Food Ideas: Desayuno Mexicano - Mexican Breakfast

Huevos a la mexicana con frijoles

I love breakfast food. Perfectly crispy hashbrowns, smoky bacon, fresh eggs… mmm. Or French toast or pancakes with maple syrup, also mmm… While I sometimes have a hankering for an American breakfast that I can only satisfy at home here in Puebla (restaurants here just don’t do hashbrowns, French toast, or pancakes well at all), I LOVE a good Mexican breakfast. Breakfast dishes here in central Mexico are essentially a dozen different ways to combine eggs, tortillas, and salsas with a side of delicious beans.

You don’t really need a recipe for most of these, so what I figured I would do is run through a list of some of my favorites just to give you ideas for a weekend breakfast or even a midnight snack. If you have some salsa on hand (hopefully that you made yourself!), eggs, and tortillas (corn or flour), you’re already more than halfway there. Be aware that the amount of salsa in a Mexican breakfast can be high. Even if you keep it mild, it’s still a lot of acid. Can be a bit much if you’re not used to it, but once you get used to it, you will crave it in the morning. So here it goes. Pick your favorite, put your spin on it, make sure you have some beans on the side, and enjoy!

Here are a few different versions of scrambled eggs:

Huevos a la mexicana: These are scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, and chile (usually Serrano or jalapeño) to reflect the colors of the Mexican flag. Restaurants sometimes just toss some pico de gallo in scrambled eggs and call it good. I prefer the way my mother-in-law makes them (she doesn’t cook much, but her huevos a la mexicana are perfect). Basically, the key is to cook the tomato like crazy and use a fair amount, one roma tomato per egg. Heat some oil, add the chopped tomato with a little onion, and sautee it over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes, or until the tomato starts to brown. Add as much or as little diced chile as you like, cook for a minute, then add your beaten eggs and cook however you like ‘em. With the tomatoes almost caramelized, you end up with sweet and spicy. Perfect.

Huevos con tocino, jamón o chorizo: Fry up either a little chopped bacon, ham, or chorizo, then throw your beaten egg in and scramble. Great on a warm flour tortilla with a little Tabasco sauce.

Huevos al albañil: Heat up either green or red salsa, scramble your eggs, then dump them into the hot salsa. They should be thoroughly bathed in the salsa.

Here are a few different versions of eggs sunny-side up or over-easy:

Huevos rancheros: Red salsa is the most traditional for this, but if you have green, go for it. Heat a little oil in a pan, quickly fry two tortillas (corn or flour), set them aside, and then cook your eggs as desired. Place one egg on top of each tortilla, then pour warmed salsa over the top. If you have it, add a little shredded cheese or cream. You can also add a slice of ham in between the tortilla and the egg. Classic.

Huevos divorciados: You need green and red salsa for this one. Basically, make huevos rancheros, but bathe one egg in green and the other in red. Makes for a slick presentation.

Huevo estrellado: If you’re not in the mood for a lot of salsa, just fry up your tortilla(s) and put your fried egg on top. It’s a nice alternative to toast.

And one of my all-time favorites at home or at a restaurant…

Chilaquiles: For chilaquiles, you need a far amount of either red or green salsa, and you need to make your own tortilla chips from corn tortillas (If you buy them, make sure they are chips made from actual tortillas and not flavored in any way. This dish won’t work with your run-of-the-mill commercial tortilla chips. They would fall apart and be too salty.). It’s really easy and a great use of stale tortillas. Cut them into little triangles (8 per tortilla) and fry them in batches in hot oil, draining them on paper as you remove them. Once your chips are ready, slice a little onion (1/4 of an onion or so), heat a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan, fry the onion for a couple minutes, then dump in the salsa. Heat the salsa for a couple minutes, then add the chips to the pan and toss to coat. Once they are evenly coated and just starting to become a little more pliable, take them off the heat, plat them, and top with shredded cheese (cotija is excellent), sour cream, raw onion if you like, and avocado if you have it on hand. To really send this dish over the top, you can add a protein, like shredded chicken, a couple of fried eggs, or even a piece of skirt steak. Yeah, that's good.

Recipe: Enfrijoladas

I plan on adding more basic recipes (rice is on its way, just needs a little testing), but for now, let´s start looking at ways to use what I just posted on Monday and Tuesday. I also promise to take some pictures soon. I just haven´t made some of this stuff recently. As soon as I take them, I will add them to the posts. After all, you eat with your eyes first! For now...

Now that you know how to make beans, here is a staple of our household. Enfrijoladas (En-free-hoe-lah-dahs) are common all over Mexico. Usually in restaurants, the tortillas are filled with shredded chicken, and the beans are turned into a thick sauce, sometimes with a little aniseed added in. It´s really good that way, but this version is a Bautista (Maru´s family) breakfast, lunch, or dinner special. It´s quick (with the beans already made, it will be ready in about 10 minutes), versatile (you can change the filling to suit your taste, and you can top it with whatever veggies you might have on hand), cheap, and hearty. Two tortillas is usually good for both Maru and me (I usually put more beans on my plate). If you´re a big eater, you could do three or even four. Whatever floats your boat, as they say.

