After having made fresh Mexican chorizo, I looked for recipes to use it. One of my favorite blogs with Mexican recipes is Irene’s My Slice of Mexico and that’s where I found this recipe for green beans with chorizo. It is a type of guisado (stew) and can be served with rice and/or refried beans, or as filling for tacos.

It is absolutely delicious and I’ve used up most of the chorizo I made to prepare this dish several times. Of course it is not needed to stuff the chorizo into sausage casings, and it may actually look kind of off-putting if you take the meat out of the casing (if you don’t know what I mean, look at the photo below of the chorizo meat added to the casserole).

Ingredients

Serves 2 as a main course if served with tacos or rice

• 300 grams (.66 lb) Mexican chorizo, taken out of its casing
• 500 grams (1.1 lb) green beans, trimmed and cut into 5 cm (2 inch) lengths
• 500 grams (1.1 lb) ripe plum tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp baking soda (optional)

Instructions

Fill a pot with enough water to submerge the tomatoes, and bring the water to a boil. Score the bottom of the tomatoes with a sharp knife in a cross-pattern, then add the tomatoes to the gently boiling water, and leave them submerged until the skin breaks. Then lift them out of the boiling water with a strainer, and plunge the tomatoes into cold water to cool.

Add some salt to the same water, and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda (if using). Then add the green beans, and boil them until they are tender to your liking (8 to 10 minutes). The baking soda will give them a bright green color and will make the beans get tender more quickly. When the beans are tender, drain, and plunge in cold water to stop the cooking.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a casserole. Add the chopped onion and season with salt.

Stir the onion over medium heat until soft and slightly colored. The onion should not become brown or crispy.

In the meantime, take the chorizo meat out of its casing.

Remove the skin and seeds from the tomatoes, and chop the tomato flesh.

Add the chorizo meat to the onions. (This is the photo I mentioned in the introduction.)

Fry the chorizo meat over medium-high heat, breaking it up with wooden spatulas.

Then add the tomatoes.

Stir over medium heat until the tomatoes have fallen apart and the sauce is no longer watery.

Add the green beans and a tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro leaves.

Stir over medium heat until the beans have heated through. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt.

The guisado is now ready to be served with rice and/or refried beans, or with tortillas to make tacos.