Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast Burritos

A delightful breakfast, these burritos filled with soft scrambled eggs, scallion-flecked refried beans and buttery avocado slices are also great any time of the day. Cilantro adds freshness, and a few drops of your favorite hot sauce will deliver a nice zing. The nontraditional open-ended rolling technique used here will tightly encase the filling in the smaller-size tortillas while ensuring the optimal tortilla-to-stuffing ratio. To seal completely, wrap each tortilla in a strip of foil and twist both ends. For convenience, the little wraps can be made ahead of time, stored in the refrigerator or freezer and reheated in an oven. 

Yield: 4 servings

8 medium (soft taco-size) flour tortillas

5 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated (1¼ cups)

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola

2 scallions, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup refried black beans (from a 16-ounce can) 

6 large eggs, beaten 

Kosher salt

Hot sauce, for drizzling (optional)

1 small ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced

¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves

Heat broiler to high and line two sheet pans with foil.

Place the tortillas on the sheet pans. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the tortillas. Broil, one pan at a time, until the cheese is just beginning to melt, about 20 seconds.

In a medium nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add the scallions and cumin and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the refried beans, stir to combine and cook until the beans are warmed through, about 2 minutes. Divide the beans among the tortillas, spooning in even lines down the centers.

Wipe out the skillet and set over to medium-low heat. Pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, add the whisked eggs and season lightly with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs are just set, about 3 minutes. Divide the eggs evenly among the tortillas, in lines over the beans. Drizzle on hot sauce, if using.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the eggs and top with avocado and cilantro. To roll, fold one side over the filling to enclose it, then tightly roll away from you, leaving the ends open. Serve immediately, or wrap in foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Reheat in a 400-degree oven or toaster oven until warm, about 8 minutes.

TIP: Instead of using refried beans I use plain canned black beans. I put a can of black beans with the can liquid in a pot, add about 2 tsp of chili power and 1 tsp of cumin, bring to a simmer and then mash them with a potato masher or blend with an immersion blender. I cook them until enough liquid has evaporated so that they have the texture of refried beans.

Actually, if you can opt for refried pinto beans instead of black in this recipe, surprisingly, Rosarita makes incredible organic canned refried pintos; they use organic coconut oil as the fat and are very nicely seasoned… although we cook bean from dry like crazy, we keep them around for quick fixes, like midnight bean/cheese quesadillas or whatever. Pretty easy to find and excellent for canned; Costco sells them in an 8-pack :-)

I added raw garden fresh radishes that I cut into matchsticks as an additional topping. The radish added some crunch, some color and a bright favor to the burritos. This is great served with a nice pico de gallo as well.

Last night I made the burritos and today was my first day eating one for breakfast at work. I put the foil-wrapped frozen burrito in the oven as soon as I woke up, then brushed my teeth and combed my hair, and grabbed the burrito out of the oven on my way out the door. Thirty minutes later, I was eating it at my desk, and it was still warm. It tasted better than anything I would have bought from Dunkin or SB for $7.