Spiced and charred.
As a child, I loved fajita night. Masses of garden-grown peppers and onions, blistered in my father’s largest skillet, tossed with strips of stirfried chicken lightly spiced with seasoning from (shhhh don’t tell!) a store-bought packet. All this we piled into soft flour tortillas as big as my face, buried in showers of shredded cheddar and mounds of salsa and sour cream and devoured, fajita juice dribbling down our chins and running through our fingers.
If you asked me how I felt about chicken back then, I would have said, “I like it okay,” but on fajita night I found myself trying to pick around it scooping fajita mix onto my tortilla, going for the juicy, jammy peppers and avoiding the meat, which felt tough and a little stringy in comparison to the ripe, skillet-blistered produce. To this day, when I think of fajitas, I think of the veg—and that’s why, when I went to create my own version, I ditched the chicken along with the seasoning packet and opted for cannellini beans instead.
Charred, spice-rubbed cannellini beans, crisp on the outside, creamy in the center, piled on a bed of smoky-sweet peppers and onions, topped with sour cream and lime and wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. The smokiness of the dried spice rub contrasts beautifully against the sweet jammy peppers and cool sour cream, while the fresh lime juice adds the perfect tang to bring everything together.
Sometimes you don’t mess with a good thing—especially if that good thing is a flavor memory from your childhood. But sometimes you take that flavor memory up a notch, and make it even better. These white bean fajitas still take me back to those Indiana August nights, circa 2002. Whether or not they stir a flavor memory in you, I hope you’ll agree with me: they are truly delicious!
Enjoy!
White Bean Fajitas
(Makes 6-8 fajitas)
5 tablespoons neutral oil, divided
3 bell peppers (preferably different colors), sliced lengthwise into thin strips
1 white onion, sliced lengthwise into thin wedges
1 ½ teaspoon salt, divided
1 (14.5-ounce) can white beans (such as cannellini or navy), rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons lime juice, plus additional for serving
8 small flour tortillas, warmed
Sour cream and chopped cilantro, to serve
Special equipment: heavy pan, preferably cast-iron
Method
In a large, heavy (preferably cast-iron) pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is almost smoking, add half the peppers to the pan. Season with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and briefly toss to coat the peppers in oil. Spread out the peppers and let sit, undisturbed, so they can blister and char, about 1 minute, before tossing again. Continue to cook until the vegetables are charred and just cooked, 3-4 minutes more. Remove to a large bowl and keep warm. Repeat with 1 tablespoon oil, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and the remaining peppers, then again with 1 tablespoon oil, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and all the onions.
Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the pan and return to medium-high heat. Add the beans, season with remaining ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, and cook, tossing occasionally, until the beans are charred and heated through, about 2 minutes. Add remaining tablespoon of oil, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin, and cook, tossing, until fragrant, 1 minute more. Stir in the lime juice.
To serve, divide the charred vegetables and the fajita beans between the warmed tortillas. Top with sour cream, chopped cilantro, and more freshly squeezed lime juice.
Originally posted February 23, 2022.
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