There is nothing like a real burrito. I'm so glad I know how to make them. Not that making burritos is all that difficult, but after years of ordering vegetarian burritos only to find them stuffed with butternut squash, sautéed mushrooms, or, worst of all, limp broccoli and zucchini, you can't assume much. While it's obviously possible to make great burritos with vegetables--sweet potato and black bean, anyone?--most northern restaurants fail dismally.

A straight up bean and rice burrito is the ideal: beans, rice, salsa, and whatever raw vegetables look good. For this one I sautéed chopped yellow onion with jalapeño, red pepper, corn, a handful of brown rice, and some cooked black beans in broth. Probably there was some cumin in there too. So I more or less cooked salsa into the beans and rice.

In the tortilla: beans and rice, hot sauce, redleaf lettuce, and torn chard leaves. The chard is pushing it a little, being thoroughly northern, but it was still good.