Enfrijoladas (Vegetarian)

(Ingredients listed are for two servings. Increase or decrease at your leisure.)

4 tortillas (corn or flour, your preference)

1 beaten egg

2 cups prepared beans with their broth, heated piping hot

Salt to taste

1 Tablespoon veggie oil (you´ll probably need less than this)

Optional toppings:

• Diced or shredded cheese (any mild melting cheese is good)
• Diced tomatoes
• Sour cream or yogurt
• Hot sauce or homemade salsa
• Chopped cilantro
• Sliced avocado

Heat about a teaspoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot, begin lightly frying the tortillas one by one for about twenty seconds on each side. They should still be pliable, you´re not making tostadas. Add more oil as needed. (If you want to skip the oil and go for a lower fat version, you can. Just heat up the tortillas until they are soft. The difference is that they will fall apart more once you finish the dish. Frying them gives them a little more body.) Set the fried tortillas aside.

Add a pinch of salt to the egg, and then pour it into the pan and cook yourself a scrambled egg. Divide it into four equal portions. Use the portions to make rolled tacos with your tortillas. Place two tacos in a dish (a large soup bowl works great). Pour about a cup of beans with broth over the tacos. Salt to taste, add desired toppings, and enjoy!

If you want to use cheese, I recommend putting it on top of the tacos before pouring on the beans so that the heat from the beans will melt it.

Recipe: Spanish Tortilla

There are many different versions of eggs with filling out there: quiche, omelettes, frittatas, etc. One that I particularly like that is easy and also relatively quick is the Spanish tortilla. It´s not so quick that you could make yourself one before work, but start to finish, it only takes about 30 minutes and is a great, basic weekend breakfast, and you could even fancy it up a bit for a brunch with some guests. It´s also popular in our house, because we almost always have the basic ingredients on hand to make it. Here is the basic version. The one tool that is very handy is a good-quality non-stick skillet. I have a little Calphalon guy that I love for this kind of thing.

Spanish Tortilla with potatoes and onion (Vegetarian)

• 4 large eggs
• About 1 ½ cups of very thinly sliced potato (you could use any kind, but a nice, waxy one like a Yukon Gold is particularly good)
• ½ of an onion, very thinly sliced
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, and then add the potatoes. Toss them in order to get an even coating of oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over them. They should cook until they are just getting soft, about 5 minutes. Stir them every minute or so.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a separate bowl. If you want your tortilla to be really fluffy, you can add a tablespoon of milk. Season the beaten eggs with salt and pepper. At this point, you could also add fresh or dried herbs to the eggs like oregano, parsley, or even rosemary for a distinct flavor.

Once the potatoes are all glistening and beginning to soften, add the onions and another pinch of salt. Continue to cook the potatoes and onions for another 3-5 minutes, until the onions are very soft and just beginning to brown. Another way to tell if the mixture is ready is to just try a piece of potato. It should be slightly al dente, but totally edible. The potatoes will soften a little more with the eggs, but not much.

With the potatoes and onions ready, spread them evenly in the pan, and then pour in the beaten eggs. Tilt the pan so that the eggs spread evenly. Put a tight-fitting lid on the pan, turn the heat down to low, and let the tortilla cook for 10-15 minutes without removing the lid. When it is almost done, it will start to puff up a little bit. You can tell that it´s ready, because all of the egg on top will be set. You can also do a knife test; insert a knife, and if it comes out clean (like with baked goods), your tortilla is done.

Note: I have seen recipes and also witnessed the technique of flipping the tortilla when it´s about halfway done in order to cook the top. A good pan with a lid over low heat negates the need to attempt this somewhat difficult feat.

Plating: If it´s just you and your partner, you can just slice the

tortilla right in the pan and put a portion on each person´s plate. If you want to actually present it, you should invert it, which is much easier than it sounds. Just cover the tortilla with a plate, grab the whole thing with potholders and invert it onto the counter top. Gently shake and lift the pan, and your tortilla should come out perfectly. It makes for a gorgeous presentation.

For an everyday dish, serve it with some hot sauce or ketchup (homemade is the way to go! Recipe to come soon.). For something a little more elegant, you could serve it with sliced tomatoes, a pico de gallo, a small green salad, or even a fruit salsa (maybe diced avocado and mango!).

As far as fillings go, the sky is the limit. If you go to a Spanish restaurant or tapas bar, you´ll see tortillas with cheese, seafood, jamón Serrano, other vegetables, you name it. The same basic principal would apply in your home kitchen. What I particularly like about this recipe is how the potatoes come out. They are sliced so thinly that they cook quickly and have a great texture with the egg. Use what you got! A tortilla can also be a great way to use up that half a bell pepper or extra zucchini you have sitting in your crisper drawer.