Budget-friendly dinner recipe: Cheesy beef and sweet potato flautas, plus a zesty lemon cake
Cookbook author Caroline Chambers is back with a delicious and easy weeknight dinner that won't break your budget.
The online food creator and professional recipe developer joined "Good Morning America" on Thursday to throw her hat in the dish for a $20 Dinner Challenge.
Chambers, who recently published "What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking," shared a simple spin on a Mexican favorite -- flautas, rolled tortillas typically served with fillings like beef, chicken or cheese and shallow-fried.
Chambers' recipe includes a sweet starch that she makes the star of the dish, plus it helps cut down on the cost.
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Cheesy Beef and Sweet Potato Flautas
Makes: 12 flautas
"I love sweet potatoes cooked in savory ways. Here, we shred them and cook them with ground beef and lots of warm spices to create a tender, superflavorful flauta filling. Flautas are traditionally fried, but we aren't busting out the deep fryer with this recipe; we're simply spraying them with some cooking oil and baking until the shell becomes shatteringly crisp. I always make some sort of dip -- mashed avocado, or a creamy dip made from yogurt or sour cream -- and that's the entire meal."
Ingredients
1 pound sweet potatoes
1 pound 80/20 ground beef
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Twelve 8-inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon lime juice or any clear vinegar
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and grate them on the largest holes of a box grater.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, using a wooden spoon or spatula to break it up into tiny crumbles, until a bit of fat renders and collects in the skillet, about 3 minutes. Add the shredded sweet potatoes, salt, 1 teaspoon of the cumin, 1 teaspoon of the chili powder, the paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Cook, stirring often, until the beef is cooked through and the sweet potatoes are tender, 4 to 5 minutes more. Stir in 2 tablespoons water during the final minute.
4. Meanwhile, stack the tortillas and warm them in the microwave for a few seconds until flexible. Fill each tortilla down the center with the beef mixture, then sprinkle on the cheese, dividing it evenly. Roll them up tightly and place them seam side down on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Coat the flautas with cooking spray, then bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until crispy and browned.
6. Meanwhile, thinly slice the lettuce. In a medium bowl, stir together the sour cream, lime juice, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cumin, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, and a pinch of salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
7. Serve the flautas with the sliced lettuce piled on top, dolloped with the creamy chili sauce. Eat the whole mess with a fork and knife.
RIFF: Practically any leftovers can become flautas! Chop up leftover meat and/ or veg, throw some cheese in there, roll it up, and bake.
SWAP: Don't love sweet potatoes made savory? Use russets here instead.
Lemon Cake with Crème Fraîche Frosting
Serves: 9
"This cake is an ode to my son Mattis, who shares my principles for desserts: No nuts are allowed in cookies or brownies; mint chocolate chip ice cream or bust; a good chocolate chip cookie over absolutely everything, but anything lemon is a close second. This extra moist lemon cake with tangy creme fraiche frosting is what Mattis and my dessert dreams are made of."
Ingredients
For the cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large lemons
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces creme fraiche, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3.4-ounce package lemon pudding mix (such as Jell-O)
For the frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces creme fraiche, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
Directions
1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8-inch baking dish (see Riff).
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. Zest the lemons into a large bowl to get 2 tablespoons of zest. Add the granulated sugar and pinch the zest and sugar together until combined. Whisk in the eggs aggressively for 2 minutes; your wrists will be tired, but this will help make the cake fluffy.
4. Whisk in the melted butter and vanilla, then add the creme fraiche and stir until everything is combined.
5. Add the flour in a pile right on top of the wet ingredients, but do not mix yet. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon pudding mix on top of the flour and use your fingers to sift it all together. Stir just to combine; do not overmix. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top.
6. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the top of the cake is golden and feels firm to the touch and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool completely, about 20 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, make the frosting: In a large bowl, stir the butter with a rubber spatula to get it as soft as possible. Do your best to get it really smooth, then stir in the creme fraiche, incorporating it a little bit at a time. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, using a fork to sift it and get out any lumps. This is very important! Now stir it all together, using a spatula to forcefully smooth out any lumps. Stir in the lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
8. Slather the cooled cake with the frosting. Slice into 9 squares and serve.
TIP: Garnish the cake with more lemon zest, if you're feelin' fancy.
LEARN: Save your butter wrappers! They're the perfect thing to use for greasing baking dishes -- just rub the wrapper all over the dish.
RIFF: Make cupcakes instead! Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and scoop batter into the liners to fill them three-quarters of the way. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let them cool completely before frosting.
Reprinted with permission from "What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking" by Caroline Chambers © 2024. Published by Union Square & Co. Photos © Eva Kolenko.
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