Big Waves Still Scare Me. Meatballs With Polenta Don't.

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be comfortable with big waves that have some real energy. Like Sunday, for example, there was a powerful WNW swell that was producing good-sized waves. I'm talking waves that are over the head, and in sets that come fast in between periods of calm. It was kind of hard to tell from predictions exactly what I'd face if I headed to the beach, but I decided to go anyway, because you just never know until you stand there and see with your own eyes what's what. Also deceptive is seeing the ocean from a distance, or even the parking lot. You still can't tell until you get closer, and even then conditions can be deceptive. Like I said, there were periods of relative calm so when I first walked up, the ocean looked completely flat, with a bunch of surfers just perched on their boards waiting. I though, great…perfect conditions to paddle out. Then came waves. Big waves. Not huge, mind you, but big enough that I knew it was totally out of my comfort zone. Did it stop me from paddling out? Yeah, it did. Did I give up? Not completely. First I left the board on the beach and just dove into the water to splash around a little. Then I practiced some pop-ups in the whitewash. Getting pretty good at those, by the way!

Heading home, though, I was kind of beating up on myself for being a wuss and in need of some comfort food. Somewhere I'd seen recently a dish of meatballs and sauce not with spaghetti the way you usually  see it, but over polenta. That sounded like it would hit the spot, and here's the results:

I've used all different sorts of combinations to make meatballs, but one of my favorites is dark meat ground turkey mixed with pork sausage of some kind from McCall's Meat and Fish. This time I used their Fennel-Thyme sausage along with the turkey. If you want to know how to do it, read on. Oh, a note about polenta. I've always been confused over what is the difference between the rather pricey bags of instant polenta imported from Italy you often come across, and just regular old cornmeal. Well, I did a little research and learned there really isn't much of a difference. Yes, there are differences in the type and grind of cornmeals, and this can determine how long you'd cook your polenta. But if you're buying those instant polentas, you can substitute regular old corn meal, and I did that since we had some in the pantry.

Turkey and Sausage Meatballs In Marinara Sauce Over Polenta
(serves 4)

1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 tbsps. olive olive oil, divided
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 28 oz and 1 14 oz. can peeled tomatoes (preferably Cento)
3 sprigs fresh Basil, plus more for serving
1 1/4 pounds ground dark meat turkey
1 large or 2 small Italian Sausage, casing removed
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup grated Pecorino cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (more if needed)
1 large egg
Salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Pour tomatoes and their juices into a bowl and crush with your hands. In a medium sized deep skillet or saucepan heat olive oil. When hot, add diced onion. Saute, stirring until onion turns translucent. Add minced garlic, red pepper flakes and continue cooking another minute or so. Add the tomatoes to the pot. Season liberally with salt and fresh ground pepper, drop in the 3 sprigs of basil and bring to a simmer. Cook sauce, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have broken down and sauce has thickened, about 20-25 minutes. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl place ground turkey, sausage meat, chopped parsley, grated cheese, bread crumbs and egg. Season with a teaspoon of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Use your hands to mix everything together until smooth. If mixture seems too wet, add a little more bread crumbs,  but not too much or the meatballs will be dry. Form mixture into golfball-sized balls.
3. Heat remaining 2 tbsps. olive oil in a large skillet, preferably non-stick. When oil is hot, lower in meatballs. Cook until nicely browned on all sides. Transfer browned meatballs to pot of sauce. Bring sauce and meatballs back to a slow simmer, and this is important: try not to disturb them for at least he first five minutes or so of simmering, otherwise you are in danger of breaking up the meatballs. Simmer meatballs in sauce for 25 minute. Check sauce again for seasoning. Serve over polenta and sprinkle with chopped basil and more fresh grated Pecorino

Polenta (adapted from the back of the Albers Corn Meal Box)

(serves 4-6)

3 1/2 cups water, divided
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

1. In a small saucepan, add salt to 2 1/2 cups of the water. Bring to a boil. Mix cornmeal with remaining water in small bowl
2. Add cornmeal mixture to boiling water slowly, stirring constantly. Lower heat and simmer polenta about five minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in grated cheese. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Here's a little look at the process, starting with all meatball ingredients in the bowl. Again, the best way to mix this up is by hand, so get in there and do it. Just don't forget to wash your hands in warm, soapy water when you're done!

