Flautas with sweet potato grated into the beef

Name: Flautas with sweet potato grated into the beef
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 sweet potatoes; 1 lb ground beef, 80 percent lean; 1 ½ tsp ground cumin; 1 ½ tsp chili powder; 1 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp onion powder; 12 flour tortillas, 8-inch; 1 cup sharp cheddar, grated; ½ iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced; 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt; 1 tsp lime juice; olive oil, salt

Not deep fried. Sprayed with oil and baked until the shell goes properly to pieces when you bite it.

At a Glance

Time

45 min

Adjust servings

Story

Grating the sweet potato rather than dicing it is the whole thing. Grated, it disappears into the beef in four minutes and binds the filling; diced, it needs twenty and stays a separate lump you bite into. It is also how two whole sweet potatoes vanish into something nobody would call vegetal.

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes
1 lb ground beef80 percent lean
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
12 flour tortillas8-inch
1 cup sharp cheddargrated
½ iceberg lettucethinly sliced
1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
1 tsp lime juice
olive oilsalt

Method

Caroline Chambers bakes these instead of deep frying them. The shell will not be quite as violent as a fried one but it still shatters, and nobody has had to fill a pan with hot oil on a weeknight.

Roll them tight and lay them seam side down. A loose flauta unrolls in the oven and becomes a small disappointment on a tray.

Heat the oven to 400°F and line a rimmed tray with parchment.
Peel the sweet potatoes and grate them on the largest holes of a box grater.
Cook the beef in a large skillet over medium-high, breaking it into tiny crumbles, 3 minutes, until some fat has rendered. Add the grated sweet potato, 1¾ teaspoons salt, the cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Cook, stirring often, 4 to 5 minutes, until the potato is tender. Stir in 2 tablespoons of water for the last minute.
Warm the stacked tortillas a few seconds, however you like, until they bend without cracking. Fill each down the middle with the beef, sprinkle on the cheese, roll tightly and set them seam side down on the tray.
Spray or brush them all over with oil and bake 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp and browned.
Stir the yogurt with the lime juice, the remaining cumin and a pinch of salt. Flautas out, sliced lettuce piled over the lot, the creamy chili sauce dolloped on top. Eat the whole mess with a fork and knife.