Mexican-Style Casserole

05. May, 2010 6 Comments

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Living in Southern California, there’s no lack of holiday celebrations to take part in today.  If you’re having people over, or even if you’re just having a quiet night in, this Mexican-Style Casserole is the perfect thing to celebrate the holiday.  Now, I say Mexican-”style” because I have to admit that it’s not the most authentic dish.  I had some lavash bread, so I used it in place of tortillas.  I figured it was similar enough that it would work, and it also happens to be the perfect size and shape.  The “Cuban-style” black beans don’t help the authenticity either, but they sure taste good!

If you’d like a more authentic dish, by all means use tortillas and different beans.  The fun of creating a dish like this is that you can always just add whatever fillings you like best.  I got these ingredients from Trader Joe’s, but if you don’t have one nearby you can just get similar products in place of the ones I used.  This casserole is spicy, tangy and satisfying enough to fool any meat-eater.  But the best part just might be how easy it is to make!

Mexican-Style Casserole

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small (or 1/2 large) yellow onion, diced
1 package soy chorizo
4 sheets of lavash bread
1 10-oz. container Avocado Salsa Verde
1 15.5-oz. can of Cuban-style Black Beans (or plain black beans)
1 12-oz. container fresh Mild Salsa
2-3 tablespoons Tofutti sour cream (or your favorite non-dairy sour cream), at room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan (I use an oil spray).

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the olive oil and diced onion.  Once the onion has softened, about five minutes or so, add the chorizo and cook until it’s heated through.  (You can also just heat the chorizo if you don’t feel like cutting up an onion.)  Remove the pan from the heat.
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Start layering the casserole by placing a piece of the lavash bread in the bottom of your pan.  Top this with about half of the salsa verde, spreading it all over the lavash.  Add about half the can of black beans, and spread this out as well.
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Top with another piece of lavash and about half the container of salsa, again making sure to moisten all of the lavash. Place about half of the chorizo mixture over the salsa, and spread it out.
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Repeat the layers – one more of salsa verde/black beans and one more of tomato salsa/chorizo.  Place the casserole in the 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until hot.
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Put the sour cream in a small plastic baggie (or in a small pastry bag).  Snip a small hole in the corner, and pipe the sour cream over the top of the casserole.  You can also just spoon it over the top or onto individual servings.
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Enjoy with some chips and margaritas!

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6 Responses to “Mexican-Style Casserole”

  1. Joanne 05. May, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    OOOO I haven’t tried the TJ’s avocado salsa verde. I definitely need to give that a shot.

    Love this casserole! All of my favorite Mexican-esque flavors in one delicious dish.

  2. Laura 10. May, 2010 at 10:35 am

    I’m going to make this tonight! Mad props for coming up with recipes where all the ingredients can be purchased from Trader Joe’s. Makes grocery shopping so much easier.

  3. kim 10. May, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    Hey, Laura! Let me know what you think once you try it!

  4. Laura 13. May, 2010 at 4:51 pm

    This was really good plus it was so easy and fast to make. I get home around 7pm each night so that’s a big plus for me.

    I’m inspired by this lavash-layered casserole thing. Many possibilities.

  5. Maija Haavisto 27. May, 2010 at 11:05 am

    Looks and sounds great. I don’t know what “avocado salsa verde” is but I can probably figure it out with Google. Pretty clever using lavash instead of tortillas.

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