viva la breakfast burrito

Having lived in the state of New Mexico for one year and Arizona for a decade, one thing I truly miss is a decent breakfast burrito. I’ve tried a few here in New England but no one seems to get it quite right. Eggs + black beans + salsa = not a breakfast burrito.

A true breakfast burrito only has four components: eggs, cheese, potato and your choice of bacon or sausage. Of course if you’re in New Mexico then you are guaranteed to have a healthy helping of Hatch green chili. If grease isn’t dripping down your arm then you are probably in New England eating something far healthier, but far less tasty.

A breakfast burrito is meant to be enjoyed either at 2AM immediately after closing the bars down, or at 2PM whilst nursing a hang over.

So here I am breaking the rules as it is neither 2AM nor am I hungover. (Had to save my liver for tonight’s Giants vs Pats rematch.)

Also, I don’t eat beef or pork, so I have substituted Morning Farms veggie sausage patties.

First, yes that is a ceramic egg crate from Anthropologie. Is it weird that I have wanted this for years? I finally bought one. I love it.

 

 

I began my mid-morning burrito adventure by boiling some cubed potatoes, I chose a variety of blue, red bliss and yellow potatoes. I then gently sautéed a medium sweet onion and a few jalapeños. (I waited to add the veggie sausage until about ten minutes before serving–veggie/soy protein products tend to get mushy if over cooked.) Once the potatoes were tender I added the beaten eggs to the onion/jalapeno/sausage mixture and scrambled everything together. After draining the potatoes I tossed them into the sauté pan to keep everything warm.

Here’s a great tip for making any kind of burrito. Usually after refrigeration tortillas are cold and stiff and very hard to wrap. I start by using a shallow pan filled with water which I bring to a boil. I place a cooling rack on top. Once the water is boiling I throw a tortilla on top of the rack and add some cheese. I then cover with a lid and the steam melts the cheese and makes the tortilla super pliable and perfect for wrapping a perfect burrito. It also makes the tortilla slightly tacky so that the burrito stays tightly wrapped.

Now that I am throughly stuffed on this Super Bowl Sunday morning I can’t imagine eating any nachos, dip, chili, Doritos or jalapeño poppers. But I probably will.

Go PATS!