Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde

Name: Sweet Potato Burrito Smothered in Avocado Salsa Verde
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 medium sweet potatoes; 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 1/2 teaspoon cumin; 1/2 teaspoon smoked hot paprika (or chipotle powder); 1/4 teaspoon cayenne; Sea salt and black pepper, to taste; 4 to 6 whole wheat tortillas; 2 roasted red peppers (I used jarred); 2 cups cooked black beans or 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained; 1+ cup shredded Jack cheese; 2 ripe avocados; 1 cup mild salsa verde, jarred; 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh jalapeño, deseeded and roughly chopped, optional; 1 lime, juiced; 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves; Up to 2 tablespoons water, to thin as necessary; Sea salt, to taste; 1 1/2 cups chopped romaine lettuce; 1 small red onion, finely chopped; Finely chopped jalapeño, optional; Sour cream, optional

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Where do you call home? Home used to be such a simple concept, but I’ve struggled to define it lately. For the first few years of life, home was where I lived with my parents in a small town near the Oklahoma panhandle. Home had brown tile floors that I tottered across at the heels of my red-haired cousin. My family, friends and belongings were all there. Things got more complicated when we moved to an Oklahoma City suburb and I left for college, but now that I’ve moved out of my home state, I really don’t know what or where home is.

I visited Oklahoma the week before last for the first time since moving to Kansas City. There I was laughing with my dearest friends around a table at our favorite Mexican restaurant, but my old apartment wasn’t mine any more. The town that I had lived in for the past eight years felt like home, once removed. I spent a few nights at my parents’ place, too. They moved to a bigger house after I left for college; I still don’t know where all the light switches are. I suppose it will always be home since my parents are there but it feels a little empty now that my brothers have left the nest, too.

Here I am in Kansas City, which is feeling more like home. Everything has its place now, including Cookie, who is curled up by my feet on our new couch. We can call it home for now, I guess?

I’m not exactly sure what to call this burrito, either. I do love how Mexican food has a different word for every traditional incarnation of tortillas, cheese and fillings/toppings. Burritos, tacos, tostadas, huevos rancheros, quesadillas, nachos: each tasty in its own right.

What we have here is a lightly baked burrito of modest size—a borderline enchilada, really. It’s stuffed with roasted sweet potatoes, roasted bell peppers (I used jarred) and black beans, smothered in a zesty avocado sauce. I wanted to incorporate as much sauce as I possibly could in this burrito, so I just drowned the burrito in the stuff from above. At that rate, eating the burrito required a fork, so why bother rolling in the sides of the tortilla? Might as well sprinkle the insides with cheese and bake it for a few minutes so it all sticks together instead.

I had originally planned to make an avocado crema with sour cream, but after blending avocados in the food processor, it was evident that puréed avocados are plenty rich and creamy on their own. I thought about making a homemade salsa verde, but all the tomatillos I could find were subpar this late in the season. I skipped on over to the salsa aisle with an excuse to take a shortcut (who doesn’t like a good shortcut?).

At home, I blended the avocados with flavorful salsa verde, fresh lime juice, cilantro and garlic. The end result is an addictive avocado salsa verde reminiscent of the sauce covering my favorite burrito at the aforementioned Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s.

Maybe we don’t need a word for this super fresh burrito-enchilada hybrid after all. It’s good; let’s leave it at that.