Menu: veggie black bean burritos, chunky guacamole, corn chips.
Ah, Sunday dinner. Usually the one day a week I follow the traditions of my New England forbearers and trot out a slab of red meat of some sort. However, with the holiday weekend and the extra activities and the
change of mealplan yesterday precipitated by the hot dog eating and the lasagne yen, I promoted burrito night.
I have a real serious problem right now. Our CSA has delivered, over the past two weeks, an incredibly luscious array of cayenne, poblano, serrano, and habanero peppers. I can't cook regular meals with them because then neither kid will eat what I cook. And rather unfairly, I will opine, because I love spicy stuff so much, particularly with fresh peppers, capsicum products do not agree with my digestive tract in my tender middle age.
However, when I saw those peppers it was suggestive. We also had some nice, small red onions and San Marzano tomatoes in the veggie box this week. I had a leftover red pepper that needed eating, or rather, 3/4 of one. Tada, veggie burritos on the meal plan.
I got somewhat suspect Chilean avocados at the store, 4 for $4, which suggested guacamole, on top, alongside, under, or just in the general ambient vicinity of the burrito. Thence the corn ships (unsalted).
I can never find large enough tortillas in the style I like at Whole Foods, and it hardly seems worth a separate trip just for tortillas, so I use the 'taco' size traditional home size tortillas. These are more kid-friendly, anyway; one is just about the right portion for Duncan.
I forgot to put cilantro on the list (woe to both my usual burritos and the guacamole). Egads. I love cilantro, what was I thinking? We've tried to grow it but have had problems with it taking the last two seasons; the year before that it bolted. Topic for another day, I digress.
Here's how this one went.
Half tablespoon of olive oil in the pan, finely diced red onions into the oil. These were smallish onions, so it was probably the equivalent of a half a large red onion. A pinch of tumeric, about a quarter tsp of cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, a pinch of salt. In goes, in 1/8" dice, the red pepper. Swoosh around for a bit. Add in about half a brick of (extra firm) tofu, cut into 1/8" cubes. Woosh until coated. The tofu turns a nice orange-yellow eventually, more yellowish at this stage.
Why bother with the tofu, you may ask, when with the corn and black beans below we will have complimentary proteins already? I like the extra bite and variation in texture, and it sort of fills the burrito a little more nicely in lieu of the traditional meat fillers.
In go about eight of the San Marzanos, seeded and diced, and the juice of an elderly lime. Woosh. Let this mellow while I started the guacamole, then add a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) and a cup of frozen corn, bring to a quick simmer and turn down to low for about 10 minutes while the rest of the dinner gets itself ready.
For the guacamole, I used two of the weird Chilean avocados, one of which was slightly underripe. I used my favorite kitchen tool - my fingers - to mush up this one (hey, we're family, I wash), for a slightly chunky blend. I used to be a fanatic about smoothing out my guacamole but I've mellowed (or gotten lazier) about this in recent years. Oops, I used up the red onions - diced a shallot instead. Three cloves of garlic, juice of an even more elderly lime, a pinch of salt, 1/8 tsp cayenne, woosh woosh. Then I diced up two cored and seeded San Marzanos for the Christmas chunky feel. I am not usually a fan of tomato in my guacamole but the fresh tomatoes were calling to me, and as long as they don't take over the dominant flavor of the guacamole I think they're fine.
Here's my burrito tip. I put a small amount of olive oil, just a dab really, at the bottom of a glass baking dish. I put two rounded tablespoons of burrito filling in the middle of the tortilla, right there in the dish, two grates of jack cheese inside, then fold the thing up and flip it upside down so the seam is on the bottom. Repeat, then grate a layer of jack. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so. I find baking the burritos the hardest part of the whole affair, and the most gratifying when done correctly: just on the edge of crispiness, but still pliable, so the burrito holds together and the flavor of the tortilla is brought out. I find the oil on the bottom of the pan does just an ever so slight job of frying the bottom, not even frying so much as mild crisping up, and it keeps the burrito from sticking.
I have no idea if this is "authentic" or not and I don't care. Some burritos you get out in the world, including at real down home Mexican places, seem like heavy ordinance wrapped up in a canvas tarp -- a big frisbee-sized tortilla whose only role is to enclose a vast amount of meat and refried beans. It's an insult unto the noble toritlla, in my humble opinion, to be demoted to the level of mere wrap, like so much fish and chip paper.
What I gave the kids: Iz got the black bean burrito mix, cooled
down, with some cheese and guacamole, frozen beans, and a whole
tortilla. Dunc got a burrito, which he emptied of the contents and ate
with just the melted cheese - sort of a limp quesadilla. 
(Pictured: Izzy's dish, no burrito, but the burrito filling and an empty tortilla with a little side of cheese giving him a simulation of the Burrito Experience. In the little tray on the upper left is the guacamole.)
