flavored seltzers from San Pellegrino…why do they all taste like lipstick?  

I knew if I lived closer, I'd buy more fresh food there, making it worth it. 

Lying in bed in the middle of the night, I tried doing the math — if I went to Costco once a quarter for snacks, unflavored seltzer, canned fish, and organic sugar, would the savings pay for the less expensive membership? How about if I added some floss to the shopping list? 

Then I thought about the few things I had purchased but hadn't yet touched, like my eight-pack of canned Goya black beans. 

That's fine, I thought. We'll have black bean tacos for dinner soon. Maybe tomorrow night? Is tomorrow night now tonight? 

My brain then zagged over to flavor combinations based on what I knew I had in the pantry and fridge.

I'll use smoked paprika to make the beans smoky. Garlic and scallions for flavor, but I'll also add garlic powder for even more umami—plus cumin and oregano. 

Should I add something spicy?

Maybe a salsa…something to brighten it all up. Hmmmm.,..would a strawberry salsa be good? It's annoying to chop strawberries into little pieces. Ooooo, but I could crush them to make a less chunky salsa — a style I prefer anyway.  

It will need lime juice. And some jalapeño, preferably with seeds. 

Then, for the tacos, something with crunch.

Radishes? Cabbage? Either would be good. 

I hope I remember this in the morning. 

Lucky for all of us, I did! 

I not only made the black bean tacos with strawberry salsa. I liked them so much that I wrote up the recipe for you.

Black Bean Tacos With Strawberry Salsa

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Smoky Black Bean Tacos with Strawberry Salsa

Serves 4

Time: 30 to 45 minutes

I know this recipe looks a bit longer than my usual ones. The TLDR: You season and warm some black beans, crush up some strawberries with lime juice and a few typical salsa fresca ingredients, and then make some tacos. The garnishes here are what I suggest but feel free to swap, add, or subtract. 

If you’re good at multitasking and fast with a knife, these will come together in about a half hour. If slow and steady is more your pace, it will take up to 45 minutes. 

For the beans

4 scallions (green onions)

3 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon cumin seeds or ground cumin

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Two 15-ounce cans black beans with their liquid

Salt, optional

For the strawberry salsa

1 cup strawberries

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Pinch of salt

Pinch of sugar

1 scallion (green onion)

1 small jalapeño

¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

For serving

5 to 8 radishes

1 lime

Cilantro sprigs

12 corn tortillas (about 6 inches each)

Crumbled cotija cheese (optional)

Prep and cook the beans

Trim off the root ends of the scallions and remove any papery outer layer. Thinly slice the scallions. 

Peel the garlic cloves and thinly slice. 

In a deep skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the scallions and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. (Resist the urge to season them with salt. If your canned beans are salted, it might make everything too salty.)

Add the smoked paprika, garlic powder, cumin seeds and dried oregano and toast for about 15 seconds. Stir in the beans with their liquid. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat back to medium. 

Simmer the beans for 5 minutes, then use a spoon to mash some of the beans to help thicken the liquid. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the beans are suspended in a fairly thick liquid, about 5 minutes longer. 

Turn off the heat but leave the beans on the burner to keep warm. Taste the beans, and add more salt if desired. 

Make the strawberry salsa

As the beans cook, you can start getting the salsa together. 

Remove the green tops from the strawberries and drop them into a bowl. Use your hands or a potato masher to crush up the strawberries to a pulp. Stir in the lime juice along with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. 

Remove the roots from the scallion and thinly slice. 

Finely chop the jalapeño, leaving in some or all of the seeds if you want some heat. (I think it tastes best with the seeds.)

Finely chop the cilantro. 

Stir the scallion, jalapeño, and cilantro into the strawberries, then taste. Balance the flavors to your liking with more salt or sugar, if you like. 

If you have the time, let the salsa hang out so the flavor meld for 5 to 10 minutes. 

Prep the garnishes, warm the tortillas, and serve

Thinly slice the radishes and arrange them on a plate. 

Cut the lime into wedges and arrange alongside. 

Arrange the cilantro sprigs on the plate as well. 

On the stovetop directly over a flame, or in a dry medium frying pan over medium heat, warm the tortillas, turning once, until just pliable and warmed through, about 30 seconds per side.

(To make this go faster, I like to use multiple burners at a time to warm the tortillas.)

Wrap the tortillas in a clean towel to keep them warm. 

To serve, set out the warm beans, the salsa, and tortillas with the garnishes and crumbled cotija cheese and invite everyone to make their own tacos. 

The short version

• Thinly slice the scallion and garlic. Heat the olive oil and cook the scallion and garlic until soft and then toast the spices. Add the beans with their liquid, cook for 5 minutes, then smash up some of the beans to thicken the liquid and cook until it looks like a good taco filling. 

• While the beans cook, trim and smash the strawberries. Add the lime juice and a pinch of salt and sugar. Slice the scallion and finely chop the jalapeño and cilantro. Add them to the strawberries. Season with more salt and sugar if you like. 

• Make a garnish plate with sliced radishes, cilantro springs and lime wedges. Warm the tortillas. Serve the beans, salsa, and tortillas with the garnishes and some crumbled cojita cheese. 

Fun for kids

• Measure out the spices.

• Trim and smash the strawberries!

• Arrange the prepared garnishes on a plate. 

• Toast the tortillas (with adult assitance). 

Swaps

• Instead of black beans, use pinto beans. 

• Instead of scallions, use ½ small white onion. 

• Instead of making strawberry salsa, make (or buy) a mango salsa. (I wrote a recipe for one here.)

• Instead of jalapeño, use serrano chile for more heat. Or if you don’t have fresh chiles on hand but want some heat, add a pinch crushed red pepper. 

• If you don’t like cilantro, leave it out. 

• Instead of radishes, use raw shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix. 

• Instead of cotija cheese, try queso fresco or feta. 

• Instead of corn tortillas, use any kind of tortilla you like!

Bonus points

• If you enjoy cooking your own beans, please do! Save about 1 cup of the cooking liquid to add with the beans. 

• If you have the green tops from your radishes, wash, chop, and add them with the black beans. 

• Add a little diced avocado, to the garnish plate if you like. 

• Susan Spungen told me it was worth making my own tortillas, so I did and I agree! I used Bob’s Red Mill Masa Harina to make it easy. I now have my eye on the masa harina from Masienda. Have you tried?