Smoky Pork & Bean Wraps - scrumpalicious!

We've done a very good line in swerving various recipes for various reasons, this week.  As a result, very few of those planned recipes have happened on the day they were supposed to - but this one got moved, moved again, then happened on the right day in the end.

All the "do we, don't we" was down to two things.  Firstly, we kept forgetting to buy a tin of smoked paprika - even though we'd gone to the shop specifically for that very thing - and secondly, because of son & heir's social engagements.

Having finally decided to do the Wraps on the Saturday evening, this necessitated another trip to a shop to buy the darned smoked paprika and some more pork mince, as we had another mouth to feed.

This time, we managed to leave the shop with the smoked paprika!  I swear, it's the onset of age.  Either that, or we've got too many things to think about and keep getting distracted.  Can't just be a bad memory.  :: shakes head ::  Oh no, definitely not.  What was I talking about, again? 

The "real thing"

Do you know, I reckon that 99% of alternative supplies of smoked paprika could very easily be disposed of, as none of the ones I've ever tried (mostly because I couldn't get the tin of "real thing") are just house dust by comparison.  The smell of the real thing is just so powerful - it promises so much by way of flavour, all of which it delivers.  In fact, hubby had a camp fire in his patio fire bowl on the Saturday night (with the sleepover boys all gathered around, feeling grown up and manly as they tended the fire and talked guitars), and that fire smelled almost exactly the same as the paprika did.  Maybe they were chucking teaspoonfuls on the fire - I hope not.  *chuckle*

Anyway, I'm supposed to be talking about dinner, aren't I?  See?  Easily distracted.

Well, this meal was another very satisfactorily easy to prepare one.  The original recipe came from ye good olde BBC Good Food Magazine, but they don't seem to have included it in the recipes on the website yet.

As ever (you should come to expect this now), I changed the recipe a little to fit rather better with being able to drain off the fat from the meat and because our guest hasn't got our fortitude where chilli is concerned, I used just a tablespoon of the barbecue sauce, then cooked the filling through to the finished product and decanted enough for one portion out into a separate pan.  I then included the three remaining tablespoonfuls of barbecue sauce into the rest of the mix for us.

The barbecue sauce I used, was one of Levi Roots' products - his famous "Reggae Reggae" BBQ/Jerk Sauce.  I've not used this before and blimey but it's good!  To say it is frisky is an understatement - our poor guest was even a little over-challenged by the one tablespoonful in his wraps.  We are all great chilli hounds, so the friskiness of the sauce was very welcome for us.

I also used Tarantella tomato passata, which is just streets ahead of other passatas for flavour (in my opinion).  I know I've rattled on about Tarantella products before, so I won't bore you again now - but if you can find them, try them.

These wraps don't quite measure up to "The best Enchiladas evar!", but I can tell you, it was a close run thing.   It was interesting to have a wrap filling made with pork mince - which naturally goes so well with the spices, tomato and barbecue sauce.  I don't doubt it would have been nice made with any kind of mince (turkey comes to mind, for economy), but the pork mince gave it a particular texture that invited you to "get your teeth into it" in a most satisfying way.


If like our guest, you aren't so good with chillies, then I suggest you get a mild barbecue sauce, as there isn't much spicy heat involved other than that.  However, if you're a chilli hound - definitely go with the Reggae Reggae sauce, you won't regret it!


SMOKY PORK & BEAN WRAPS    (makes 8-10 wraps or 8 wraps and 2 lunches!)


Ingredients :


750g pack of pork mince
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
400ml passata
5-6 tbsp barbecue sauce
400g red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
small bunch of coriander, chopped
8 corn wraps.


Method :


1.  Dry fry the mince in a large frying pan or wok, until all the meat has changed colour and the fat has rendered out.  Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and keep it warm.  Drain away the fat and discard.


2.  Add the oil and the onion and cook over a medium heat until softened but not browned.


3.  Sprinkle over the spices and stir well, cooking for one minute more.


4.  Add the passata and barbecue sauce along with 4 tablespoonfuls of water.  Add the minced meat back to the pan along with the beans and some seasoning and stir until thoroughly mixed.


5.  Allow the mixture to simmer and reduce, until the sauce is clinging to the meat and not pooling around the meat.  You will need to stir at regular intervals, to prevent the mixture catching on the bottom of the pan and burning.

6.  At the last minute, stir in the coriander and serve by taking a warmed wrap, then placing on some shredded lettuce, then some soured cream and enough of the meat filling that the wrap will comfortably hold.  Roll it up, put it on a plate along with some tomato salsa and some potato wedges.  Yum!


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