Photos by Emily Caruso
If you were to pick up a torta on the streets of Mexico City, you’d probably get your roll stuffed with grilled meat and cheese. Ours is stuffed with roasted poblano peppers and panko crusted avocado. The poblano adds a savory element and some roasty toasty Mexican flavor. Add an extra flavorful spread out of black beans and Mexican spices and you're set for a delicious veggie meal.
Servings: 4 tortas
Ingredients
For the Crispy Baked Avocados:
- ½ cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional, or to taste
- 2 ripe avocados sliced into ½ inch thick strips
For the Roasted Poblano Peppers:
- 2 poblano peppers seeded and quartered
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For the Black Bean Spread:
- 1 14-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 ¾ cups cooked)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
For Serving:
- 4 bolillo or telera rolls or 1 French baguette cut into 4 sections, sliced open
- 4 large green leaf lettuce leaves
Instructions
To Make the Crispy Baked Avocados:
- Whisk the soy or almond milk, cornstarch and ground flaxseed together in a small bowl. Let the mixture sit for at least 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Stir the panko breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and cayenne together in a small bowl.
- Dip an avocado strip into the flax mixture, gently turning to coat all sides. Transfer the avocado strip to the panko mixture. Gently turn the avocado to adhere the panko mixture to each side. Place the avocado strip onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining avocado strips. Gently brush or spray the tops of the strips with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Bake the avocado for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned and crisp, gently turning after 10 minutes.
To Roast the Poblano Peppers:
- Rub the peppers lightly with olive oil and arrange on a second baking sheet. Place them in the oven with the avocado and bake for about 16 minutes, until tender and darkened in spots, turning after 8 minutes.
To Make the Black Bean Spread:
- While the avocado slices and poblano peppers roast, place all of the spread ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an S-blade. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
To Assemble the Tortas:
- Hollow out the rolls by scooping out the soft centers. Slather the black bean spread inside the top and bottom halves of each roll, then layer with the crispy baked avocados, roasted poblano peppers and lettuce leaves.
Notes
Make sure to use avocados that are ripe, but not over ripe. They should still be nice and green and have a bit of firmness.
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Holy hell, this sound AMAZING.
Thanks Mindy! They were so good!!
Those avocados look crazy gooood!
The avocados were awesome! I think I'll be putting them into all kinds of dishes from now on. 🙂
Not sure how easy the black bean spread will be without a food processor, but I love the idea of baked avocados. Maybe I will try the slices as the centre of a warm salad?
You could probably get away with mashing the beans really well with a fork or potato masher. You'll end up with a chunkier spread, but it will still be tasty. You could definitely incorporate the avocado slices into a salad as well.
I just ate and this is making me hungry all over again! I'm overly obsessed with avocados and kind of have a thing for poblanos too... so I'm pretty sure this is going to happening pretty dang soon 😉
I've been so obsessed with avocados lately too. I think this is my new favorite way to eat them. 🙂
This sandwich looks and sounds delicious! I will definitely be trying this recipe very soon!
I just made these for dinner and I was blown away! Great textures and flavors! I will be adding this to the regular dinner menu 😀 Thank you!!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed them!
Tried it yesterday and the avocado turned out bitter. After reading a bit on the net, baked or fried avocados turn bitter. So how did you manage to make it and for it to taste good?
Sorry to hear that! I've never heard of that happening, but I just Googled around a bit and it looks like baked avocado does sometimes turn bitter. I've baked avocado a bunch of times and never had that problem. My best guess, if you're up for trying this again, would be to make sure you're using an avocado that's just ripe - nice and bright green but not at all mushy yet, and to keep a really close eye on the cook time and temperature.