Burritos with Rice, Peppers, and Pinto Beans

This recipe was born out of last night's demise of my plans to make my friend Jill's recipe for tacos.  Those of you who live in the Boston area probably know this, but Thursday is the worst day to try to go grocery shopping at the Foodmaster chain of grocery stores.  They get their supplies on Friday, so those who shop on Thursday are doomed to frustration if they try to find the simplest of things.  (The simplest of things in this case is heretofore defined as Morningstar Farms "fake hamburger".)  Luckily,  they are not Market Basket and their vegetable selection is usually halfway decent, so I made this instead.    

2-4 lavash wraps / tortillas

Olive oil

rice

1 diced bell pepper of each color: red / orange / yellow / green

1 small onion

Pepper to taste

1 can pinto beans

Habenero or pepper jack cheese (or, if you’d like, the regular cheese you have sitting around with a good dose of hot sauce sloshed onto it)

Cook rice according to the directions on the packet. 

Dice the onion and sauté it in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil heated in a large frying pan until the pieces are just starting to brown.  Add the peppers and let them cook down until they’re soft.  Drain the water out of the can of pinto beans, but do not rinse them.  (The salt in them will be the only salt you use to flavor this.)  Slowly stir the pinto beans into the  pan.  Fry this mixture for another two minutes or so.

Combine rice and the pepper mixture in the lavash / tortilla shells.  Top with cheese.  

Poor Man's Raclette

My friend Nicole used to live in Luxembourg, where she discovered this dish at a popular ski resort.   Later, she moved to London.  When I went to college in the Edinburgh, I used come to London and visit her flat.  We’d usually eat real raclette, which is a variation of fondue using a special type of cheese also called raclette, and where the vegetables and meats are also cooked right in front of you on a raclette griddle.  After one visit I went back to Edinburgh, hit up a vegetable sale at Lidl, and came up with a budget version.  

Poor Man’s Raclette

½ pound raclette (expensive and hard to get in the US) or emmenthal cheese (that’s Swiss cheese to US dwellers, you can also use cheddar)

1 bag small creamer potatoes

3 peppers

2 tomatoes

1 onion

Broccoli, zucchini, or some other easy to fry vegetable

Boil the potatoes until soft.  In separate skillet, fry the onion and peppers until browned.  Add the broccoli / other easy to fry vegetable and sauté.  Add the tomato.