Tostadas with Spicy Chicken, Black Beans, Goat Cheese, and Avocado Enhanced Pico de Gallo

Serves 2 for an entrée or 4 for a first course (makes 4-5 tostadas)

• Tostadas  
  • 4-5 Good Quality Fresh Corn Tortillas, fried crisp
  • Spicy Refried Black Beans, recipe below
  • 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled, (approximately 1 tablespoon for tostada or to taste)
  • Shredded Romaine Salad, recipe below
  • Spicy Chicken Chunks, recipe below
  • Avocado-Pico de Gallo, recipe below
  • Cilantro Sprigs for Garnish, optional

Place 1-2 crispy tortillas on each plate. Spread with beans. Sprinkle with cheese—if you don’t love goat cheese, use a good quality cheddar or Monterrey Jack. Top with salad, then chicken, avocado salsa, and cilantro.

Heat olive oil in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and jalapeno, sprinkle with salt and cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin; stir for 30 seconds. Add beans and lime juice. Cook until heated through, stirring and mashing beans with a spoon or avocado or potato masher, about 4 minutes. Season to taste, if needed, with kosher salt and black pepper. Set aside until ready to use. NOTE: Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.  

Rewarm beans over medium-low heat, stirring and thinning slightly with water.

Combine romaine and cilantro in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. When ready to assemble tostadas, lightly dress the salad with the following lime-flavored dressing.

Combine ingredients, mixing well. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Place onion in a small bowl, add ice water and lime juice. Soak in lime-water while prepping the remaining ingredients. Drain and pat dry.

Combine next six ingredients. Add onion. Set aside at room temperature while preparing the chicken. When ready to assemble tostadas, gently stir in avocado.

NOTE: Rewarm the beans on low heat while cooking the chicken.

Combine chili powder, ground cumin, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. While oil is heating, sprinkle the seasoning over chicken, tossing to coat chicken with all of the spice mixture. When oil is hot, add chicken all at once. Toss-stirring to cook chicken all the way through. Approximately 3-4 minutes of longer if needed.  NOTE: The length of time will depend on the size of the pan and how hot the oil is at the time you added the chicken.

Scrape the mixture into a bowl and let cool slightly while you add the avocado to the pico de gallo and toss the Shredded Romaine Salad with the dressing.