Now it's on to browning the meatballs. Some people do this in the oven, and I've tried it that way, but I've found the way I like best is browning them in olive oil. Turn them gently but sometimes they'll lose a little of their shape. Not to worry.

Finally here are the meatballs simmering away in the sauce.

So if you're looking for a real comforting dish, meatballs over polenta should fit the bill. Of course you can also serve these with Spaghetti, or in a meatball sub, with lots of melted cheese on top. That's really good too.

Remember for the best in-house made sausage in town, hit up McCall's in Los Feliz:  www.mccallsmeatandfish.com

Another Fun Session. Plus Calzones!

Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. The new policy of paying close attention to tides is definitely paying off. Yesterday, for example, predicted surf heights were right in my wheelhouse, but again the tides were not right for the time I'd normally want to head to the beach. So I moved things around so I'd get there at the right time. Becoming more flexible and adaptable is just one more lesson that surfing is teaching me. And it paid off. It was perfect mid-tide, and the waves were pretty mellow. I paddled into a couple, got up on a couple and fell off a couple! My next hurdle is really focusing on foot placement after the pop up and staying low.

Back at home, it was almost time to figure out dinner, since the surf session had been pushed ahead by a couple of hours. The other night I made pizza using Sullivan Street Bakery guru Jim Lahey's no-knead crust recipe, which was featured in a post back on July 18, 2014. This dough makes a nice thin, crispy crust. It requires a twenty four hour rise, but that's the hardest thing about it. Also, it always yields extra, so I stick what we don't use in the refrigerator (you can freeze it too). Then you can either make another small pizza, or better yet, how about calzones, like the one below, with fontina, chard and fennel-thyme sausage? All those pizza joints we'd frequent as kids always had calzones too. While I'll go for pizza almost every time if I'm out at, say, Prime Pizza on Fairfax, it's pretty easy to make them at home.

Here's how to do it, and here I'll use store-bought pizza dough so you don't have to worry about making your own. (However, if you do make the no-knead Lahey dough like in the earlier post, you will have about 1/3 of the dough leftover. Use that to make 2 calzones).

For 4 Calzones

1 1-pound package pizza dough
1 cup marinara sauce (your own, or bought)
1 bunch swiss or ruby chard (or you can use spinach), cleaned, stemmed and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4  tbsps. olive oil, divided
1 large or 2 small Italian Sausages, hot or sweet
1 1/2 cups shredded fontina cheese
4 tbsps. grated Parmesan or Romano

1. If dough is refrigerated, remove from refrigerator about 2 hours before baking. Form dough into 4 balls on floured surface. Dust with flour, cover with plastic wrap and let rest on counter until room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In small skillet, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic. When garlic starts to sizzle, toss in chopped chard. Saute, stirring, until chard is wilted, adding a little water if necessary. Cook until Chard is tender, about five minutes. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground pepper. Set aside to cool, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the chard.
3. Wipe out skillet. Remove sausage from casing. Heat another tbsp. olive oil in skillet and add sausage. Saute, stirring until sausage is cooked through and beginning to brown. Drain out oil and set aside.  Mixed shredded fontina and Parmesan cheeses.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. With floured hands, flatten dough and shape into about a six inch circle. Transfer to parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Ladle about 1/4 cup sauce on the lower half of each circle. Top sauce with a layer of chard, and then some sausage. Top with cheeses. With wet fingers moisten the entire edge of the circle. Then bring the top layer of dough over the bottom half and press to seal the calzone well. Brush calzones with remaining two tbsps. olive oil. Cut a couple of small slits in the top. 
5. Place baking sheets in oven and cook calzones until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Rotate baking sheets halfway through.

Pretty easy, huh?  Here's some shots of the process, first the balls of dough resting on a floured board.

Here's the fennel-thyme Sausage from McCall's, all browned.

The chard was from the garden. Make sure you squeeze it well to get out all that excess moisture.

And here are the golden calzones, just out of the oven. They'll be piping hot, so let them cool a few minutes before you bite into them!

If you're looking for some really good sausages, get to McCalls Meat and Fish in Los Feliz. There's a lot of varieties. Try them all!

McCall's Meat and Fish:  www.mccallsmeatandfish.com

Practice Makes Perfect (Or A Slight Improvement). Plus Turkey Meatloaf!

I did learn something from my last couple of sessions about waiting until tides are right. Sunday was predicted to be a day just out of my comfort zone, surf wise, but I wanted to get out anyway and get some water time. But this time I paid close attention to the tides so I wouldn't be there at the high or low, but at mid-tide. It all looked pretty good when I got about to the beach, except for one thing: the waves were kind of on the big side. Again, not big by good surfer standards, but by my kook standards. Also, they were coming in one after another in between periods of calm, and that's something that also can be unnerving. The good news is with the mid-tide it was a good day to practice in the whitewash. You can catch whitewash waves, you know, and even sometimes pop up and get a little ride. So that's what I did. Me and these, like, five year olds with their mom! But since I consider any water time to be good time, I was happy with the day. Then, on the way home, I was thinking a lot about comfort zones, which lead to thoughts of comfort food and what to have for dinner. Meatloaf came up. Turkey Meatloaf, with mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy and peas. Here was dinner:

Doesn't get much more comforting than that, does it? We like to call this the Blue Plate Special because it looks so much like diner grub. If you're interested in a good Turkey Meatloaf recipe I'm going to give you one. This version, I promise, isn't dry like cardboard or tasteless like some turkey meatloaf dinners I bet you've had. Again, in the practice makes perfect department, I've worked on this recipe for quite some time to get it right, and quite frankly I think it's pretty good. Couple of things to note if you're going to make Turkey Meatloaf -- don't even think of using all white meat ground turkey. The results will be dry as sawdust. Also, it's important to find a good source for ground turkey. I don't recommend that pre-packaged kind you find in most supermarkets. Find a good butcher or a market like Whole Foods because places like that generally grind the meat on site and better source their turkeys. So here ya go:

Turkey Meatloaf With Mushroom Gravy
(Serves 4)

For meatloaf:
1 small or 1/2 large green pepper, diced
1 large white mushroom, diced
1 small or 1/2 large onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsps. olive oil
1 1/4 pounds ground dark meat turkey
1/4 cup, plus 2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsps. Worcestershire sauce, divided
1 tbsp. soy sauce
Couple of dashes Sriracha
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
3/4-1 cup dry bread crumbs
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
1 tbsp horseradish

1. Pre-heat oven to 375. Heat olive oil to medium hot in small skillet and toss in onion, peppers, mushroom and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring, until vegetables begin to brown and caramelize, about five to seven minutes. Set aside to cool
2. Place ground turkey in a large bowl, along with 1/4 cup ketchup, mustard, the other 1 tbsp Worcestershire, the soy sauce, Sriracha and salt and paper. Toss in 3/4 cups of the bread crumbs, the grated cheese and the egg. Add the cooked vegetables. Mix together -- it's best to use your hands to get it all well-incorporated, but if you must, use a wooden spoon. If mixture seems too wet, add the additional 1/4 cup bread crumbs.
3. Form mixture into a loaf and place in a skillet or baking dish lined with Parchment paper.
4. Mix remaining two tbsps. ketchup with the horseradish. Spread this mixture on top and along the sides of the meatloaf. Sprinkle more grated Parmesan on top.
5. Bake meatloaf about 1 hour, 15 minutes, or until 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.  Let rest ten minutes before slicing.

For Mushroom Gravy:

3 large white mushrooms, diced

2 tbsps. minced onion

2 tbsps. butter
1 tsp. soy sauce

2 tbsps. flour

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. When melted, toss in the mushrooms and onion. Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste, and add the soy sauce. Saute until the vegetables are brown and starting to caramelize, about five minutes.
2. Sprinkle flour over vegetables. Stir, letting four and vegetables brown in the pan for a few minutes.
3. Slowly whisk in a cup of chicken stock, whisking until smooth as gravy comes to a simmer.  Let simmer a few minutes, whisking occasionally. If gravy seems too thick, slowly whisk in the last 1/2 cup stock.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Here's a couple of shots of the process, starting with the diced vegetables, then everything in the bowl pre-mixing, formed in the pan and finally just out of the oven.

Of course you'll want to serve this as in the picture above, with mashed potatoes and peas, and of course if there's leftover meatloaf it makes excellent sandwiches. See, here was today's lunch! Would have tasted even better if it was eaten at the beach.

By the way, you can easily double this recipe if you want even more meatloaf. In fact it's encouraged.

To The Beach For Redemption! Then Back To Town For Night + Market Song's Fried Chicken Sandwich.

Have you ever felt the need to redeem yourself? Have you ever been in search of redemption because you did something badly when you knew you could do it better? Well, that was my surf life last week. First I had a sort of fail at El Porto (though not with lunch…lunch was great!). But then I hit up Santa Monica the next day because I wanted to redeem myself. Well, things didn't go as planned, as often happens when it comes to oceans and surfing. Mother Nature makes the rules in this game. Again, conditions were not in my sweet spot, but I tried to battle through it anyway. Then something strange happened and I got spooked. I was in the middle of the paddle out, and while the waves weren't, of course, gigantic, I got caught in the whitewash and had to dive under a couple. That wasn't so bad, but the strange thing was I after a wave or two passed, I oriented myself, got up on my board and tried to continue my paddle out, but I was caught in some current and wasn't moving! It wasn't a rip, because it wasn't taking me out, which is actually where I'd want to go. It was just keeping me stuck in one place, right smack in the middle of the impact zone. So of course I got pounded by a couple of more waves. It all turned out well. I didn't panic, and I got myself together so I could get back to shore, but it definitely left me unsettled and scratching my head, because I wasn't exactly sure what happened. The good news is I didn't exactly throw in the towel. I sat on the beach for a while and watched the waves and other surfers, and I made an attempt to go back out. But the truth was I was kind of done. Conditions just weren't right for me. The waves were a little bigger than I'd expected, and they were coming in a little faster. And I was really disappointed with myself because I thought it was going to be a good day. Upon reflection I realized I made a couple of key mistakes. One was not paying attention to what I know is my sweet spot: mid-tide on days that are in the 1-3 foot range. I wanted to go and be done at a certain time, and so I went out at high tide and I shouldn't have. This taught me I need to be much more flexible. If conditions aren't right, stay off the board!

But then yesterday conditions looked good, and I saw that my mid-tide would work with my schedule nicely so out I went. And I had a great time. These waves were pretty tiny, and very mellow, but that was okay. I paddled into a couple and I got up on a couple. There were these two French dudes out there who were nearly as kooky as me, and one even gave me a thumbs up when I got a short ride. That was a first and I couldn't stop grinning because it was so goofy.

So redemption crossed off the list, at least for now, It was time for lunch and another first. I'd been hearing so much good about Kris Yenbamroong's Night + Market, both the original in West Hollywood, and the newer outpost in Silver Lake, Night + Market Song. We love Thai food, but somehow we just haven't made it yet for dinner. But recently I read Song was doing a lunch service so I figured it was a good time to check it out. So I headed east on Sunset. I found a space to park pretty much right in front of the place so that was a good omen, no? Night + Market Song is a cool space -- bright kicky colors on the walls and flowered oilcloths on the tables sort of reminded me of the basements and rec rooms of my suburban youth but I mean that in a good way! Somewhere I had seen a picture of the Thai fried chicken sandwich, and that was what I had my eye on. So I ordered it, and here it is--

Not only was I told I was lucky because I got the last fried chicken sandwich of the day, but also it was huge!  Indeed it was. Also, it was amazingly delicious.The crust was thin but really, really crisp. There was a good amount of spice, but also some sweetness, and a lot of cilantro, which I love. This clearly has to be up there with the best fried chicken sandwiches in town. I definitely want to go back because there was more on the lunch menu to sample, or maybe we'll hit it up at dinner, though I hear it can be pretty busy. Anyway, if you find yourself in Silver Lake, and you're hungry, go!

For more info:

www.nightmarketsong.com

This Dude, El Porto, And What Took Me So Long?!

I first heard about El Porto from This Dude who was trying to teach me to surf. And I do mean trying. This Dude went to great pains to get me to overcome all my fears and phobias. He really did. But I'm not sure if he knew what he was up against because these fears and phobias were deeply ingrained. Eventually, he got so frustrated with my painfully slow -- and often just plain demented -- progress that ultimately we parted ways as teacher and student. I think we're still friends, though. I've made some progress since then -- not a whole lot, but baby steps! I think I neglected to factor in my control-freak factor. When I wasn't in control of the process I could not get it together, but when I can control it, I seem to do a bit better. Also, I have this eager-to-please mentality -- I so wanted to do good for the teacher, I'd choke. But most important of all, This Dude did one essential thing for me -- he recognized that I needed to ditch the board and go back to just basic ocean swimming skills. For several sessions we just went out in the water, and he showed me I could negotiate waves without panic; he made me see there was not so much to fear. This helped me enormously. In fact I think it was the single most important lesson I learned. In retrospect it's how I should have started this surf odyssey. He wasn't in charge then, though. But by helping me with wave management he's given me the courage to just get out there and do what I can on my own. This was a real gift. I will forever be grateful because I love getting out there, even if I'm still nowhere near the surfer I am in my head, and it may take years to get even close. By the way, if some day way off in the future I can be just a tiny infinitesimal fraction of the surfer that This Dude is, I will be happy. This Dude is amazing to watch. He makes it all look easy and elegant.

Oh side note: This Dude also had a great appetite, although who wouldn't after a few hours of giving surf lessons, huh? It was fun bringing snacks for the teacher, for someone who appreciated them. Anyway, I knew This Dude surfed El Porto from time to time, and when I first signed on to Surfline, the El Porto cam is what came up on my screen. (another side note: what's the deal with the surf spot called Shit Pipe?! Anybody?). Then, as I've mentioned, somewhere along the line I stumbled on Osoporto, this cool site run by Jon Berry that features Berry's El Porto-themed artwork, clothing and stickers. If you're into surfy stuff check out the site at www.osoporto.com. Anyway, I got some El Porto gear (stickers and t-shirts), learned a little of the history of this place (once it was on its own as a town, but at some point it was annexed by adjacent Manhattan Beach) and decided it was time for a little trek down to see what it's all about because up until now my surf life has been limited to Malibu (Little Dume where I tried to surf for the first time and Zuma), Santa Monica and Carpinteria, which is a favorite because it's generally so nice and mellow. Oh, another side note: if you see the trippy new Paul Thomas Anderson movie INHERENT VICE, this is pretty much where they shot a lot of it.

So then all I needed was the right conditions. For me, what I've discovered is I do best when waves are 2-3 feet, and it's mid-tide. Or 1-2 feet!  Or sometimes 1-3 is good. So I waited. And waited. And waited a bit more. Here's something else I learned about El Porto -- it's a popular surf spot for a reason: often the waves are bigger and better here than other spots. And we've been having some storm-related swells lately, so every time I've figured on going down to El Porto, the surf has been just too big and I would have been unhappy. But this week some mellower waves were on tap, even at El Porto, so I figured let's do this. Also, of course, I'd need a good place for some post-surf grub. Ososporto guru John Berry mentioned a couple with potential; El Tarasco, and North End Cafe and Simmzy's were included. I did my research on yelp and they all had their pluses, but after the surf I felt like a sandwich so I picked The North End Caffe and decided to go with what you see here, their Cubano:

But first I wanted to get in the water. Let me just say I loved El Porto from the get-go because when I pulled into the lot, I parked next to one of my favorite rides, an old Mercedes Diesel wagon from the 1980's. It was clattering away while I scoped things out and that sound just comforts me because I grew up with diesels. Anyway, here's a couple of pics:

Those smoke stacks in the picture just above you can see from Santa Monica and sometimes even from Malibu, but I've never seen them from this side so that was interesting, the change in perspective. In that third pic too is that old red Merc wagon chugging away with a dude inside just looking out at the sea. What's cool about Porto as well are the big ships you can see waiting, I guess, to get into the port at Long Beach. So how was the session? Okay, well, the reports said 1-2 feet, with occasional larger sets coming in. Now keep in mind, I've never been here, so I needed to sort of orient myself and get my bearings. That's a nice of saying I kind of sucked. The good news: I noticed a spot that wasn't too crowded and I paddled right out into the line-up with out a problem. I paddled into a couple of smaller waves but kind of missed them. Then a couple of definitely bigger sets rolled through, and quite frankly these waves had some power to them and I got kind of spooked. I ended up boogie-boarding back to shore on a smaller wave and decided that was okay for a first effort in a new place. Definitely want to come back on another mellow day.

So then it was on to lunch. I headed up to Highland Avenue, which is a bustling little strip with a lot of shops and restaurants. It's different from, say, Malibu, because it feels like a real town with a real main drag. Yep, I could live here. Like I said, I hit up North End Caffe  (www.northendcaffe.net) and I got the Cubano. By the way, for a longer post on the Cuban Sandwich see this blog's post from 8/9/2014!  The Cubano was pretty good. I'd have left it a bit longer in the press so the cheese got a bit more melty but the pork and ham were tasty, and the baguette was nice and crisp the way it should be. Lunch came to about 15 bucks. Not bad if you consider I was sitting outside, on a nice warm day in January, a block or so from the beach. But I have my eyes on the crispy tacos from El Tarasco too. So a return to El Porto is a must.

First There Were Very Small, Very Mellow Waves. Then Came Enchurritos!

Around the holidays Southern California got pounded by some storms that brought really big surf and some really choppy seas. That was good for the big boys and girls, of course, but I mostly stayed out of the water, except for some swim time. Then things mellowed out. We took the beagles up to Malibu last Sunday for a walk and I had a good session at Zuma. Then things got even mellower.  I'm talking waves that were almost even too small for me, and I like small waves! But I consider any time in the water good, and even just getting out there and paddling around is excellent exercise, right?  So the last two sessions have been small and fun, and to celebrate I decided to make the Veggie enchurritos you see here:

You know what an enchurrito is, don't you? Well, in case you're not familiar with this concoction, it's sort of a cross between an enchilada and a burrito. Think of it as burrito bathed in enchilada sauce. Sometimes you seem them on menus as 'Wet' burritos. Kogi has one of those, but I think it's a special. I know I had it once, and like everything else Kogi, it rocked.

I made veggie enchurritos, with a zucchini and black bean filling. This is a pretty healthy post-surf meal because not only is it meatless, but it's loaded with protein. Okay it's also kind of loaded with cheese, but you burned off a lot of calories in the water, didn't you? The inspiration for this recipe was an article that appeared in Saveur Magazine several years ago that was all about Tex-Mex eats in San Antonio, delicious things like puffy tacos and nachos loaded up with cheese. That recipe was for beef enchurritos, but I've done them with chicken too. I've played around with this recipe a lot to come up with a vegetarian version and so that's what I'm going to give you here.

Black Bean and Zucchini Enchurritos
(recipe adapted from Saveur Magazine)
Serves 3-4

For the filling:

2 tbsps. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large or 2 small zucchini, diced
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 tablespoon flour
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup water
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Add diced onion, green pepper and garlic. Saute until soft and beginning to brown, about five minutes. Stir in the diced zucchini. Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper. Cover, and cook until zucchini begins to soften, about another five to seven minutes. Then uncover and let the vegetables begin to brown.
2. Stir in the black beans. Saute a minute or two, then stir in the garlic powder and cumin. Cook another minute or so, then sprinkle on the flour. Cook, stirring, another two minutes. Add the tomato sauce and water.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, covered, ten minutes, until the zucchini is soft but still holds its shape. Uncover and continue to simmer, until the filling thickens, about another five or so minutes.

For the sauce:

3 tbsps. vegetable oil

3 tbsps. flour

1 1/4 tsps. ground cumin

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. tomato paste

salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until flour begins to brown, about five minutes (be careful not to let flour burn). Add cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste. Gradually stir in 2 1/2 cups water and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until thick, about 20 minutes.  Set sauce aside and keep warm

For assembling the enchurritos

3-4 large flour tortillas

1 cup grated cheddar cheese, more if you like

Sour cream

Chopped cilantro, optional

1. Soften tortillas by placing over a low flame briefly on each side. Then lay 1 tortilla on a work surface. Put a heaping cup of filling in the center. Fold left and right edges of tortilla over filling by 2 inches, then roll up tortilla, starting with the edge closest to you, completely encasing filling.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Divide burritos between plates. Cover with sauce and sprinkle on cheese. Put a dollop of sour cream on top of each enchurrito and throw on some cilantro, if using.

Here's a few of the ingredients gathered.

Yes, that's a can of corn that doesn't appear in the recipe. I realized as I was going along it wasn't needed so just disregard it! Now here are the veggies and black beans at the beginning of their sauté:

And here's the zucchini and black bean filling after the addition of the spices, the flour, the tomato sauce and water, and after it's had the chance to reduce and thicken.

This is the sauce bubbling away:

And what you need to put the enchurritos together:

The finished product you saw above.

So the next time you're torn between having enchiladas and a burrito, think about an enchurrito. You'll be glad you did.