Smothered Burritos

Filled with seasoned ground beef, rice and beans, then topped with a spicy sauce and lots of cheese, these burritos will leave you full and satisfied.

This is my third attempt at writing this post. Seriously.

In the first attempt I started out relating an interaction that I heard between a father and his four children in Costco recently. The father had the maturity of a 12 year old boy at scout camp. I scrapped that one after the third paragraph.

The second attempt involved a dove which crashed into my dining room window and went home to Jesus. I also included about how my grandsons developed the phrase “the lonely dead dove” to refer to a bird skeleton they found in the back yard. I’d tell you more, but you’d probably throw up. Anyway, despite the uber cuteness of my grandchildren, I scrapped that one after the fourth paragraph.

Now here I am on my third attempt and I am determined to make this one work… no matter how far out in left field it goes. I tend to write my posts in real time, meaning that I grab my computer and just start writing whatever pops into my head.

The down side to this method is that sometimes I get stuck and can’t figure out what to write next. Like right now. I’m really not sure which direction I should take. I mean, I’d love to tell you a funny story or something; maybe share an embarrassing moment, or perhaps enlighten you with my vast knowledge about how to insert a catheter. Fascinating.

Hmm, okay. So catheters it is.

Actually, inserting a catheter really is fascinating. As with the lonely dead dove, I’ll spare you the details. I will tell you, however, that learning to place a catheter was one of the scariest things I have ever had to do. I used one of my kids’ old teddy bears to practice sterile technique and catheter insertion when I was going to nursing school. I’d close myself up in the spare bedroom and practice the whole process over and over, including talking to the “patient” so as to distract he/she/it from what I was doing.

I can imagine that the scene would have worked well in Napoleon Dynamite. I’d be standing there masked and gloved, talking to a purple teddy bear while inserting a catheter into its nether regions. Yep, that would have been total ND material.

Of course, the first time that I placed a catheter in a real, live human being, it was nothing at all like the teddy bear. All I’ll say is that I had to do it in a squatting position at the bedside because my patient, a man, had had back surgery and could only lay on his side. They don’t teach you that maneuver in class!

Later, after graduating from nursing school, I still had the practice catheter. Somehow I couldn’t part with it because it was a reminder of how hard I had worked to learn a skill that was to be an integral part of nursing. Finally one day it occurred to me that the catheter would make a great “teether” for my little grandson. He had been born the week before finals during my last semester of school and now, a few months later, he was going through the process of teething.

I gave him the catheter and he started gnawing on it immediately. It was great! The catheter had just the right amount of give and resistance to allow some really effective gumming action. He gummed on it all week long. The following Sunday, as we were all sitting in church for our worship service, my daughter whipped the catheter out of the diaper bag and gave it to the baby. I heard an immediate gasp and sputter from the elderly man sitting behind us. He was trying to tell his wife about the catheter, but he was so horrified by the situation that he could not form an intelligible sentence. I wanted to laugh out loud so badly that I could hardly contain myself. The man kept stammering and the baby kept chewing, his smooth gums making squeaky noises against the catheter. It was divine. 🙂

As usual, I have plowed through another post yammering on about nothing that has to do with the actual recipe included in the post. I mean, how could a catheter and a smothered burrito have anything to do with each other?

Actually, now that I think about it, if I had stayed with the story of the guy in Costco I could have definitely segued into the burrito. Whatever.

About the Recipe

Filled with meat, beans and rice, these burritos are like a casserole wrapped in a tortilla! Add a little salad of lettuce and pico de gallo and call it a meal.

Burritos are generally served without a sauce or gravy. As you can see, these burritos are covered with a spicy gravy. This style of burrito goes by several different names—smothered burrito, wet burrito and enchilada-style burrito.

This recipe is home cooking at its best. I won’t lie, these enchiladas are a labor of love. The sauce is homemade, rather than using pre-made elements such as beef gravy and a can of enchilada sauce. Don’t do it. I tried it and ended up throwing the sauce away. Homemade is definitely the way to go.

The ingredient list for this recipe looks very long, however most of the ingredients are kitchen staples, so don’t freak out.

Beans. The black beans are super easy – open the can, dump the beans into a small colander, drain-rinse-drain. You’re done.

Rice. For the rice, I used Cilantro-Lime Rice. It gives a nice contrasting flavor as opposed to Easy Mexican Rice which has a similar flavor to the meat and spicy gravy. If you have a rice cooker, you’re good to go in a hurry.

