I once went to visit a boyfriend of mine in New York. It was probably, no, actually, definitely, the worst holiday I’ve ever had.
I won’t go into details. Other than to tell you one story from my time there. He told me he was taking me out for supper. Of all the amazing places New York has to offer, you can imagine, I was pretty excited. I got all glammed up, well I had a shower and brushed my hair, but you know what I mean. I was eager with anticipation as to what super snazzy restaurant we would be going to. I actually wasn’t hoping for super snazzy, I wanted cool and trendy. Like me. In my dreams.
Anyway, to cut a long story short. We arrived, and far from a swanky maitre’d arriving to show us to our candle lit table for two, we queued up at a fast food counter. He took me to Chipotle. He had mentioned the name but being English I had put a fancy English/french accent on the name that made it sound like Chipot-lay. That is not how it’s pronounced. It’s Chipotle. Like bottle.
It’s the joint that brought the burrito into Americas fast food repertoire.
Right, now don’t get me wrong, I love burritos. As much as the next person, probably more so. But Chipotle is kind of on a par with Maccy D’s. So this was not exactly the kind of place I envisaged for the romantic night of proverbially being swept off my feet.
But, I guess it did introduce me to the joys of the burrito bowl. There is always a silver lining. In hind sight, Chipotle was the highlight of my trip.
The burrito bowl is a magical thing. All the delicious-ness of a burrito, without it being swaddled together into a little burrito baby which you get the feeling would make quite a considerable ‘thud’ if you dropped it on the table. Which of course you can do, because it’s a burrito baby and not a real one.
A burrito bowl such as this is a lovely thing to make for friends when they come over for supper, and somehow feels much more appropriate to serve, than an actual burrito, which lets be honest, is just a fancy hot sandwich.
Burrito bowls have that great dinner party element where people can assemble their own which is fun. And they are amazing to make as the host, as it’s very stress-free entertaining! A winning combination.
These gorgeous little bowls are filled with mexican spiced roasted chicken thighs, warm garlicky black beans, creamy avocado and tomato and sweetcorn. This is all accompanied by quinoa, cool crunchy salad, a sprinkling of cheese and a dash of hot sauce if you like. Oh my, I want to eat this right now!
So to prepare enough for 4 people to make burrito bowls you will need:
- 6 chicken thighs, skin on (you might have some left over, but you will want to make yourself some for lunch the next day...trust me)
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- Glug of olive oil
- pinch of salt
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Simply, cut the thigh bone out of the things using a pair of scissors.
- Pop everything in a bowl to marinate for an hour, or overnight if you can. Then when ready pop them in a hot oven at 200C for about 25 mins until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is gorgeously crispy.
- Slice into strips and pop into a bowl.
- Top Tip: You can cook them as soon as your guests arrive and when they're cooked, just take out of the oven and cover with tin foil until you are ready. They will sit happily for at least half an hour like this, no stress.
For the avocado cream - click on this and it will tell you exactly how to make it, it's so easy! 1 tin of sweet corn 500g cooked quinoa 4 tomatoes, peeled and diced sprinkling of torn coriander leaves
- 2 cans of cooked black beans
- 2 cloves garlic
- glug of olive oil
- (These are one of my absolute favourite things to make and eat at the moment. So completely delicious) All you have to do is heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the garlic and let it cook for a minute. Be careful not to let it burn as burnt garlic does not taste good.
- Then drain your cooked beans and pop them into the pan. Give it all a good stir to coat the beans in the garlicky goodness.
- Season with some salt. And they're done!
Right, so now you’ve done everything! Simply lay it all out and make sure you give people good sized bowls which they can pile high with goodies. Don’t forget the hot sauce!
We followed ours with my gluten-free chocolate and ginger slump cake for a complete guilt-free decadent feast.
This was first published on Jul 18, 2014, but I’ve reshot the photos for you to give it a new and improved look. Hope you like it!
x
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