Heirloom Bean & Cheese Burritos

This is next level comfort food. Make these decidedly gourmet bean and cheese burritos with mouthwatering heirloom beans instead of those cheap refried pinto beans and you'll be the hit of the party...or your midnight fridge raid.

Heirloom beans are so much more flavorful, I have to admit I avoided seemingly common uses for them until recently. I thought why would I waste amazing (and expensive) heirloom beans on a burrito? And then one day I was out of the organic pintos and used some eye of the goat I had in the pantry. Wow, the flavor was so incredible. The refried beans were easy and fast in the pressure cooker and I made the entire pound bag of beans so that I could freeze what I didn't use. Refried beans freeze so well. Now I can thaw a container of beans whenever the urge strikes and I'm in burrito heaven. I'll never save my heirloom beans for special occasions ever again.

EASY ONE POT REFRIED BEANS - VEGAN

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound dry heirloom beans (any thin skinned creamy bean will be great this including bayo, mayacopa, oaxacan black, eye of the goat. Experiment with all different kinds of beans to find your favorite)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion chopped into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 jalapeno cored, seeded, and finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 4 cups vegetable stock divided
• 3 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

DIRECTIONS

1. Rinse the beans and check for stones.
2. Saute the onions and jalapeno in a bit of oil (avocado is great for this) in your pressure cooker or dutch oven on the stove until soft but not brown. Add the garlic and let cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the veggie stock, water, bay leaves, salt, cumin, oregano, cayenne, and the rinsed and drained beans.
3. Seal the Instant Pot. Cook on HIGH (manual) for 45 minutes. When the 45 minutes of pressure cooking has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 25 minutes. Vent to release any remaining pressure. Carefully open the lid. The beans will be swimming in a lot of liquid, this is ok. If you are cooking these on the stove you will need to bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for approximately 2 hours until the beans are very soft, adding liquid as needed to keep the beans submerged with an inch of water above the bean line. You can do this in a slow cooker by setting it to high for 4 hours or cooking all day on low.
4. 
   Discard the bay leaves. Reserve 2 cups of the bean cooking liquid in a bowl or measuring cup, then drain the remainder into a container to freeze for later use as bean stock for soups. Return to the beans to the pot. With an immersion blender (or by hand with a potato masher), puree the beans until they reach your desired consistency, adding some of the reserved liquid as needed. (You can also scoop the beans into a blender in batches and puree them. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
5. Scoop about a 1/2 cup of beans into the center of a large flour tortilla, add shredded cheese Fold the short sides of the tortilla over the filling; fold the bottom of the tortilla up and over the filling and tightly roll. 
6. Heat up a skillet with a small bit of oil coating the bottom and place the burritos in seam side down, cooking until browned, turn and brown the opposite side.  Serve with the hot sauce of your choice. We love them with the Red Clay Verde.