Roasted Pumpkin, White Bean and Goat Cheese Taquitos with Roasted Tomatillo, Jalapeno and Avocado salsa

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I think the title took longer to type out than it took to make these.

Yup. Another recipe with pumpkin. This will continue until I run out of pumpkin. Which may be never since my husband just informed me that since I love pumpkin so much he added a "squash" add-on to our bountiful basket organic produce box which means like 4 or 5 sugar pie pumpkins a week. Good thing the puree freezes well. I made these with pumpkin puree I made, but canned pumpkin works just fine if you don't have family members buying you an endless supply of pumpkins to roast and puree with all your free time....

 Mexican Food is my favorite to eat when we go out to a restaurant as well as to make at home. I usually order tacos or taquitos and on rare occasions a good chicken mole. That is a recipe I want to conquer one day, mole. Man that stuff is tasty tasty.  I have made sweet potato taquitos before, and they were good, but I felt I could make a variation with pumpkin that would be even better, and the addition of goat cheese would help take them to a whole new level of yummy goodness. Because adding goat cheese to anything always makes it better. Always.

 I gave my husband a few Rick Bayless cookbooks a few years ago after we discovered him from watching Top Chef Masters. So glad I have a love affair with cooking shows. Because that was like the best discovery ever. Too bad I am no where near Chicago or else I would be at his restaurant all the time. Maybe he will open a restaurant in Vegas one day.  A girl can dream. My husband found a roasted tomatillo salsa recipe in one of the books two years ago when we grew a ton of tomatillos in our garden. We have made it so many times. This is my spin, or "riff" on his recipe as he calls it, mainly because I wanted to spice it up a bit more and use an avocado I had before it went bad.  I could put this salsa on anything, its especially killer on scrambled eggs.

So yeah. Make these.

Roasted Pumpkin, White Bean and Goat Cheese Taquitos

Makes approx. 24 taquitos

Prep time: 30-40 min

Bake Time: 15 minutes

Total time approx. 60 min

Ingredients:

24 6” corn tortillas

Olive oil spray

½ sweet onion, diced

4 medium cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp ancho chili powder

½ tsp Smoked paprika

½ Cumin

1/8^th  ground chipotle

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp sea salt

Ground black pepper to taste

1 can or 15 ounces rinsed and drained canellini beans (or any other white bean)

2 cups roasted pumpkin puree or 1 can ( 15 oz) pumpkin puree

8 ounces creamy goat cheese

Directions:

 

Saute diced onion in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until starting to brown. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds or until fragrant

Add spices and stir another 30 seconds

Add beans and pumpkin puree and cook 3-5 min until well mixed and heated

Transfer mixture to food processor and blend until smooth

Return to pan and heat for another 1-2 minutes and taste. Add more seasonings if you like

Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm

Heat oven to 275 deg f

Spray baking sheet with olive oil. Place 6 corn tortillas on pan and spray both sides with oil. Heat in oven 2 min a side for 4 min total. Place on a plate and cover with a towel to keep soft. Repeat with remaining tortillas just make sure to keep them all covered to stay soft.

Heat oven to 425 deg f. 

Using one tortilla at a time, keeping the rest covered while each one gets filled, spoon about 1 ½ tbsp – 2 tbsp pumpkin mixture along one edge about ¼ in away from edge of tortilla. Spread heaping 1 tsp goat cheese on top. Roll up and place seam side down on baking sheet that has been sprayed with oil ( you can use the same sheet that you softened the tortillas on) repeat with remaining tortillas. You can place them about 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Spray tops with more oil. Bake the taquitos for 15 min or until crispy.  Serve with Roasted tomatillo jalapeno avocado salsa. Enjoy!

Roasted Tomatillo, Jalapeno and Avocado salsa

Makes approx. 2 cups

Prep time 10 min

Cook time 10-15 min

Total time 30 min

Ingredients

½ white onion diced

8 medium tomatillos, husked and cut in half

2 medium jalapenos

4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled

½ bunch cilantro

Zest and juice of one lime

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1 medium avocado, seeded and scraped out of peel

Directions:

Dice the onion and place in a bowl of cold water

Over medium heat, place the tomatillos cut side down, the whole jalapenos and garlic cloves and cook until slightly charred and the tomatillos start to soften about 4 min, flip the tomatillos over and cook for about 4 more min. Turn the jalapenos every few min to slightly char on each side as well as the garlic. The garlic may take the longest to soften so those can always be started first in the pan.

Place the tomatillos in a blender. Strain the onions and place those in blender as well.

Slice the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds and ribs and place in blender.

Peel the garlic cloves and place those in blender as well as the rest of the ingredients

Blend on low to medium until smooth. Taste and add more seasonings if desired. Chill until ready to serve.

Tomatillo Salsa Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless