(c) Claire O'Neill @ breakfasts.tumblr.com
My mom’s longtime boyfriend, Daniel, is from Mexico and just so happens to be a fabulous home cook. My mom is always raving about his culinary expertise (about his delicious tortas, refried beans, chilaquiles, mole, etc.), so finally, I told my mom — you know what? Just give me his e-mail address and let me get some recipes from him!
This recipe for chilaquiles — a breakfast dish with eggs, queso fresco and a tomatillo sauce over fried tortillas – was one of the first recipes he gave me (that’s right — there are more. And once I try them out, I’ll be sure to post them up here). I did everything the recipe told me to do, but of course, being that we’re in Washington, D.C., and the ingredient selection here sucks, there were a few major roadblocks.
Instead of tomatillos for the sauce, I used green chilies. I was sure they’d have the same flavor composition, but I was dead wrong. And of course, I didn’t have queso fresco so I used shredded Cheddar cheese (I know, I know…you can crucify me later!). We also forgot to put cilantro on top — eek!
Either way, the dish was beautiful. Everything had a subtle flavor and the texture of the fried tortillas underneath were a welcome surprise. Try it with a bit of sriracha on top, too. Daniel suggests to serve this alongside refried beans and a nice cold cerveza.
Good luck — hopefully your chilaquiles will be a bit more successful than mine. And for more delicious breakfasts, go to my roommate’s blog (she took this photo), http://breakfasts.tumblr.com.
Recipe:
8 tortillas, cut into 1-1 1/2 in squares, fried in oil. Set on napkins to remove grease
1 lb tomatillos
half an onion
2-3 jalapeno peppers
4 c water
salt
8 eggs, scrambled
queso fresco (a kind of crumbly Mexican cheese)
cilantro
Boil the tomatillos, onion, peppers and water together for about 25 minutes on high heat. Ladle into the blender and blend until smooth. Add salt to taste. Pour in a bowl and set aside. To assemble the dish, lay a few squares of fried tortilla down, pour some green sauce on it, a generous heaping of eggs, and sprinkle queso fresco on top. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with refried beans and beer.
Serves 4
4 Comments
January 11, 2010 at 7:31 pm
That sounds good, like a huevos rancheros only verde. I plan on making tacos tonight with salsa verde, I think I might make extra salsa and try this out. One thing I do different for my salsa verde is instead of boiling, I put the jalepenos and tomatillas on a sheet pan, with a clove of garlic and half an onion, toss it in olive oil, then broil it, then I puree……it’s pretty good (not that the above recipe wouldn’t be good either, just how I like to do it)
January 12, 2010 at 1:05 am
Malaka,
This sounds so delicious! I’m making it this weekend. Done.
January 13, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Couldn’t find tomatillos? Didn’t you see Iron Chef D.C.? Trot on over to your friendly presidential neighbors and snag some from their garden.
January 13, 2010 at 7:28 pm
AGM: You can substitute tomatoes in for tomatillos. Also, i didnt watch that episode. was it good?