Crispy black bean and feta tacos easily tossed together for 'panic supper'

Who has a few "panic suppers" in their repertoire?

These are last-minute meals you cobble together out of whatever you happen to have in the kitchen that might count as dinner.

I grew up with scrambled eggs and brown beans or poached eggs on toast on busy days, and they're still a couple of my go-tos.

If I have onions and peppers, which I usually keep chopped in the freezer, and some form of tomatoes, either sauce, stewed, diced or over-ripe, I might make a quick shakshuka. It's a thick tomatoey stew typically made with tomatoes, onions, peppers, zucchini and garlic, with eggs cracked in and poached right in the sauce. Served topped with crumbled feta, a handful of cilantro and a piece of toast, it's one of my favourite meals.

If there's leftover rice in the fridge, fried rice it is. Or try frozen meatballs dumped into sauce.

• For more of Julie Van Rosendaal's delicious meals, bookmark cbc.ca/juliesrecipes

I recently came across The Calgary Celebrity Cookbook, a small volume published in 1980, in the local history room of the downtown library. In it, the late alderman Sue Higgins had a recipe for "panic supper," a name I've adopted.

Hers was a pound of ground beef, an onion and a tin of condensed tomato soup. Bake in the oven for an hour, breaking up the meat as it thaws and cooks. Place potatoes directly on the oven rack to bake alongside. It was tasty, if a little bland, like meatloaf meets sloppy Joes.

When I put the call out to friends on Facebook, I got some great suggestions:

• Frittata, grilled cheese or quesadilla.
• Stir-fried veggies with a spoonful of Thai curry paste, a can of coconut milk and thin rice noodles that soak quickly into the sauce.
• Frozen wantons tossed into chicken stock with whatever veggies happen to be in the fridge.
• Couscous, which is ridiculously quick to make with a kettle of hot water. Pour it over the dry couscous in a bowl, cover and let it sit for five to 10 minutes. Top with canned tomatoes, chickpeas and frozen peas. Spike with cumin and cayenne.

It's comforting to know you have a sort of "house meal" to go to when you're too hungry for dinnertime decision-making.

One of my standbys is black bean and feta tacos. I often have corn tortillas in the freezer, always have canned beans in the pantry and try to have feta in the fridge.

You can slide other leftovers in there, too, such as crumbled sausage, shredded chicken or roasted sweet potato. When it comes to tacos, anything goes. Here's a recipe to try out.

Crispy black bean and feta tacos

This is one of our go-to dinners. It comes together about as quickly as making grilled cheese sandwiches. It's a particularly good day when there happens to be a ripe avocado on the counter to slice on top.

Ingredients

1 14 oz (398 ml) can black beans, drained.

2 green onions, chopped.

¼ cup chopped cilantro, if you like.

Chili powder.

Cumin.

Salt.

Lime juice.

Fresh corn tortillas.

Canola oil, for cooking.

½ to 1 cup feta or queso fresco, crumbled.

Preparation

In a small bowl, roughly mash the beans with the green onions, cilantro chili powder, cumin and salt to taste, and a squirt of lime juice. I like just a rough mash, leaving the beans chunky.

Set a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.

Spoon some of the black beans over one side of a corn tortilla. Warm it a bit in the skillet if the pan needs it to be pliable. Add crumbled feta and fold the other side over, making a pocket.

Cook in a drizzle of oil, flipping once or twice. Do this across the spine, to keep from spilling.

Cook until golden and crisp on each side. The cheese should have melted, just like making a grilled cheese sandwich, only more substantial.

Repeat with the remaining filling.

Serving: Makes six to eight tacos. Serve immediately.

• Hear more from Julie Van Rosendaal about her techniques for supper in a hurry:

• MORE RECIPES | Bring back the wedge salad for a satisfying summer lunch
• MORE RECIPES | Level up your open fire cooking game with jalapeno poppers and roasties
• MORE RECIPES | Bunches of recipes for your backyard rhubarb
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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.