Oven-Baked Chimichangas

Well the weekend of no plans turned into quite a busy one! KK met his cousin at Pilsner Haus, Hoboken's biergarten, while I stayed home to relax on Friday night.  We spent the majority of Saturday in Brooklyn.  We walked half of the Brooklyn Bridge (the Brooklyn side) for the  surprise engagement of two of my friends! After the big question (with the answer being YES, of course!), we hung out at a friend's apartment, BBQ'd on the roof with panoramic views of downtown NYC, and celebrated the engagement with a few champagne toasts.  After dinner, we headed out to Ceol and met up with some of my coworker friends for some karaoke.  I spared everyone, but KK definitely did a duet with one of our friends! On Sunday, we went to Anthony David's for a BYOChampagne brunch, and then fulfilled some bridesmaid duties with a little wedding arts and crafts! I'm feeling slightly exhausted right now, but it was an amazingly fun weekend!

Oven-baked chimis.  This was one of KK's favorite NYC-friendly meals.  The dish's spice comes from the chipotle peppers, so there's no need to have additional herbs in the pantry.  The rest of the dish's ingredients were the basic essentials KK used to keep on hand - rice, beans, and tortillas.  Perfect! If you have extra filling, you can either make additional chimis or just eat the rice and bean mixture on the side as a snack while the chimis are in the oven.  Make sure to coat the chimis with oil before baking them.  It may seem like a superfluous step, but the oil makes the outside of the tortillas nice and crispy.  Serve with salsa, sour cream, or guacamole if you have it on hand.

Oven-Baked Chimichangas
Adapted from Mel's Kitchen
Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients
3/4 cup brown or white rice
3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 lb. chopped chicken
1 onion, chopped fine
16-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese 
Salt and pepper, to taste
6 large burrito-size flour tortillas
Salsa and sour cream, for serving

Directions
1.  Place rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450.  Cook rice according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil over in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook chicken until no longer pink inside.  Plate and set aside.

3.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the same skillet, and cook onion until softened, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the beans, rice, chicken and chipotle.  Cook until the mixture is heated through, about 3-5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, stir in cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

4. Place tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel.  Microwave until warm, about 30 seconds.  Top each tortilla with a scoop of the chicken mixture, leaving a 1-2 in. border around the edges.  Fold in the sides and roll up the tortillas into tight wraps.

5. Remove prepared baking sheet from oven and carefully cover with tinfoil.  Brush tortillas with remaining oil; place seam-side down on the baking sheet.  Bake until chimichangas are golden brown, about 7-10 minutes.  Serve topped with salsa and/or sour cream.