California-Style Carne Asada Burrito

Back when burritos were first introduced to the U.S., they were pretty plain, consisting of nothing more than meat and beans wrapped in flour tortillas. Today, there are numerous burrito types, of which this mashup combines 2 kinds: the California-style burrito, which The Manual explains is made with french fries and carne asada but no rice, and the Chipotle-style burrito, which is stuffed with lots of rice and meat, but no fries. According to recipe developer Michelle McGlinn, her take on a California-style burrito is "a unique fusion" food that "infus[es] a super-stuffed burrito with both carne asada and french fries," as well as rice. It's all good, though, since as she points out, "San Francisco [home of the Mission District] is in California, after all."

If you would like to stay closer to a traditional California-style burrito, McGlinn does say "You don't have to add rice, especially because it lengthens the prep time to prepare a batch." While she says that she herself is a big fan of rice-filled burritos, she admits that "The french fries ... are usually considered a rice substitute, so as not to overdo the carbs."

As you can tell from the lengthy list of ingredients, this isn't going to be one of those quick and easy meals generally recommended for busy weeknights. What it could be, however, is a fun project for a rainy weekend when you feel like puttering around in the kitchen, instead of driving to Chipotle. For the carne asada in these burritos, you'll be using steak that is first marinated in orange and lime juice, along with soy sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper before being cooked in oil. 

You'll also be using cooked rice and french fries as burrito fillers, and you'll need cilantro, tomatoes, red onion, sour cream, and an avocado to make your own condiments. Finally, you'll need some flour tortillas, as these are essential to any burrito. In all, there's a total of 19 ingredients required to make these burritos, but not one of them is particularly hard to come by.

Cook the fries however the package tells you to do so, remembering to preheat the oven first, of course. While the fries are cooking, or even as the oven heats up, mix the juice from the orange and 1 lime with the soy sauce, grated garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Use this mixture to marinate the cubed steak.

As you wait for the meat to marinate, and the fries to cook, you need not stand idle. Instead, mix the chopped tomatoes with ½ of the cilantro, chopped onion, and the juice from ½ of a lime. Taste the pico de gallo, then add as much salt as you feel it needs. Now turn to the rice, mixing it with the juice from 1 whole lime, as well as the remaining cilantro and salt to taste. Finally, mash up the avocado, 2 tablespoons of the sour cream, the juice from the remaining ½ lime, and a bit more salt.

When the fries are done cooking, turn the oven off, take them out, and let them cool. Wrap the burritos in foil, and stick them into the still-warm oven.

As the tortillas warm up in the oven, turn a stove burner to medium, and heat up a heavy frying pan. Pour in the oil, then wait a bit for it to get hot. Finally, add the steak, along with the marinade, and cook it for about 5 minutes, until it gets brown.

Take the tortillas out of the oven, and unwrap them. The first step in burrito building involves divvying up the remaining sour cream, and the avocado mixture between each burrito. After this, add ¼ of the rice to each tortilla, followed by ¼ of the fries (there may be between 5 to 10 of these per burrito if you use standard-sized fries). Spoon the carne asada over the fries, again dividing it equally between each burrito — McGlinn expects there to be about ¼ cup of meat in each burrito. The last thing to go on top will be the pico de gallo, with the expectation that you'll again have about ¼ cup per burrito, although you can always go lighter. There's no exact science to these burritos, with McGlinn saying you can "make them your own however you wish."

Once the burritos are filled, wrap them up tightly in the tortillas. If you don't have the ability to unhinge your jaw like a snake, you may also want to cut these whoppers in half before you eat them. If you want that whole Chipotle look, and you're not planning to eat the burritos right away, you can even wrap them in foil. Foil wrappers will help to protect the ones you plan to refrigerate. While leftover burritos should stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week, McGlinn tells us "I don't recommend freezing [them] because of the avocado and the sour cream."