It was St. Patrick's Day yesterday and I'm still feeling green. I suspect that the feeling may stick around for another week, or at least until I run out of all of the spinach-tinted ingredients that I have leftover! Today, I am absolutely cracking into the Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach. "Tartar sauce" is a bit of a misnomer. I used Greek yogurt, instead of mayonnaise. The pickles are still incorporated, but are really the only thing that still resembles tartar sauce. In which case, it's really more tzatziki with pickles, instead of cucumbers, than it really is true tartar. Either way, it's a festive green color with puréed spinach and an incredibly fun addition to this spinach burrito. I oftentimes use Greek yogurt dip, rather than sour cream because it tends to be healthier and it goes with a wider variety of flavor profiles. I wouldn't have necessarily thought that it would go with a Japanese-inspired rice with tamari and Chinese rice wine rice? But it turns out that Greek yogurt really is fantastic with everything!
Gallery
Variations of Spinach Burrito
I am quite a big fan of spinach. Sautéed, puréed, baked into a pie and then wrapped in a tortilla shell. There likely isn't anything that I wouldn't put spinach in and turn into a burrito! Spinach is a fun ingredient to work with. It's a mild, slightly sweet leafy green that isn't quite as obtrusive as other more bitter greens, like kale, mustard, or cabbage. Spinach, particularly fresh rather than frozen spinach, also tends to hold onto less water than other lettuces, like romaine, iceburg, or bok choy. This makes spinach fairly easy to work with in a wide variety of dishes with different flavor profiles.
Cook Brown Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Rice Wine. This takes about an hour and requires a rice cooker or stove. You can also easily create a different flavor profile or utilize the produce that you have on hand. I almost always keep a batch of rice or quinoa in the fridge for exactly this purpose.
I also made Green Tartar Sauce w/ Greek Yogurt & Spinach for this dish. It takes about 15 minutes to toss together and is a great alternative for Mayonnaise-free tartar sauce or even just a spinach dip for any occasion.
Cook Tortilla
Preheat the pan on medium-high. If you aren't using cast iron, make sure to lightly oil the pan to prevent sticking.
Wet both sides of the tortilla and add to the preheated pan. Cook for 4-6 minutes, or until the bottom begins to brown.
Remove the tortilla from heat and turn the stove off. Add 1/3 cup quinoa and 1/4 cup sautéed spinach to the burrito and fold. Wrap it slightly less tightly than you ordinarily would in order to leave room for the egg later on.We're also intentionally holding off on the egg! It will need to be cooked after the tortilla is prepared so that the egg doesn't completely set and remains runny.
Turn the stove back up to medium and add the tortilla to the skillet immediately, before it preheats. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until the bottom begins to brown. Rotate until all sides are cooked.The first side will likely take longer to cook than the subsequent sides, which may toast in as little as 2 minutes. Adjust the temperature if it's cooking too quickly and burning or too slowly and cracking.
Remove from heat and set aside. It's best to cover so that it doesn't cool off to quickly. But this isn't entirely necessary.
Cook Eggs
Leave the skillet on medium heat and add oil.I use a pretty well seasoned cast iron pan to cook eggs, so I don't add any more than a spritz of oil. You may need upwards of a teaspoon for other types of pans, though. Use just enough so that your eggs don't stick!
Crack egg into the pan.It should be hot enough that the egg sizzles, but doesn't deep fry or brown immediately.
Let cook until golden brown on the bottom and you can flip the egg with ease. The whites should be fairly set on both sides, but not completely cooked.You want to cook this relatively quickly so that the egg yolk doesn't set, though. It should take about a minute or two. Turn the heat up if the egg whites don't cook quickly enough or down if the egg yolk starts to cook. Also immediately flip if this happens!
Flip and turn off the stove. Cook for another 30 seconds, or until the egg white is completely cooked. It should already be mostly set and this should take no time at all!
Immediately remove the egg from heat.
Complete Burrito
Carefully unwrap the burrito slightly and place the egg inside. Rewrap the burrito and squeeze slightly so that the egg begins to run.You don't have to break the yolk, but it will continue to cook inside of the warm burrito shell. So, if you don't, you might not get that runny egg! This will also be kind of messy and I recommend eating over a plate or wrapped in parchment paper or food storage wraps. I have a set of reusable beeswax wraps for this.
Top with Greek yogurt and hot sauce of choice. Omit or substitute with a vegan alternative for an entirely animal-product free recipe.
Serve immediately. Before the egg cooks!
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
For a more in-depth article on burritos, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Making Burritos. I highly suggest using cast iron and there is precise temperature that works best for cooking at that may vary slightly depending on your stovetop and type of skillet. If you're having trouble rolling the burrito without cracking, there are solutions for this as well!
This Page Contains Edited Images
As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images:
Leave a Reply