Santa Fe Skillet

Rehearsal-dinner week. Brayden is thirty-six weeks old — eight months on Sunday June 12. The big catering job is Saturday June 18. The week has been the most concentrated stretch of cooking I have done since the postpartum-meal-prep marathon in September of last year.

Santa Fe Skillet is the kind of recipe a busy week needs. One pan, twenty-five minutes, ground beef, black beans, corn, diced tomatoes, southwest-spice mix, rice cooked in the same pan, finished with shredded cheese and chopped cilantro. The dish carries the whole dinner. The dish doubles as next-day lunch. The dish leaves only one pan to wash. The dish is the right answer to the week-where-the-job-is-thursday-through-saturday.

The technique on a one-pan skillet rice is making sure the rice cooks evenly through the layer of meat and beans on top. The fix is bringing the liquid (broth, diced-tomato juice, water as needed) to a rolling boil before adding the rice, then immediately covering with a tight-fitting lid and reducing heat to a low simmer for twenty minutes. The rice steams from beneath the meat layer. The meat layer protects the rice from drying out on top.

Sunday I made it. Dustin had two plates while standing at the kitchen counter. Brayden had a tablespoon of plain rice from the bottom of the pan (no meat, no beans, no cheese, no cilantro). The leftovers covered Monday and Tuesday dinners while I was deep in rehearsal-dinner prep.

Santa Fe Skillet

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
• 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Rotel)
• 1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
• 1 1/2 cups chicken or beef broth
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• Fresh cilantro and sour cream, for serving

Instructions

1. Brown the meat. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it apart, until no longer pink, about 6–8 minutes. Drain excess fat if needed.
2. Saute the vegetables. Add the diced onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook for 3–4 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Season and combine. Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat the meat and vegetables evenly.
4. Add the rice and liquids. Pour in the uncooked rice, diced tomatoes with chiles, black beans, corn, and broth. Stir everything together and bring to a boil.
5. Simmer until rice is cooked. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover the skillet, and cook for 18–20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender.
6. Add the cheese. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top. Cover for 2–3 minutes until melted.
7. Serve. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with sour cream on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 540 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 58g | Fiber: 8g | Sodium: 870mg