Igloofest II and Other Antics

Week One of the Black-Choptiany Pan-Provincial Bi-weekly Culinary Throwdown: Success!

I meant to lovingly and creatively document my progress with the "gourmet" function on my camera (not food function, as I had originally identified it, because gourmet sounds so much more artistic and evocative, right?) but I started feeling a little crunch for time. So no photos of the finished product, which I managed to polish off in two days (it made an excellent breakfast and dinner on Sunday), but here, revel in the glory...

 

So I did make some modifications to the original recipe. For one thing, I halved it - I was only cooking for me (though I did have a friend come over in time to polish one off as they came out of the over, and a couple were sacrificed as post-bar treats at 3:00 am). Also, because I acquired some odd affinity for them lately, and many of the comments recommended the switch, I used black beans instead of kidney beans. I also didn't add water - I don't think I drained my beans very well (cleaning my mesh colander is the bane of my culinary existence) and so there was, as you can see in the fairly repulsive photo, a good amount of liquid in there already. I would, in future, perhaps add stock though, instead of water. Chopper told me that he added hot sauce to his, which inspired me to make a similar move, adding 50/50 hot mustard and regular mustard. Other than that, my only recommendation, which I received from Chopper and completely concur with is that, in building the burritos, the ratio should be more along the lines of 60/40 beans to sweet potatoes. 

Another thing Chopper and I agreed was obnoxious about the recipe was that the ingredient list calls for "mashed sweet potatoes" and therefore does not account for the hour or so it takes to make them (if you bake them in the oven like I do). You really need to do that first, and set the mashed sweet potato aside before you start the beans.

All in all though, I think Round One was a whopping success. Anyone else try them?

Right after burritos, I went out for the final night of Igloofest with my brother, Claire, Yule and a new acquaintance of mine, Brielan. It was crazy fun. Though someone stole my toque off my head (again)! You gotta roll with the punches. No more partying for me for a long time though. I can tide myself over with the fond reminiscences, the goading of all the friends I called, and some of these lovely photos.