Let’s recap: so far, we have a sparkly cocktail, a quite nice assortment of dips, and a really, really good artichoke salad that we’ve put on top of lightly toasted French bread with a bit of that tasty Sartori cheese. Now, it’s time for sumpin’ a bit more substantial…
Like – refried black beans with scallions, pimiento, and cream cheese – or mebbe mesquite smoked turkey breast with watercress and a cranberry-pecan relish; all rolled up into a large tortilla and sliced.
First, about that tortilla.
I chose two varieties for the two different sammiches I’d planned; a sun-dried tomato tortilla that worked a treat, and this:
sadly, a whole grain tortilla with olive oil that – each and every one I tried – fell to pieces.
Well, crud.
Fortunately, both fillings worked nicely in the sun-dried tomato tortillas.
Let’s start with the black bean roll-up.
INGREDIENTS
•1 can refried black beans
•8 oz cream cheese, softened
•3/4 cup sour cream
•1 (4 oz) jar pimientos, drained
•1/4 cup chopped green onion
•1/2 tsp seasoned salt
•1/8 tsp Earl’s (or tabasco)
•1 cup jack cheese, shredded
•3 large tortilla wraps
Whip the softened cream cheese with the sour cream, then stir in the jack cheese, seasoned salt, and Earl’s. Fold in the pimiento and scallions and set aside.
Remove the refried beans from the can and stir a bit to soften. If you can’t find refried black beans, the original recipe calls for using canned black beans, but you’ll need to break them up in the food processor – or, I guess just mash ’em – but I like this version with much more better.
To make the sammich: lay out your tortilla on a board and spread a bit over half with the refried black beans, then top that with the cheese mixture.
Starting from the right edge (looking at this image), roll the tortilla up as tightly as you can, ending with it resting seam-side down.
Wrap the roll with plastic wrap and stash in the fridge for at least a few hours or (you know the drill here) best, overnight.
Continue with the remaining beans and cheese – the amounts listed in this recipe made 3 black bean roll ups with a bit of that nice cream cheese mixture left over.
Vegetarian-friendly version done, it’s time to make a roll-up sammich with a bit of meat.
We were also serving soul rolls at the party, which meant I had the fruit from a can of peaches and of pineapple leftover once I made the dipping sauces, which then meant that I was going to need to make chunky cranberry-pecan relish, which then put the idea for this combination in my head.
INGREDIENTS:
•1/2 to 3/4lb deli-sliced turkey breast
-I chose a mesquite smoked variety
•Whipped cream cheese with chive
•Cranberry relish
•Watercress leaves
•3 large tortilla wraps – this is where I had planned to use the whole grain with olive oil
Assemble this sammich by spreading the tortilla with the cream cheese, then topping it with the cranberry relish and watercress.
Top it all with the sliced turkey, then roll, wrap in plastic, and stash in the fridge to rest.
To serve, unwrap the rolls and slice – mebbe at just a little bit of an angle – with a serrated knife and arrange on a serving platter. I saved the messy ends as a nosh for myself or helpers while setting things up.
This is two of each roll-ups, sliced and arranged on one of Golnaz’ kinda cunnin’ serving pieces.
Nice. And tasty.
BTW – if you want to try the turkey roll up, but aren’t planning on making soul rolls and so don’t have any fruit to make the relish; try cranberry chipotle relish which, now that I think of it, would’ve been really good.