tortillas – The Kitchen Illiterate

Chicken and Chard Burritos

Sometimes on Sundays I peruse cookbooks and I start getting excited. I start making up grocery lists and weekly menu plans, and I have it all figured out. I know that Thursday, I’m going to make Chicken Escabeche with Carrots and Jalapenos, and wild rice. Then things happen. The market doesn’t have any acceptable carrots, though the shelves are overflowing with beautiful leafy greens. Thursday, which seemed like a perfectly lovely day earlier in the week, turns out to be kind of exhausting, and when work is over and I’m standing in the kitchen, I know I don’t have the patience for wild rice. I have to re-think my plans, so that I can get back on the couch for a little restorative bad television. Sometimes when this happens, I turn to pizza, or bread and cheese. But sometimes when this happens, I get lucky, and something wonderful manages to happen in my own kitchen anyway. This was one of those times.
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Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

I’ve made many enchiladas in my life, but I always make them the same way. There is usually chicken, and definitely refried beans. There is always cheese. And the enchilada sauce comes from a can. These are terrific enchiladas.

I’ve also cooked many sweet potatoes in my life. They are almost always roasted, either whole or cubed, tossed with oil and salt. They get stirred into rice, or baked in gratins, or mixed into soup. They find their way to salads. I love me some roasted sweet potatoes.

I have never thought to combine these things. But last weekend, I did. And I did not regret it. The enchilada became something wholly new, something a little bit healthier, and full of flavors I never thought I would find there. Sweet potatoes love enchiladas. They love beans and chiles. How have I kept them apart for so long?
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Squash and Pepper Enchiladas

I knew I had found my Walla Walla grocery store when I stumbled upon the Mexican food aisle in the Super 1 Foods. Queso Fresco, Mexican-style chorizo, Jarritos soda: I am definitely back on the West coast. I almost squealed aloud with glee when I spotted the nopales and chayote squash, and then again when I saw my favorite brand of refried beans, unavailable to me on the East coast (though now that I know they’re made by ConAgra, my affection is wearing thin).

I had been craving enchiladas for weeks. I have a pretty standard enchilada recipe that I usually swear by, but I thought perhaps this time I would try something different. And I am glad I did. These squash and pepper enchiladas might just supplant my stand-by chicken enchiladas in the roster of recipe favorites.
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Saucy, Spicy Pepper Tacos

Dinner was originally supposed to be Roasted Pepper Tacos, from a recipe I’ve had tagged to try for months. But it has been 172 degrees here in Walla Walla all week, and the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my oven to roast peppers. And I know that grilling is supposed to be great for hot weather, but grilling the peppers would have required I stand outside for more than 30 seconds, not to mention in front of a fire, not to mention building said fire would have taken For. Ever. All that to say that my Roasted Pepper Tacos turned into Sauteed Pepper Tacos. But you know what? I think they were even better than Roasted.
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