Mondo Burrito Baby!

This week I'm cooking from The Grit Cookbook by Jessica Greene and Ted Hafer. The Grit is a vegetarian restaurant in Athens, Georgia.

Earlier in the blog I talked about preparing The Grit Black Bean Chili. That chili can be used in many recipes in the book, including today's recipe - The Mondo Burrito.

As the name implies, the open-faced burrito as served in the restaurant is huge. In fact, the recipe says that a cup and a half of the Black Bean Chili be included in this beast of a burrito.

Other ingredients include a cup of cooked rice, a large flour tortilla, red onion, bell pepper, carrot, red cabbage, cheese, and salsa. The veggies and cheese are all shredded or diced to suit your particular tastes, while the salsa is always your decision. I make mine mild; this makes me a whimp to those of you out there who are heat seekers and habenero chili lovers. So be it. Still like some salsa, just can't stand heat in food.

Really, I hope that at some point the food industry starts distinguishing between spice and heat in the description of foods. It seems to me that many articles get the two confused. Heat is what comes from a pepper (or whatever else you're using to create that heat.) Spice is from spices. A pepper can be "spicy" but a spice does not necessarily produce heat. For example, basil isn't hot, while cayenne pepper is. So are many curry powders...which inevidably have some semblance of pepper in them. Can't stand a lot of pepper, so I am (as a co-worker says) "a delicate flower." Edible, but delicate. Now where did that burrito go?

I had to find a hearty meal to feed a friend. I'd made the pot of Grit Black Bean Chili the day before, so the Mondo Burrito fit the bill perfect. I pre-heated the broiler, and got all ingredients out of the fridge. I shredded the onion, pepper, carrot, and cabbage. There's some leftover cilantro in there, too.

Shredded Veggies

The leftover Black Bean Chili I heated in the microwave, as I did the tortillas. I used the Fiestaware I received for Christmas (love this stuff!)

First in went the tortilla. I tore this apart so it was easier to remove little pieces of it as the burrito was devoured. The restaurant uses an entire intact tortilla. Then I added copious amounts of steaming rice and Black Bean Chili. I topped that with some shredded cheese, and placed it into the oven for a few minutes.

My friend and I carried on talking, and eventually smelled burning. The tortillas were burned - just on the tips. I removed the dishes and topped with chopped veggies, sour cream, and salsa.

Mondo Burrito

My friend and I dug in with gusto, and were not disappointed. This was a hearty dish for a cold night, and it fueled plenty of good conversation. Isn't that what good food's supposed to do? I'm sure I'll be making myself a Mondo Burrito from The Grit Cookbook again sometime soon.