Burritos

Ingredients:

Ever wonder how to make your own Burritos? Yes? Well, here's a recipe for burritos. I have modified the original (which was given to me by my friend a long time ago) to include meat. The reason for this is to make it a whole meal that I can make quickly and keep in the freezer for those occasions when we don't feel like cooking e.g. when we fall out of the pub on a Friday.

Ignore the vinegar, it snuck in some how, but was not needed.

- 500g (1.1 pounds) mince (we used beef here, because that's what we had, 50% beef 50% pork is nicer, you can even use chicken or turkey mince. Never tried lamb mince in this recipe.)
- 400g (14 ounces) refried beans
- about half a lettuce
- 4 or 5 tomatoes
- a big bunch of chives
- 200g (7 ounces) cheddar cheese
- 2 large onions (or 3 small like in the picture)
- 8 flour tortillas that are nice and soft
- 2 teaspoons chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- salt and pepper

Step 1:

Heat the oven on medium.

Chop the onions and fry them over a medium heat until soft (about 10 minutes).

Whilst they are frying, mix the spices together and make a paste with a little water.

Step 2:

Add the paste to the onions and continue to fry for 5 more minutes (this cooks the spices, improving flavour and preventing later indigestion).

Step 3:

Add the mince and continue to fry until the meat looses its uncooked colour.

Step 4:

Add your refried beans (we use a can to save time, your own beans would be even yummier!), combine with the meat and heat through.

Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Note: The stiffer the beans the better, sloppy beans will muck up the end result, although you could cook the mixture longer to reduce sloppiness.

Step 5:

Switch off the hob and chop your tomatoes and chives. (The tomatoes must be deseeded first)

Grate the cheease and slice the lettuce.

Should all look like so:

Step 6:

Warm a tortilla in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds, and place it onto a clean worksurface.

Build your burrito by piling up some lettuce, cheese, meat/bean mix, tomatoes and finally chives, like so:

Note: You'll need to experiment to find the right quantities of each to put on - too much and your buritto will burst!

Step 7:

Next, fold the burrito into a little parcel, below is my technique for this at the half-way stage.

Step 8:

When folded place the burrito in a nice big oven proof dish (we use a lasagne dish).

Step 9:

Repeat until you've run out of ingredients and violá, nicely stacked burritos:

Step 10:

Cover these Burrito beauties tightly with kitchen foil and cook them in the oven for about 40 minutes.

Serve with guacamole, soured cream or greek yoghurt (all all three!!!)