SRLA Breakfast Burritos

"I run therefore I eat."

Yeah.  That's my running mantra.  Remember when I said I finished my first marathon because I promised myself I could eat bacon when I was done?  True story.  I wasn't lying. You can read about it here.

I used to run with Students Run LA. Have you ever heard of them?  It's a great organization that works with urban at risk youth.  Their mission is to have middle and high school students train and run the Los Angeles Marathon (that's 26.2 MILES...all in one shot).  It's a great opportunity for mentors and students alike.  I have completed two marathons with this organization.  I can't put into words my experience of running for myself and with and for my students (and trust me...I'm NEVER at a loss for words.  But here I really am).

Here's some more info if you're interested:

Students Run LA 

Every year 3,000 students participate in our program!

Inspiring at-risk youth to achieve their dreams through a life-transforming experience:
The training for, and completion of, the ASICS LA Marathon. 

 Once the kids and I started logging in 10 or more miles during practice long runs, I started noticing how HUNGRY we all were after we were done.  Actually, FAMISHED is really more accurate of a word to describe how you feel after running 10 or more miles. You can't eat before the run, unless you want to barf it all up during your long run... So I started making these burritos for us to eat after we finished.

The kids still talk about them all the time.  I think they get more hype because after running between 10 and 18 miles, even my shoe would taste good. These burritos most def got me though all of the long runs.  It also helped to reassure me that my kids were going to be okay.  If they could eat a burrito, they weren't going to die from the run even though some of them (myself included) complained like we were dying.

When I make these off season, I use fresh potatoes, but when making 20+ burritos at a time, I cheat and use frozen hash browns.  I like them both. I happened to have some frozen hash browns left over from making crack casserole for Superbowl so here's the frozen hash brown version.  You can also use these easy to make home fries.

This is the recipe for the potato GUTS of the SRLA burrito.

You need:
1 onion
1 jalapeno
1 bell pepper
frozen hash browns
olive oil
seasoning salt
pepper

For the burrito you need:
tortillas
shredded cheese
sliced ham
sour cream (optional)
scrambled egg (optional)

In a skillet on medium, begin to saute your chopped onion, bell pepper and jalapeno (I call this trio the Holy Trinity of cooking.  I use it A LOT when cooking.) in olive oil.  If you don't like spicy, then leave out the jalapeno...but it's soooooo good with it in there.  Give it a try.  Cut off the tip of the jalapeno (stem-side) and give it a quick lick to see how spicy your jalapeno is...If it's a fire bomb, just use half.  Or scrape out some of the capsaicin (seeds and white membrane).  Or just throw caution to the wind and throw it all in there!!

Season with black pepper and seasoning salt.

I had some leftover spam so I chopped it up and added.  But this is optional.  When making the burrito, I use thin sliced ham so I don't usually add spam.

Add to your skillet and continue to saute on medium.

When all your veggies are soft,  add your frozen hash browns.  This was about HALF of a three pound bag of frozen hash browns that I bought at Smart and Final.

Pour 'em in!

Instead of adding oil at this point, I add about half a cup of water (or more to prevent sticking and to help with steaming the frozen hash browns).

I generously season again to make sure my hash browns get yummy too.

Cover with a lid and remember to stir up every few minutes.  These suckers were done in about 10 minutes (after adding the frozen hash browns).

In a separate frying pan, I scrambled up some eggs.  When I make these during SRLA season, I used up to 2 dozen eggs....yeah.  I don't know how to describe what that's like.  It's kind of surreal.  I also scramble this many eggs when feeding 4 of my Indian brother out laws....just saying. Cluck!  Use about one egg per person or 1 egg for every 2 small burritos or 1 egg for every 1 large burrito.
Set your cooked eggs aside.

Time to wrap 'em up!

During SRLA season, I use burrito size tortillas, but off season I make them smaller, I use soft taco sized tortillas like these ones:

I slap them down on the counter and make a burrito assembly line:

Then I add a handful of cheese:

Then a scoopful of hash brown mix:

Then add a scoopful of scrambled eggs and a few slices of thin sliced ham.  I don't have pictures of the egg and ham because sometimes, the fat girl in me just likes potato and cheese and that's what I made this round.  I also added a scoop of sour cream just because I didn't think they were decadent or fatty enough.

Roll 'em up!

Sometimes, I get greedy as I'm making these and over fill.  Then they look like this:

 But don't worry.  This fat, ugly one found a home.....in MY BELLY!

If you over filled and are finding it's too hard to roll into a burrito, you can fold it over and make a fat taco. Yaaaaaaay! FAT TACO!!!!!!!!!!! A FAT POTATO TACO!!! Ohmygosh.  I just got really excited.  You'll have to excuse me.

