Not Yet Assembled Breakfast Burritos

I've been having intense cravings for breakfast burritos all week. I don't know why. On Monday they were quite strong, so I made some tortillas, but like all my tortillas they were too small for a big serious burrito and too thick to wrap happily around a bunch of filling.

This was my compromise: a plate of burrito fillings served with a basket of small tortillas.

The beans are just canned beans cooked down with a little olive oil, some chopped cilantro, a smashed garlic clove -- I cooked them until they were less wet. The potatoes were cubed, microwaved for about 5 minutes, and then sauteed in olive oil and salted. The eggs were soft-scrambled. The avocado and lime were sliced. And I served some habanero-carrot salsa on the side.

Day 2: Carolina Food Only

Today I got HUNGRY. Again I took a South Carolina peach and a big container of cornmeal mush (made with Anson Mills blue grits) to work, and though the peach was lovely, the two-day-old mush wasn't so good. Without any fat to make it keep longer, it tasted both bland and overripe. Things that aren't fruit shouldn't taste overripe.

Some emails from this afternoon:
Me: Do you think Taco Bell uses local products? Grass-fed Carolina beef? Piedmont beans? I'm huuuuuuungry.

Lawson: Sorry, baby. When you get home you may have some crusty salt and whole milk.*

Me: Mmmm! Maybe I'll float an egg in it. And a tomato chewed by a local rat.**

* That Celtic Sea Salt I bought is in huge, crunchy crystals. I keep meaning to crush some up in the mortar and pestle.

** Rats have been putting big old ratty teethmarks in our garden tomatoes by night. Grrr.

So I drank a lot of water, and when I got home I fried a few pieces of Caw Caw Creek bacon to fix me up. After that I was fine. But still I feel unprepared for the rest of this week and somehow deprived, even though the only things I really miss so far are vinegar, lemons, chile powder, and olive oil. I guess that's a lot of things.

Dinner tonight is burritos:

• tortillas made from Anson Mills biscuit flour (not ideal gluten content, but all I had), grease from Caw Caw Creek bacon, and water
• sausage from Caw Caw Creek
• eggs, scrambled, from Wil-Moore Farms
• salsa made from tomatoes, poblano chiles, and parsley, all from the garden

It's funny, this experiment. I was just telling Lawson that I don't have any food restrictions -- not a vegetarian anymore, no major financial limitations (several years out of school), not afraid of any particular cooking method or ingredient -- so it's interesting to have some again. It's good to think about food differently for a while.

I found a good South Carolina beer: RJ Rockers Pale Ale.

Breakfast Burrito

Last night we had Zucchini with Bacon (and onions and tomatoes) from Rustic Italian Cooking, roasted potato wedges, and salmon patties. The squash was okay, but not as wonderful as the title sounds. But both the squash and potatoes had new life this morning in this sensational Breakfast Burrito.

Saute together leftover squash, leftover cooked potatoes, and green chiles if you have them.

Add 2 eggs and cook until scrambled. Toss in whatever cheese is in the house; in my case this was feta and white cheddar. Roll in a big flour tortilla and top with salsa.

Be satisfied.