Eat This While You Read That: Julie Frost
I met Julie Frost at LTUE last year, and then when her first novel came out, based on listening to her being funny and witty on a panel, grabbed the book. I discovered to my delight that she could write as well as she can talk - hey! There are people who can't you know. So after reading and reviewing Pack Dynamics, I asked Julie if she would be willing to participate in this, and although I'm fairly sure she didn't remember me, she still said yes. The generosity of authors to strange fans never ceases to amaze me. People can be so nice sometimes.
Julie's first novel, and not the only one I'm hoping, is a fun werewolf story, hard to do in what seems like a saturated market. But she introduces some science, and a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed reading it. I think you will, too, although this recipe cooks up pretty fast, so you won't have time to do more than get started before it's time to chow down.
Wif Burritos
I call these "Wif Burritos".
Ingredients:
3 medium roma tomatoes
1 green pepper
1 can of black olives
five green onions (or whatever onion you like in that relative proportion)
3/4 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 onion, minced fine
1 tsp paprika
2 tbsp taco seasoning
3/4 c water
Chop and mix the vegetables.
Brown the ground beef (I add sage, garlic, salt, paprika, and fennel seeds while it's browning). Once the meat is browned (you may want to drain it if you've not got lean beast), add 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning and 3/4 cup of water, mix it around, and let it cook down until thickened.
Wrap a few scoops of meat and veggies, along with shredded cheese and your choice of salsa, into a flour tortilla. ENJOY. This makes about seven or eight of these things for us. Mmph, so good.
Warm up your flour tortillas on the flat griddle or a pan (you can zap the whole bag in the microwave for 30 seconds) before rolling your burrito for best results.
Cedar's note: these came out really well. I totally forgot my olives, so I have to make them again soon so I can try with olives. And for some reason we had no salsa in the house, although I could have sworn there was a jar in the pantry... chipotle Tabasco worked nicely, though. The fresh veggies made a nice crunch and change from the usual sauteed veg with fajitas or burritos.
A scoop of meat, all spicy and greasy...
Add veggies, cheese, sour cream... what have you. Fold up one edge toward you, the ends in toward the center, and then roll it up from there.
The First Reader's comment was next time he wants his crunchy taco shells instead of the flour tortillas. But I can make these again anytime.
Ok, it looks fancy, but it's Blood Orange soda (to which I am slightly addicted but don't indulge often, it's pricy). It was a nice accompaniment to the spicy burrito.
The ETWYRT Index Page is here, and the facebook group where we talk food and books is here.