This recipe will probably make a dozen or more mini burritos or roughly 8 large burritos (depending on how much you put in there).  You don't have to roll them into burritos.  You can serve in a bowl with cheese and topped with sour cream.  Or you can eat them right out of the skillet with a spoon while wearing stretchy pants....in the privacy of your own home.  Just sayin'.

I make in bulk, plastic wrap them up and keep them in the fridge.  I use them as currency to bribe people.  It's super easy to throw the plastic wrapped burrito into the microwave and nuke them in the morning.  You can make enough at one shot to last you all week for breakfast (or as a fat girl snack at night).  I also like to eat these suckers with all purpose green Hulk sauce.

 

SRLA 2012-2013

Beef Stew-Native Indian Korean American style

When I was growing up, my mom cooked us homemade Korean food.  I don't think I appreciated it then as much as I do now, and didn't realize how lucky I was to have all that delicious mom-made Korean food. It was hard being one of the few Asian kids in my school.  I looked at what all my non-Korean friends were eating and wished I could eat what they were eating. 

 I don't actually remember the first time I ate beef stew.  But it forever emblazoned itself upon my psyche as what American food should be.  It epitomized to me, a little fat Asian kid growing up in the 70's, what America was all about. Did I mention I was also a HUGE Laura Ingalls Wilder fan?  I was a huge fan of both the book series and the television show "Little House on the Prairie".  It was the only TV show my sister and I were allowed to watch ("But Dad!  Each episode has like a moral and the people in the show go to church!  There's even a main character named Reverend Alden!") I just knew Ma Ingalls made this for her family... over an open fire... in a caste iron pot... in their little, one room cabin...in the woods.  I wanted to eat it too.  

There was one big problem....My mom had no idea how to make beef stew.  Luckily for me, Campbell's canned soups saved the day.  Or so I thought.  I used to be perfectly content popping open a can of beef stew and warming it up with one can of added water and eating it with saltine crackers.  I used to sit watching cartoons, eating my canned beef stew, thinking, "Man.  This is the life!".  I really believe I've consumed thousands of cans of Campbell's soups as a kid.

Then at some point, I'm not sure when, I had real beef stew that somebody made.  Maybe it was during a school lunch or maybe one of my friends shared with me during lunchtime.  But it was then that I realized that Campbell's canned soups were awful (except for Cream of Mushroom soup, which is the base for CRACK Casserole).

Flash forward to today.  My other half is this Native American dude.  Let's just call him the Indian.  His mom showed me how to make beef stew a long time ago.  It took me years of trying  and messing up to finally get to the point where I think I make pretty good stew.  Somehow, in Native American culture, stew has become a main staple that you can find at every pow wow or Native gathering.  The Indian's family eats it over rice (um...beef stew AND rice?  That's a win-win!) and with Indian Fry Bread (um....fried bread?  Jackpot!).

This is my Korean-American version of my Mother-out-law's Native American Indian Beef Stew....Say that ten times.  

You will need:

Stew meat (1/2 - 1 pound)

Worcester sauce

olive oil

2 bay leaves

thyme

1 large onion (or 2 small onions)

1 bell pepper

1 cup carrots

2 stalks of celery

4 small potatoes

garlic

paprika

canned, stewed tomatoes

beef stock

flour

water

seasoning salt and black pepper

You can use as much or as little beef and veggies as you want.  I've played with different amounts over the years and this is the ratio that I like.  You can use more beef and less veggies if you want.  When I first started getting recipes from the Indian's mom, I learned the hard way to take her recipes and cut them down to a third.  He comes from a huge family of mostly boys and her recipes are written to feed about a dozen people who can eat about 3 times the amount of food as most people can.  One of these days, I'll tell you about the Rhubarb Upside Down Cake incident of 2001...

I start with about 1/2 - 1 pound of beef for stewing (that's chuck and yes, it matters).  The Indian's family sometimes uses moose or deer and while delicious, I don't often have that on hand here in Los Angeles, so good ole chuck it is.  

You can buy it already cubed and ready to go.  I bought this package at a Korean market.  They have it labeled to go as meat for curry (same stewing process) and cut even smaller than you would find at a regular grocer.  I use both large and small sizes.  On this particular day, I walked in after a full day at work and was craving stew so I used this package of finely cubed stew meat.  Why?  Because it takes less time to cook.  If using large cubed meat, it would have taken me about 2-3 hours to make my stew.  Using smaller cubed meat, it took me about 1 1/2 hours.  

NEVER, EVER throw your raw meat into water or stock and just begin cooking.  You really have to brown your meat and get a good sear on your meat before stewing.  It really makes a difference.  I learned the hard way and threw all my ingredients in a crock pot once and come home to really awful stew.  

