Oven-fried flautas

When I saw Pam’s (of For the Love of Cooking) post of baked flautas I made immediate plans to get them on my table. Last night was my opportunity. I was looking for a way to use up some turkey breakfast sausage we had gotten in the manager’s special bin at Safeway. This was perfect. Of course by using sausage and smoked cheddar I wasn’t exactly being authentic, but I did make (from scratch) tomatillo salsa and guacamole as garnishes. Doesn’t that count for something?

Pam called for you to turn the little “flutes” after 8 or so minutes in the oven. As soon as I did that they started to open up (I hadn’t fastened them with toothpicks). So I left them seam side down for the remaining few minutes of baking. They turned out fine, more than fine actually. Peter made us a side salad of garden fresh arugula and cherry tomatoes. It was a swell meal.

The tube of turkey sausage was a full pound. I knew I didn’t need it all but cooked it all anyhow because it had bumped up against it’s “best if used by…” date. The good news is that we have enough of everything to repeat the meal tonight.

My salsa and guac are deliberately very simple. I like a lot of lime flavor in the guac. I didn’t make either of these spicy at all, just nice, nice, nice. You could certainly use a good jar of Mexican salsa, but they don’t put guacamole in cans – you’ll have to make it yourself. It’s easy.

Flautas (with a nod to Pam) (makes 6)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz. turkey sausage
1 cup grated cheese (any kind you like, we used smoked cheddar)
flour tortillas
cooking spray

Heat the oil over medium in a large skillet. Add the sausage and sauté until no longer pink, breaking the sausage up gradually as it cooks. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking pan with cooking spray. Assemble the flautas by putting cheese and turkey on each tortilla (not quite in the center, closer to you). Roll them up tightly, tucking the filling under. Spray all over with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 minutes until crisp and hot throughout. Serve with salsa and guacamole.

Tomatillo salsa
1 tbsp vegetable oil
¼ large onion, diced
4 tomatillos, diced
½ jalapeno, seeded and diced
garlic powder
salt and pepper
½ cup chicken stock

Heat the oil in a sauce pan or sauté pan. Add onion, tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic powder and salt and pepper (all 3 to taste). Saute, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes until everything is softened. Add chicken stock and simmer over very low heat until all of the liquid is gone. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Guacamole
2 avocados
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chile powder
½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Peel the avocados and dice them into a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mash the whole thing up. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.