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.

The Potato Salad That Launched a Thousand Angry Blog Posts

More hilarious lameness from Cooks Illustrated, whom we have complained about before. The Tigers and Strawberries post is a must-read.

I have never made potato salad -- never had much use for it -- but I think I will make some this weekend. Maybe I can make a version with bow tie pasta and little poop-shaped clumps of olive tapenade in honor of Christopher Kimball.

Leek, Potato, and Mushroom Tart

Hey, I made a good pie crust! Like, the real way: cutting the butter in with a fork and a cool, fast hand, then chilling the dough, then rolling it out, then folding it up so I could move it and unfolding it in the pan.

This is a new thing for me. I hadn't tried the real thing in several years, partially because I thought I didn't care that much about pie crust and partially because the whole procedure seemed fussy. But I think that was just me being defensive about my poor pie crust skilllz.

Of late, I've been alarmed by the premade frozen pie crusts we sometimes buy -- who knows what's in those? And my simple oil crusts have been tough and nasty. So when I decided to make a roasted vegetable tart thing the other night, I knew I had to make a real crust.

The egg yolks were the trick. I used this recipe for the crust. For the filling I sort of followed the recipe except that I used fewer potatoes, left them in bigger chunks, and added a whole bunch of quartered cremini mushrooms. I also added the two egg whites left over from making the crust. And I used a deep springform pan, so the vegetables had plenty of space.

The whole thing was wonderful. It wasn't eggy or creamy at all. At that high temperature, each vegetable roasted up perfectly, with internal juiciness but lots of browned surface. It was a little oniony -- these were unpredictable local leeks, and they were not as mild as I would have liked. Otherwise, though: perfect.

Garden Foods

The first garden foods are beginning to creep in to our meals. We don't have enough tomatoes yet to eat plain -- the rats got to the first round -- but we had some yellow cherry tomatoes for our salad. And we didn't have enough yellow squash for a squash gratin, but we had enough for a potato gratin with a little squash mixed in.

I liked this potato gratin enough that I plan to make it again soon. I sauteed some sliced red potatoes in olive oil, salting them lightly, then added a sliced squash, then moved the whole thing to a gratin pan. I sprinkled some thin slices of Emmenthaler cheese around and poured a little cream over the top, ground some pepper over the whole thing, and then baked it and browned the top. It was roughly based on MFK Fisher's descriptions of her cauliflower gratin and similar dishes she would make when she was young and poor and living in France.

That funny little thing on top of the chicken is smoked chicken liver. Astoundingly good.

Green Chile and Potato Soup

We went out for lunch with friends today to a fish taco joint in South Tucson. There are many taco stands with specialties in that part of town--menudo stands, birria places (that's shredded vinegary beef, wonderful stuff), ranging from hot-dog-cart style to sit-down eating. In between is the trailer with an awning alongside for shaded dining. Our place had tacos and burros, and large styrofoam cups of mixed fresh fruit sprinkled with chile pepper and lime (mango, watermelon, pineapple, jicama, and raw strips of coconut).

So when dinnertime came around, soup was enough for us. Here is a very easy and satisfying soup that you and Russell will remember from your childhood. This tasted especially interesting tonight because I used turkey broth from our Portuguese Thanksgiving turkey, and it had definite overtones of vinegar and sausage. Not a bad thing. We had an unorthodox side dish of golden squash with chives, limes, and cayenne.

Green Chile and Potato Soup

1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft.

4 roasted and peeled green chiles, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, cubed

Add chiles and tomato and simmer a few minutes.

2 or 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth or bouillon
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Add remaining ingredients and cook until potatoes are very tender.

Grated jack cheese

Top each serving with grated cheese.

Summer Food

This is food for those summer days when just the idea of turning on the oven or stove makes me sweat. I love bean-based main dishes, and this requires no cooking. You can use any summer herbs and vegetables you have around. This particular version contained:

Two cans of garbanzos
Diced red pepper
Chopped tomato -- the first garden tomato of the year!
Mint
Chives
Feta
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Pepper

I let the flavors combine at room temperature for about an hour. There was plenty left over for lunch the next day.

Canned garbanzo beans are the absolute best thing ever. I lived an entire summer in graduate school eating them at least four times a week. I didn't have much money, so I mostly kept the air conditioner off in my apartment; I didn't have a car, so I walked 90 minutes a day to and from the library in the 95-degree heat; and I ate one or two cheap, bean- or egg-based meals a day -- vegetable curries, bean salads, stews, scrambled eggs. My clothes were falling off me by the end of the summer, which was neat but unsustainable once I started having money for things besides rent again. Maybe I can get rich on marketing this in diet book form. The Sweaty Bean Method. Hmm.

I did make these potatoes in the oven. They are somewhere in between Southern raw fries and Mireille Johnston's various potato recipes in Cuisine of the Sun. I just sliced them, tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary, and roasted them at 400 for about 25 minutes. They were too salty, but I liked them.