So in a heavy duty pot, like a dutch oven over medium heat, brown your stew meat with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, crushed garlic and Worcester sauce.  Listen,  I don't know even know if I'm saying Worcester correctly.  I'd never even heard of it growing up and before the Indian's mom showed me how to use it, I never even knew it existed.  But trust me when I tell you that it makes a HUGE difference in this dish.  So if you don't have any, go buy some.  (I use it for meatloaf, steaks, etc...it's a good investment).

I added about a tablespoon and a half...

Don't skimp on the garlic.

Add seasoning salt and pepper.

As your beef and seasoning start to brown (on medium heat), throw in 2 bay leaves, about a teaspoon of thyme and about a teaspoon of paprika. 

It's starting to smell soooooo good already.  To your pot, add about  6 cups of water and cover with lid. 

While your beef and water comes to a gentle boil, I chop up my large onion.  I should have taken a picture because this particular onion was the size of a softball.  No kidding.  I chopped into fairly small pieces like this:

And I added about half of the onion to the cooking beef.  These onions that you add now, will cook with the beef and help to season your meat.  They will cook so long that they will eventually just disintegrate and become part of the stock.  You don't have to add some here like I do, but I think it adds to the richness of the stew.

Cover with a lid and bring down to medium-low heat. Remember to check every once in awhile to make sure the water hasn't evaporated out.  If it does, just add more water.  You'll need to add enough to keep everything covered.  It will take about an hour for your beef to stew and become soft.  If you're using large cubes of beef, it will take about two hours or so for your beef to stew and become soft. 

While your beef is stewing.  It's time to cut up your veggies!  I used potatoes, onion, carrot, bell pepper and celery.  You can choose to cut them in large chunks or julienne them, like I did here, but it's up to you.  I used to only cut them into large cubes because in my mind, that was what stew was supposed to be.  The Indian's mom cut them into julienned pieces the first time she made it for me.  I think I like the julienned slices of veggies because you get a bite of all the veggies on each spoonful.  I also think the smaller your veggies, the more seasoned they become and soak up more of the flavor of your stew. You can also add mushrooms and other vegetables.  Sometimes, I like to add a can of large, white beans too.  

After scrubbing and peeling my potatoes, I cut into even slices like this:

Then I stack them back together and slice them diagonally like this:

The larger you cut your veggies, the longer you have to cook them, so keep that in mind when you decide what size you're going to cut your veggies into.  No matter what size you decide on, just be sure you cut your veggies uniform and the same size to ensure equal cooking time.

Often times, while chopping and cutting potatoes, my mind wanders and I think back to when I was in high school....

I had this wonderful science teacher when I was in high school, Mrs. Bernie Reeves.  One time (at band camp), she asked us why potatoes cook faster when you cut them smaller.  She sent us home to ponder the question for homework. Given my absolute adoration of potatoes, I thought for sure I would was a shoe in for figuring out the right answer.

The next day, I raised my hand and said, "Potatoes cook faster when cut up because the mass is smaller so it takes less time to cook."  Smug in my confidence that I was right, I sat waiting for her acknowledgement....it did not happen.  I don't remember who answered it correctly.  But somebody raised their hand and answered, "It's because cutting them smaller creates more surface area."  

Pshhh.  Yeah, right....

Oh, he was right?  Oh.

Since high school for me was pre-internet, I'm still dumbfounded that they came up with that answer on their own.  I'm also still devastated that I didn't get that right.  I was robbed!  Robbed, I tell ya!  I don't think I'm letting the cat out of the bag for future students of Mrs. Reeves, because I believe she's retired now. Anyway.  Food and science.  Who knew?  I apply this concept to my jjuk/congee recipe too.  Thanks, Mrs. Reeves.

Moving on.  Cut up your other veggies the same size as your potatoes.

After about an hour, your beef and onions look like this and your beef will be tender:

If your beef is not tender, just put the lid back on and wait some mo'.

Now I add my stewed tomatoes.  Sometimes I use sliced and sometimes I use whole.  I used half this large 28 oz can for this recipe.  I poured the tomatoes into my hand and squished them.  Or you can chop them up on your cutting board, but why create more dishes to do later?

I must have been over zealous in my squishing because this happened: 

Oops. HAHAHAHAH!  Good stress reliever.

For this recipe I used one entire 2 pound container of beef stock.  You can use chicken or veggie, but I think it tastes much richer when you use beef stock.

Add your julienned veggies...

And cook for another half hour until all veggies are soft.  If you cubed your veggies into large pieces (or chose not to create more surface area), then maybe another 15 minutes until your veggies are cooked.  I just realized, as I was typing this, that by cutting your veggies smaller and creating more surface space, it probably has something to do with why your veggies become better seasoned (more surface space = more space for seasoning to happen).   Hmmm.  Maybe there is something to this idea of creating more surface area.  Darn it, Mrs. Reeves!

