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Burritos Can Soothe The Soul

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Going into 2007, I feel like my world has finally started to settle down after being shaken like a snow globe. Four years ago, within a single year, I went from being married and pregnant to divorced and a single parent, along with relocating from Shanghai to, of all places, Florida.

My Gulf swims, the stone crab and coconut shrimp were the only aspects of Floridian life that I enjoyed. I thought buying a house would force me to bond with my new future. When a couple of wardrobes, an opium bed, two Qing-style armchairs and a Ming-inspired writing desk, the trappings of my former Shanghai life, arrived at my doorstep, I knew in my gut I ultimately didn't want to call southwest Florida home.

As I unpacked, I found the good All-Clad cookware had remained at my ex's Shanghai abode. Instead, two pieces of cookware -- a two-quart saucepan and 10-inch skillet that I ordered from QVC almost a decade ago -- arrived in its place.

My reluctance to chuck these slightly dented, well-used pieces for new top-of-the-line cookware represented my own insecurities of being alone at 40. I kept them and didn't buy anything else.

For the next year, I did all my cooking for friends and family and testing recipes for this column in just that skillet and pot.

Like a lot of home chefs, I like having a fully equipped kitchen. I took pride in whipping out every imaginable tool or vessel needed to make a dish, but the rest of my equipment was also still in Shanghai.

After a couple of months, I found I didn't need so much stuff to cook well -- just a good sharp knife, a pot, skillet, wooden spoon and long chopsticks sufficed. Not since my single days of living in the Mission District had I pared down and simplified my life. It was liberating.

During that difficult time, I found keeping a routine kept my mental edges from fraying. When my son was with his father, I made the same supper -- a burrito of sorts.

Every aspect of this burrito -- from the plastic-wrapped cheese slices primarily used to make my son's grilled cheese sandwiches and the rich saltiness of soy sauce and honey-roasted peanuts to the way I wrapped the tortilla in aluminum foil like the burritos I would get in Mission taquerias -- was a pleasant reminder of the years past. The hodge-podge of ingredients I chose seemed as dizzying and haphazard as my mental state, but joined together, their delicious wholeness in every mouthful provided me the pacifying lift of comfort food.  
 

 
Spirit-Lifting Burrito
Serves 1

This is a fancier version of the burrito I made myself in Florida. The Kraft singles are replaced with spicy jalapeno Jack cheese and rich black sesame seeds for the honey-roasted peanuts. It may appear that the entire filling won't fit into the tortilla. It will distribute evenly as you fold the burrito up. Wrapping the burrito in foil is optional, but it does hold everything nice and neat. I don't believe in eating a burrito that falls apart or needs a fork and knife.

INGREDIENTS:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 cup spinach
1 egg
1 teaspoon mirin
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 green onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, chopped
1 large burrito-size (about 9 1/4 inches wide) flour tortilla
1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapenos (optional)
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds
1/4 cup canned black beans (optional)
1/4 cup steamed rice (optional)
1/3 cup mung bean sprouts
Sriracha sauce or regular salsa
5 cilantro sprigs, chopped
1/2 fresh lime

INSTRUCTIONS:

Instructions: Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and saute until just wilted. Set aside.

Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add the mirin, sugar, soy sauce, green onion and garlic. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the same skillet and scramble the egg mixture in it.

Microwave the tortilla between two slightly damp paper towels for 30 seconds. Place the steamed tortilla on a 10-inch-long piece of aluminum foil. Put the cheese in a pile in the middle of the tortilla. Add the scrambled egg and sauteed spinach. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the egg and spinach.

Add the black beans and rice, if desired, and mung bean sprouts. Add sriracha sauce to taste. Sprinkle on the cilantro and squeeze lime juice over all.

Using the foil as a base, fold the bottom third of the tortilla up over the filling, pushing the down on the pile and you roll forward. Take the left side of the tortilla that has no filling and fold it over the filling. Do the same with the right side, shifting the filling as it forms a tube shape.

To hold the burrito together, wrap the foil around the burrito the same way. Twist close the top if you are saving it for later. This will keep in the fridge for one day. Reheat in a 350° oven for 20 minutes. When ready to eat, simply peel the foil back as you eat.