Beef Burritos

Here is part 2 of Kelly's birthday menu. I made the pozole and I thought it tasted pretty delicious. But I also made burritos, and this a great way to feed a big crowd. And I'm not so sure they are authentic Mexican, but they're tasty and filling and easy. And that's my way of cooking! I'd much rather have everything prepared in advance so I can visit with my company. (and of course have drinks with them!)

The main part of cooking in this recipe is your beef. I used a whole eye of round. About 2 kilos and this fed 22 people. Use a smaller piece of meat if you are serving less people. But these freeze well, so you can easily reheat them in the microwave for a mid week dinner or lunch, so make lots of them. But for sure use eye of round because it shreds so beautifully for this recipe.

To season your meat, make a spice blend of:
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
Rub this all over the meat and wrap it in 2 layers of heavy duty tin foil. Be sure that everything is tight and nothing can get in or out. Place it in a roast pan and fill the pan up halfway with water. Put the lid on and roast it at 300 degrees for about 3 hours. Low and slow is the name of the game.

Pour the water out of the pan and unwrap the meat after it's done. Let it cool down a bit and shred it with 2 forks. We need Bailey to insert a video here on how to do that, but really it's easy. Just take your forks and start pulling at the meat in opposite directions. You'll get the hang of it in no time. Discard any fatty bits.

Put it all in a big bowl and add a large can of enchilada sauce. Or make your own by adding some chili powder and cumin to a large can of tomato sauce. You can also add in some heat at the point. Some chopped jalapeno pepper, diced chilies or some hot sauce. Or all of the above. Mix it all together with your hands so everything gets moistened. Taste it and see if you want to add anything.

For the assembly, buy the larger size tortillas. About 3 bags or 30 of them.
You also need:
shredded cheese. For a crowd you needs lots of it, so I buy the big economy sized bag of already shredded TexMex (because I'm as lazy as the devil when it comes to grating tons of cheese) or you can grate your own.
2 large cans of refried beans (I like the refried black bean)
I also like rice just for the fun of it. You can just make a package of Mexican flavoured rice while the beef is roasting or make your own and add about a tablespoon of your spice blend that you put on the roast.

To assemble them, put a dollop of refried beans, about 3 tablspoons of beef (I use my hands to do this) some cheese and some rice into a pile in the middle of the tortilla. Roll them up. (Another video required here) Make sure to tuck the ends in. I don't have the vocabulary to really describe this, so I hope you know what a burrito looks like.

But here is my big secret to keeping them moist: Spray some water all over your pan and pack them tightly together. Then spray them again with water when the pan is full. Top them with more grated cheese and seal the pan tightly with tin foil. Bake at 325 for about 25 - 30 minutes. I use those disposable aluminium pans  because they hold a lot of them (you'll need 2 of these pans for this many burritos) and you can take them visiting without having to say goodbye to your best roasting pan. Such as I did when I brought these to my sister's house 8 years ago. I'm glad she continues to enjoy my best roaster though. (which was given to me by my mother!)

Serve these with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Guacamole recipe to follow soon. Enjoy my friends!