After half an hour, remove your bay leaves.

So this is the part where I always start to get nervous.  I've messed this part up PLENTY of times.  The Indian's mom makes a simple flour roux (pronounced rue...oh you silly French) to add to the stew and it transforms it from a thin soup to a thicker, richer gravy.  It took me a long time to figure out that I had to use cold water for this.  Not room temperature, but cold water.  It took me a long time to realize that despite my understanding of roux having a fat or butter base, just water and flour work best here.

In a saucepan, add one heaping spoonful of flour to one cup of cold water. 

Mix well to get rid of any lumps

Add some salt and pepper

Turn up the heat to medium while whisking with your spoon.

Bring to a boil and whisk for a full minute.  You have to be sure to "cook" the flour to get rid of the raw flour flavor.  It will start to get really thick, which is what you want, but not so thick that it's like goo.  

If it looks like this, it's a bit too thick so add some more water being careful to work out all the lumps.

Now add your roux, also known as thickener, to your stew and stir.

Your broth will become more like gravy.  

Serve over rice.  Eat with fry bread or crusty thick bread.

I'm certain this version would make my out laws proud.  Although I'm pretty sure my brother out laws would say to use more beef.  Funny side note, when I served this to my Indian for dinner, he asked me why I cut the veggies this way.  When I told him this is how his mother does it, he asked, "She does?".  Hmph.

Serves 4-6, depending on if you serve with rice. 

Or just one of my Indian Brother Out Laws.

One Skillet Breakfast

Hi.  Did I mention I love potatoes?  I do.  I love them a lot.

Unfortunately, I didn't marry a potato farmer like my parents predicted....But that's ok.  I consume a lot of potatoes in various forms and hey! Here's another potato breakfast recipe!!!

I'm calling this sucker "One Skillet Breakfast" because I just made it up and that's what it is.

For this bad boy, you'll need:

1 slice of bacon

2 oz of kielbasa (I'm guessing)

3-4 potatoes already baked or microwaved

1 medium onion

1 jalapeno (optional, you can substitute with bell pepper)

4 eggs

shredded cheese (optional)

seasoning salt and pepper

I should mention that you can do a non-meat version of this too.  I just HAPPENED to have bacon....I love you, bacon.  You complete me. I also had some left over kielbasa sausage. 

Start by chopping up your bacon into tiny pieces and kielbasa, too.

Add to your skillet and cook on medium (I use a cast iron skillet, you don't have to.  Just be sure to use something large enough to accommodate your home fries and eggs).

When your bacon and kielbasa are crisped and browned, I add chopped onion and jalapeno right into the pan with the meat (if you don't want spicy, then substitute chopped bell pepper or not.  Whateva.).  I don't add any oil because the bacon and kielbasa will have left you lots of yummy and delicious pork fat.  I cook directly in it.  Yeah, so?  I don't do it all the time...

While your onion and jalapenos are cooking in the bacon fat....mmmmm, chop up your already baked or microwaved potatoes into bite sized pieces.

When your onions and jalapeno are nice and soft, add the chopped up potatoes.

Saute everything together and don't forget to season with seasoning salt and pepper.  I add a little water here too to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the pan and to help with getting the seasoning on all the potatoes.  About a tablespoon or so will do.

Now.  Eggs.  

"Why, yes it is, it is a HUEVO. This is sooo Guatemalan. Poultry is the only real form of currency there. A woman is said to be worth her weight in hens..."   -The Birdcage, 1996

You can scramble them right in the pan or you can just crack them on top of the potatoes.  I like runny yolk.  It's like nature's gravy.  Yes.  I said it.  I like egg yolk.

Spread your potatoes evenly around in the pan and crack your eggs right on top.

Like this:

I add another tablespoon or so of water to help steam the eggs and cover with a lid.

Here's my lid.  You can see the lid beginning to trap the steam.  

I turn the heat down to low and walk away.  I think this took about 3 minutes.  You can cook longer if you want.  As long as the egg white is cooked through, I'm happy.  Because runny, raw egg white.  Yuck.  Gag. Seriously.  Salt and pepper your egg now.  Alton Brown says it's muy importante to season your eggs while they are cooking.  I believe him.

I thought this pic was funny because there's this big air bubble...See? 

This next step is optional.  It doesn't really need it but since I had some shredded cheddar cheese, I used it.  Turn off the heat, sprinkle shredded cheese it on top (as much or as little as you want), cover with the lid and walk away...just walk away. But come back!!! Just a minute or so is all you need.

You can just plunk this entire skillet on the table and let everyone dig in...

Or you can use a spatula and plate it up, like this:

Thank you potato for being so yummy.

(Serves four.  Shhhhhh.)