Where do you call home? Home used to be such a simple concept, but I’ve struggled to define it lately. For the first few years of life, home was where I lived with my parents in a small town near the Oklahoma panhandle. Home had brown tile floors that I tottered across at the heels of my red-haired cousin. My family, friends and belongings were all there. Things got more complicated when we moved to an Oklahoma City suburb and I left for college, but now that I’ve moved out of my home state, I really don’t know what or where home is.
I visited Oklahoma the week before last for the first time since moving to Kansas City. There I was laughing with my dearest friends around a table at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but my old apartment wasn’t mine any more. The town that I had lived in for the past eight years felt like home, once removed. I spent a few nights at my parents’ place, too. They moved to a bigger house after I left for college; I still don’t know where all the light switches are. I suppose it will always be home since my parents are there but it feels a little empty now that my brothers have left the nest, too.
Here I am in Kansas City, which is feeling more like home. Everything has its place now, including Cookie, who is curled up by my feet on our new couch. We can call it home for now, I guess? I’m not exactly sure what to call this burrito, either. I do love how Mexican food has a different word for every traditional incarnation of tortillas, cheese and fillings/toppings. Burritos, tacos, tostadas, huevos rancheros, quesadillas, nachos: each tasty in its own right.
What we have here is a lightly baked burrito of modest size—a borderline enchilada, really. It’s stuffed with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted red peppers and black beans, smothered in a zesty avocado sauce. I wanted to incorporate as much sauce as I possibly could in this burrito, so I just drowned the burrito in the stuff from above. At that rate, eating the burrito required a fork, so why bother rolling in the sides of the tortilla? Might as well sprinkle the insides with cheese and bake it for a few minutes so it all sticks together instead.
I had originally planned to make an avocado crema with sour cream, but after blending avocados in the food processor, it was evident that puréed avocados are plenty rich and creamy on their own. I thought about making a homemade salsa verde, but all the tomatillos I could find were subpar this late in the season. I skipped on over to the salsa aisle with an excuse to take a shortcut (who doesn’t like a good shortcut?). At home, I blended the avocados with flavorful salsa verde, fresh lime juice, cilantro and garlic. The end result is an avocado salsa verde reminiscent of the sauce covering my favorite burrito at the aforementioned Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s. Add a dollop of sour cream and it’s sublime. Maybe we don’t need a word for this super fresh burrito-enchilada hybrid after all. It’s good; let’s leave it at that.
Recipe Notes
Roast the sweet potatoes ahead of time and warm them up a bit before assembling the burritos for a quick weeknight meal. You could also bake a batch of them and wrap them up for later, reserving the avocado sauce and toppings for the last minute. The taste of the avocado sauce is dependent on the type of salsa you use. I recommend a mild salsa verde made with tomatillos. The avocado sauce will keep well in a jar in the fridge for a few days. If you find that the surface is browning over time, cover the surface of it with with plastic wrap to minimize contact with air. If you have leftover sauce, it doubles as a stellar salad dressing on romaine lettuce. You don’t necessarily have to bake these burritos (warm tortilla, black beans and sweet potatoes should melt the cheese) but I preferred the faintly crunchy exterior of the baked burrito. This burrito could easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese and sour cream. Still delicious, I promise!
Make it gluten free: Substitute gluten-free tortillas, like Siete brand. They will be more delicate, but I believe you will have good results.
