fftf: new recipe! ratatouille-ish burritos 🌯
a surprisingly delicious union, perfect for end of summer
Hi friends,
I am feeling very excited because I came up with an entirely new dinner recipe that is delicious and fun enough to share with you, woohoo! It’s been a while since my creative juices have been flowing enough to invent something entirely new that I’m THIS pumped to write about, so I’m eager to get this to you! It uses peak (or end-of-) summer produce, so I hope you’ll make it asap!
For those who are new here, you may be wondering: what traits define a Garlic Press Jess recipe?!?! Here’s a quick list (although I’d love to hear from my long-time readers if there’s anything you’d add! Reply and let me know or pipe up in the comments if you’re reading on the Substack app)…
A GPJ recipe is usually:
veggie-centric (may have meat but veggies show up big time)
incorporates intuitive cooking, ie, you can:
adjust it to incorporate the flavors YOU like
flexible enough to use different ingredients
includes options to do more or less depending how much time you have
may require a bit more “work/time” but if it does, it either makes a big batch, and/or you’ll make a few “elements” that can be used in several meals for a few days, so the work feels worth it!
bonus: fun to eat, new & unique in some way!
Today’s recipe hits all these in my book, which is probably why I’m so hyped to share it! A little backstory:
I’m not really a big burrito person, and have - until this recipe - never made myself a burrito at home. They are hard to wrap, yo!
Growing up, we LOVEEEEEED to eat burritos out, but only at one special place near the beach we frequented in the summer: Flaming Amy’s Burrito Barn, motto: “Hot, Fast, Cheap & Easy.” LOL, burritos always make me think of Flamin’ Amy’s… that motto is hard to forget and the burritos were DELICIOUS1.
When I was cooking for a family of 5 during my personal cheffing days in San Francisco, I used to make a big batch of breakfast burritos to freeze for the kids to reheat easily on busy school mornings.
This past May, before Amal came, I remembered these freeze-ahead breakfast burritos and ambitiously purchased some burrito-sized tortillas, thinking I might make some for myself and freeze to eat postpartum. I never did that, and the tortillas ended up in the freezer.
A few weeks ago I was trying to use up things in said freezer and decided the burrito-size tortillas’ time had come! Which is how this recipe came to be.
Into the burritos I decided to put… a sort of quick-ratatouille (one of my favorite foods of all time), but for more of a burrito-vibe, I added a flavorful spice mix, plus cabbage, and cooked it quickly to keep more of the veggies’ textures. Voila, a new creation!
When I first made this, I intended to add ground beef to the veggies, but ran out of room in my pan, so ended up making the meat separately. I decided I actually like this method, so kept it in the recipe!
We mixed the meat & veg together when eating the burritos, but I like keeping (and storing) them separately, because then you can use the extras in more ways throughout the week! For example, eat the “ratatouille” with eggs + goat cheese, and use the beef for tacos or nachos, etc. If you’re vegetarian, you could skip the beef altogether, and maybe add some canned beans to bulk up your burrito. If you don’t have/like beef, you could use another ground meat. Or - instead of making the beef, you could sub some other kind of protein you have that’s already cooked - like roasted or rotisserie chicken, etc! The flexibility is endless here.
Lastly, when I first made this I feel like it took a while, but yesterday when I was recipe-testing it and “on a mission” to get it done before my nanny came back to the house with Jazzy, I whipped it all up in under an hour - and the veggies only took 30 mins start to finish including the chopping. Casual reminder: if you haven’t sharpened your knives recently, O.M.G., chopping is SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE with sharp knives. I recently sharpened mine and it truly makes a world of difference.
Happy cooking!!
Love,
Jess
PS. Scroll all the way down for some more step-by-step photos!
Ratatouille-ish Burritos
Takes 40 mins - 1 hr (depending whether you make just the veg or meat too)
Makes enough for 6-10 burritos(?), probably 2-3 meals for 2 adults & 2-ish kids
Recipe keys:
You can certainly skip/use/swap some of the veggies, but I would KEEP the eggplant, peppers OR cabbage, and tomatoes. The eggplant makes the veggies creamy and rich. The peppers or cabbage maintain a little crunch and give the “ratatouille” more of a burrito-vibe, and the tomatoes add the necessary liquid that melds everything nicely.
This recipe calls for a “spice mix of your choice” - which is important for the flavor. You can really pick any spice mix that you like, and take this in any regional culinary direction! I used different but complementary spice mixes for the veggies & beef, but you could use the same one for both. I really like the Adobo & Sazon Puerto Rican spice mixes from Illyanna Maisonet (which is what I used), but use whatever you have or like. If you don’t have a spice mix, cumin + coriander + some chili flakes is a safe bet to substitute.
Feel free to go crazy with toppings/additions, although I thinks it’s really good with simply the veggies, meat if using, and some shredded cheese. (That’s how I made it originally!)
