Sweet Potato Burrito - mini post

It's a natural thing, Texas being Texas, that there's a version of Mexican food here that only exists here. Tex-Mex. Texas is pretty special. We put a little twist on Tex-Mex by swapping out any of a million things that might be in this burrito for sweet potato.







While we were cooking this we were listening to: various works by Ennio Morricone.

Banyan Empire Spicy Noodle Soup

The Banyan Empire (which climaxed in the late 14th century) was famous for its adventurers, and one of the treasures they brought back to the Greater Mekong Subregion was spicy peppers. The emperors were very excited, and they used them carefully and just for their most bombastic celebrations. Fortunately, we can get hot peppers anywhere, and make a celebratory noodle soup when anything even mildly exciting happens.

"Huzzah! We have half a zucchini left!"





We used:
1/2 of a zucchini
1 onion
a bunch of garlic
several stalks of collard greens
soy sauce
hoisin sauce
the hot salsa from the Tamale House
three pads of wheat noodles


Chop and sautee your vegetables. Dump water into your pan. Add noodles. Add spices or sauces. Rejoice. Consume.





While we were cooking this we were singing: part of Kool and the Gang's "Jungle Boogie" over and over again.

Cratchett's Slivered Beef

We decided tonight to go for an old southern favorite: Cratchett's slivered beef. Story goes that this was invented by R. Brandeis Cratchett, proprietor of Cratchett's Travis County Beef Farm around the turn of the century. It's a meal of slivered beef and carrots mixed with some shaved pork and potatoes. It's traditionally served with bread and mashed potatoes. We spent some time thinking, though, and figured that was too much potato for us, so we swapped the potato in the beef out for green beans, and then because Jim is a vegetarian, we traded our beef and pork for apples and pears. Also, due to Adam's theories on the balancing of appropriate flavors, we decided to go with mashed sweet potatoes rather than the standard. We finished our plate out with a good chunk of french bread.





Our recipe:

3 average sized sweet potatoes
3 carrots
2 good handfuls of green beans
1 apple (we used gala)
1 pear (we used bartlett)
sliced cheese
1 loaf of french bread





Cut your sweet potatoes into small cubes and toss them into boiling water, then ignore them for a while. Matchstick your carrots, apple, and pear, then begin to sautee the carrots and green beans. When the potatoes are getting soft, toss the apple and pear into the sautee pan, mix, and top with cheese. Drain the water from your sweet potatoes and mash (we used a beer bottle for authenicity). Dish each generously onto a plate, rip off a hunk of bread for the side, and serve.








While we were cooking this we were listening to: Van McCoy's "Disco Baby".