The Veggie Thing

Jesse and I started going to the Lake Eden Arts Festival (LEAF) in Black Mountain in 1998, and actually got engaged there in May 2000. We missed a year or two right around the time Jack was born, but resumed the annual pilgrimage thirteen years ago when Jack was almost two, and we have been going with my best friend and her family ever since. LEAF has music, art, kids’ activities, canoeing, paddle boarding, yoga, dancing, various workshops, spectacular people and amazing FOOD!

One of our favorite things to eat at LEAF is The Veggie Thing from the Sugar Shack food truck. The Veggie Thing is relatively simple – a large grilled flour tortilla stuffed with cheese, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, salsa, spring mix, sour cream and Tiger Sauce. It’s the Tiger Sauce – a tomato curry chutney- that makes it truly special. Whole now carries our favorite sauce in their international section – Kerala Curry Tomato Chutney!

Since COVID prevented us from our treasured annual LEAF trip, we decided to make The Veggie Thing at home and enjoy it in front of the chiminea with a few glasses of wine. Followed, of course, by s’mores.

The Veggie Thing (inspired by The Sugar Shack food truck)

Burrito sized flour tortillas

Butter

Shredded Colby Jack cheese

Fresh broccoli florets, chopped into about 1/2 inch pieces

Cole slaw cabbage mix

1 carrot, shredded

Salsa

Sour cream

Spring Mix

Tiger Sauce, or other tomato chutney or hot sauce 

Melt about 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium low heat, and swirl to cover bottom. Place tortilla in skillet to brown. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of cheese over entire tortilla. Mound broccoli and cabbage, carrot and salsa down the middle of the tortilla. Cook until cheese is melty and vegetables are slightly warm. Top with a handful of spring mix, and fold in half. The tortilla should be golden and starting to crisp.

Transfer tortilla to plate and top with sour cream and Tiger Sauce. Repeat.

The only way to eat this concoction is hunched over a plate to catch the drippings, or preferably, hunched over in your festival chair letting the drippings land on the grass.