Ingredients
For the veggie mix:
1 small-medium globe eggplant
2 small zucchini
1-2 green peppers (or any kind of peppers you’d like to use!)
about 1/3 head of green cabbage
at least 2 large tomatoes, ideally juicy ones (or equivalent small tomatoes would also work - you can sub canned tomatoes if needed)
salt, pepper, & oil (olive oil or a neutral oil like avocado both work)
~3 tsp more of a spice mix of your choice: I used this Adobo seasoning
For the meat:
2 lbs ground beef (80/20 recommended)
1 large onion
salt, pepper, & oil (olive oil or a neutral oil like avocado both work)
~3 tsp of a spice mix of your choice: I used this Sazon seasoning
For the burritos:
burrito-sized tortillas of your choice; I used these Siete ones2
shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese
(optional) avocado
Other ideas to add in the burritos:
canned black beans, esp if not using meat!
pickled onions
chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream or a dollop of Greek yogurt
Equipment:
your 2-3 widest sauté pans (the more surface area the better!) - I used an 11-inch stainless steel sauté pan for the veggies, and a 12-inch cast iron pan for the meat, plus a 12-inch cast iron to heat the tortillas
cutting board, chef’s knife, medium bowl
Instructions
For the veggie mix (takes 30-40 mins total):
Get out all your ingredients. Wash veggies if needed. Select your spice mix(es) in advance!
Decide on and get out the 2-3 pans you’ll be using. Ideally, use a stainless steel pan or similar for the veggies. If a dutch oven is your widest surface area, that’s fine to use also. If using cast iron, I’d recommend that for the meat (but also fine to use for the veg if that’s all you’ve got). The 3rd pan is for heating the tortillas, but you can also wash one of the other two if you don’t have a third.
Chop the eggplant into small cubes, about 1/2 inch squares or smaller; they do not need to be super uniform (but we want them small so they brown faster).
Turn the heat on under your selected veggie pan; add several glugs of oil so the pan is mostly covered.
While oil/pan is heating, put the chopped eggplant into your medium bowl, and continue trimming/chopping the peppers.
When oil is hot, carefully add the chopped eggplant (beware of oil splatter if you dump it!). Give it sprinkle of salt, then stir to coat in the oil. Spread it in an even layer as best you can, then make sure the heat is on medium to medium-high. It should be sizzling but not smoking. Allow the eggplant to brown while you continue chopping peppers, then zucchini & cabbage. While chopping, check the eggplant periodically and stir/scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. You’ll also likely want to add more oil as you go. Eggplant needs a good amount of oil to taste delicious, so don’t be shy. We want the eggplant to get melty, as that’s what holds our stew together and makes it taste creamy and delicious, and we need the oil to facilitate this.
Continue to chop veggies: the peppers should also be in small cubes/pieces; I like to do the zucchini in quarter-circles, and the cabbage in large-ish bite size chunks or strips.
When the eggplant has cooked and browned a bit, add the zucchini and peppers and stir. These will release some water as they cook so that should help if the pan is dry, but feel free to add more oil or a tiny bit of water to the pan if needed. Sprinkle some salt, continue stirring.
When the peppers and zucchini have cooked down a bit, add the cabbage and stir again.
Now roughly dice your tomato over a small bowl to save all the juices! Add bowl of chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the flavorful brown bits.
The tomato juice plus water releasing from the veggies should help this come together into a stewy-type mixture. We don’t want it soupy but we DO want it stewy, so add a tiny bit of liquid or more tomatoes if you like, and you can turn the heat down if it’s getting too dry.
Now add 2-3 teaspoons of the spice mix of your choice, stir to combine, and continue cooking until it comes together and the tomatoes cook down to your liking. (My veggie mix took about 30 mins start to finish including the chopping. I like to keep my cabbage with a little bit of crunch.)
Very important: when you think it’s done, taste and adjust the seasonings. If you feel like it needs more salt AND you’re not sure if you can taste the spice mix, make sure to add more salt first (before adding more spice mix), as that often brings out the spice flavors.
For the meat mix:
While the veggies are cooking, chop onion into quarter moons.
Heat up a pan on medium-high, add some oil. When hot, add the onions and sauté until just beginning to brown.
Move onions to the sides of the pan, clearing out the center. Add bit more oil to the center, then add ground beef. After it’s in the pan, salt and pepper the top side of the ground beef, and sprinkle with about 1.5 tsp of your spice mix of choice. Allow to brown for several minutes without stirring. When you think it’s browned on the bottom, flip the meat and start breaking it up / mixing it into the onions.
Continue cooking, breaking it up and mixing until it’s barely no longer pink. Taste and adjust for salt and the spices. (If adding more spice mix, cook it a little longer to make sure the spices get cooked a bit.)
When veggies & meat are done, make the burritos!
Get out a clean, large sauté pan (OR clean & dry one of the pans you just used for veggies/meat) to heat up the tortillas.
Prep any ingredients you want to add to your burritos: shred cheese if needed, chop cilantro, cut up avocado, and have these all out and ready to go.
Heat up your clean, large pan to medium, and add the tortilla. Follow warming instructions on the package, it usually just needs a minute or two on each side. Monitor closely, because if you overheat it, the tortilla will become too crispy to fold!
When tortilla is warm, place on a large plate, add fillings and toppings, and fold to the best of your ability (some tortilla packages have folding instructions!). If you can’t fold it, just wrap it once around and call it a day, it will still be tasty!
Repeat for as many burritos as you are making. Eat and enjoy!
PS. Leftover “ratatouille” freezes well and tastes AMAZING in the dregs of winter!
Scroll for some step-by-step photos:
I haven’t been there in many, MANY years, so can’t attest to whether they are still tasty.
I’ll confess I need more practice on wrapping burritos! It’s hard, and these gluten-free Siete tortillas may be a little harder to wrap than traditional flour ones! I mostly failed at the wrapping and tucking and just did a simple fold with the ends open (like in my photo). Inevitably, these are kind of messy to eat, but that’s part of the fun!
I am so inspired to make this! TBH I'll probably only get as far as the ratatouille part, but that's already a huge upgrade for me.
this looks SO good! what a great idea for ratatouille.