Burritos

Burritos make a wonderful party food and cater to a plethora of tastes. I must say now that this is burritos in the truly Anglicised sense, so you will not find here a recipe for authenticity. And having said that, neither is it much of a recipe. It is in fact purely a list of ideas of what you might put in a burrito, and how you might like to cook and serve it.

I like burritos for parties because everyone can make their own from a range of ingredients, and so you can cater to a fussy eater without too much ingenuity. What's more, the cooking part of the enterprise is really just warming through, meaning you don't have to turn your attention away from your guests for any more time than it takes to bung a baking tray into an oven.

For my party burritos I serve, each in an individual bowl with a serving spoon:

-Two meat dishes:
I really like to use pork sausage mince which I fry off in a pan with some freshly ground black pepper and chilli powder. Once the meat has crisped up and the fat has rendered down, drain the excess fat off the meat and serve.
I also like to serve chicken breast which has been chopped into cubes and cooked in a pan with olive oil, minced garlic, chilli powder, salt and pepper and smoked paprika. Once cooked I drain the excess fat and serve.

Fried chorizo, beef, pulled pork, and even smoked tofu would all be great options too. Just cater to you and your friends' tastes.

I also serve:
- Refried beans
- Guacamole
- Tomato salsa
- Shredded iceberg lettuce
- Grated strong cheese like cheddar
- Pickled jalapenos
- Sour cream

I give my guests each a plate with a warm flour tortilla which is sitting on a slightly larger square of tin foil. They can then go round the table choosing whichever items they want for their burrito. Once they've filled their burrito they can wrap it and hand it over to you to go in the oven! Meanwhile they can keep their plate to fill with any more ingredients they want, and lots of corn tortilla chips as well. I put the burritos on a baking tray in the oven for about ten minutes, on about 190 degrees centigrade. All there is to do is warm the burrito and it's filling through, considering everything is already cooked.

It would be pretty easy to confuse who's burrito belongs to who, so you may want to find some way of differentiating them. Otherwise you'll have a free game of Pass the Parcel!

Hopefully you'll have leftovers for breakfast the next morning. Enjoy!