Get your kind veggie burritos, man

As a kid I went to a lot of Phish shows, and from Red Rocks to Oswego, this refrain could be heard all through the parking lots, shouted by greasy-dreaded whiteboys with Coleman tailgate grills and hand-lettered cardboard signs, hawking sloppily thrown-together burritos filled with God knows what.  Never would I have imagined back then that I would be make for myself food somewhat in the vein of this product I so reviled and associated with the stigma of neo-hippies stumbling and juggling devil sticks amid the carnival-reminiscent sounds of third-generation Grateful Dead dubs and the screech of nitrous tanks and constant haze of cigarette and weed smoke and pink taillights.  So, apropos of today’s date, I present my own Diggity Dank Kind Veggie Burritos!

These burritos are the invention of my friend Andrew and I, and I’m not sure I should be divulging them to the Internet at large.  We first made them one night when discussing our current (non-) employment situation, and they were the seed of a big idea for a venture that should hopefully be hitting the Buffalo streets this summer.  The recipe is so easy and basic and not concrete though,  I don’t think I’ll catch an ass-kicking over it.  It’s a great pantry-clearer, you can throw pretty much anything you want into these.  I pretty much always use sweet potatoes; I love the texture they give it.  Black beans are really good too, unfortunately we didn’t have any when I made it this time.  I’ve also used asparagus and spinach.  Really, anything goes.

If it’s not clear by now, this is not a traditional Mexican recipe.  I’m not going for any kind of authenticity in this, it’s just a delicious, spicy, and filling dinner that you can make with what’s on hand and pretty quickly and easily too.

Sweet Potato and Mushroom Burrito

Ingredients

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into matchsticks

1/2 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly minced

5 mushrooms, chopped

2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced

1 tablespoon oil

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

dash cayenne pepper

dash cinnamon

salt

shredded lettuce

shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

corn or flour tortillas

Directions

Get the oil going over medium heat and add the onions and garlic, seasoning with salt, then saute them until the onions are soft.  Add the spices and the sweet potatoes, adjusting the seasoning to your liking.  I’m serious about how loosey-goosey this recipe is, I sometimes like to use coffee or unsweetened chocolate if I have some on hand.  Just trust your instincts and go nuts with it.

Add in the chipotles and the mushrooms.  If you’re going with beans, put these in now too and just combine everything really well.  Cook it all until the potatoes are starting to get tender, but still have some firmness to them.  I didn’t really time myself, but it shouldn’t take more than 10 or so minutes.  Give it a stir occasionally, but otherwise you can use this time to shred up some cheese and lettuce if you haven’t already.

When you’re ready to assemble your burritos, start an free burner on low heat and throw a tortilla right on the open flame.  Blister it on both sides to get it loose and pliable.  Trust me, this is the best way to do it, the spots that get a little burnt add some nice flavor and a little crunch to the burrito, and you have to heat your tortillas up somehow so they don’t rip when you fold them around your ingredients.

Next, just put all your stuff together.  I like to put the cheese down first and then the potato mushroom filling so the cheese starts to melt.  Top it off with lettuce and maybe some hot sauce if you want to and your good to go.  Other toppings I suggest are diced jalepenos, cilantro, lime, and sour cream or even plain yogurt.  The tortillas we had were kind of small, so I had to make them into more tacos than burritos, but you get the idea.  Pair this with a good lager or pale ale and you’re all set.  Throw on a Phish tape too if you’re so inclined.

Edit (4/20/09, 11:11 AM): I just wanted to acknowledge really quickly all the traffic I’ve been getting from Endless Simmer thanks to their awesome roundup, 100 Ways to Crack an Egg.  Since that went up, and then since it was featured on Macheesmo, my hits have skyrocketed.  So thanks to both Nick from Macheesmo and BS at Endless Simmer for putting me on the map so to speak!

Tags: burrito, cooking, food, mushroom, potato, recipe, sweet, vegetarian, veggie