One more note on the rice. If you want to cut down on the cooking frenzy, plain, white rice can be cooked in the microwave. For this recipe, simply put 1/2 cup uncooked white rice and 1 cup water in a deep microwave-safe bowl or dish. Cover, and cook for 20 minutes on high. Using a deep dish is important because the water bubbles and can spill out of a shallow dish. Note: some microwave ovens have a “rice” function. Use that function if you have it.

Toppings. The burritos can be dressed up with guacamole, pico de gallo, avocado slices or sour cream.

Print Recipe

Smothered Burritos

Filled with seasoned ground beef, rice and beans, then topped with a spicy sauce and lots of cheese, these burritos will leave you full and satisfied.

Prep Time50 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings: 6 large burritos

Author: Terri @ that's some good cookin'

Ingredients

Spice Blend

• 3 ½ tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano, crushed
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the Meat

• 1 1/4 pound ground beef
• 1 medium onion, medium diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons Spice Blend, recipe included
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups unsalted beef stock

For the Spicy Gravy

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups unsalted beef stock
• 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 ½ tablespoons Spice Blend, recipe included

Additional Ingredients for the Burritos

• 1 15 ounce black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups prepared Cilantro Lime Rice, (see "Notes" for link), Mexican rice (see "Notes" for link), or plain, cooked white rice (see easy microwave cooking instructions in "Notes").
• 6 large 10-inch burrito-style tortillas
• 12 ounces Colby-jack cheese, grated

Instructions

For the Spice Blend:

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Set aside.

For the ground beef:

• Use a deep frying pan with a lid to cook the ground beef. Heat frying pan over medium heat; cook together the ground beef, onion and garlic, breaking up the ground beef well. When ground beef is no longer pink, remove pan from burner and drain grease.
• Return pan with meat mixture to the burner. Sprinkle with Spice Blend; stir well. Whisk together the tomato paste and beef stock. Pour it over the meat mixture.
• Bring meat mixture to a simmer then cover pan, leaving lid slightly askew to allow steam to escape. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, but the meat mixture is still moist. If meat mixture becomes too dry, add a little water or additional stock. While meat is cooking, make the spicy gravy.

For the spicy gravy:

• In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Make a roux by sprinkling the melted butter with flour and whisking together until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, just until the roux begins to turn a light golden brown and smells nutty.
• While whisking briskly, slowly add the beef stock to the roux. Be careful because of the steam and sputtering when the stock is added. Add the tomato sauce, sugar, and Spice Blend; whisk well.
• Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until gravy has thickened to the consistency of tomato sauce. If it gets too thick, add a little water to thin the sauce.

For the assembly of the burritos:

• Heat oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 9- x 13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
• To warm the tortillas: Place one end of a kitchen towel on a dinner plate. Place the tortillas on the towel and cover with the remaining portion of the towel. Warm the tortillas in the microwave for 1 minute at 50% power. Check tortillas for warmth and pliability. Repeat process in microwave if necessary. An additional method of warming the tortillas is to warm them one at a time in a hot skillet. Just heat one side of the tortilla until softened and then turn it over to warm and soften the other side. Keep warmed tortillas between a folded over kitchen towel.
• Working with one tortilla at a time, lay a tortilla on a flat surface such as a cutting board or a clean counter top. Spoon approximately ¼ cup meat mixture, ¼ cup prepared rice and 3 tablespoons black beans a little off center across the tortilla. Fold in tortilla sides, wrap one end snugly over filling and roll up in remaining tortilla, tucking in sides as needed. Place burrito in baking dish. Repeat process with remaining tortillas.
• Ladle spicy gravy over the burritos. Note: You may not need all of the gravy. Extra gravy can be passed at the table. Sprinkle grated cheese over burritos. Place in oven and bake until cheese has melted, about 20 minutes. Serve as desired.

Notes

• Suggested toppings: guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream and chopped lettuce.
• Links on That's Some Good Cookin': Cilantro Lime Rice, Easy Mexican Rice
• For quick and easy white rice, make it in the microwave. In a deep microwave safe dish or bowl, put 1/2 cup uncooked white rice and 1 cup water. Cover, and cook on high for 20 minutes. Some microwave ovens have a "rice" function; use that instead.
• Recipe by Terri @ that’s some good cookin’

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