Cook the Book: Eggs-Any-Style Chilaquiles
Eggs-any-style chilaquiles is perhaps the quintessential Almost Meatless recipe, embodying almost everything authors Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond stand for—in the kitchen, at least.
It makes the most of eggs as an inexpensive protein source; it's suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner; it's customizable (you can cook the eggs any way you like, and you can toast the tortillas in the oven if you don't feel like frying them), and jalapeños, garlic, and shallots provide the bold flavor often lacking in meatless dishes.
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Chilaquiles
- serves 4 -
Adapted from Almost Meatless by Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond
Ingredients
Red sauce
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1 medium jalapeño, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 small shallot, coarsely chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups dried black beans, cooked, or 1 (15-ounce) can, drained and rinsed
Chilaquiles
1 cup vegetable oil
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Salt
4 to 8 eggs
1 cup crumbled queso fresco or Cotija cheese
1/2 cup crema or sour cream
Procedure
1. To make the sauce, put the tomatoes, jalapeño, shallot, and garlic in a blender and process until smooth. Heat the btuter in a saute pan over medium heat. Pour the blended mixture into the pan, stir in the black beans, and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes.
2. To prepare the chilaquiles, heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a deep pot or Dutch oven. Gently lower one or two tortillas into the hot oil with a pair of metal tongs and fry for about 1 minute on each side, until golden. Remove from the oil and transfer to a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. (Note: If you would prefer not to fry them, the tortillas can be toasted in a 375-degree F oven for 10-15 minutes.)
3. Prepare the eggs to order for each serving. Place a tortilla on a plate, ladle about 1/4 cup of the sauce on top, sprinkle with cheese, and add a dollop of crema. Stack a second tortilla on top of that layer, creating another in the same manner. Top with an egg and serve.
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2 Comments:
Chilaquiles can be prepared so many different ways. I've grown up with them and the preperation is so varied from family to family. We cut up fresh corn tortillas and toast them up in a pan and then add the eggs and other ingredients. I've seen people use tortilla chips but I've never cared for that. I like tons of onions in mine and like to add leftover veg or meat to the mix for variety.
The basic idea is crunchy tortillas, eggs, sauce and cheese. I think it's one of those recipes (like lasagna or mac n cheese) that you make your own special way.
Marls Barkley at 5:21PM on 02/16/09
This sounds more like huevos rancheros which invariably has a red (ranchero) sauce and whole tortillas either fried or fresh. Almost all of the chilaquiles I have been served have a salsa verde and they have all had cut up tortillas. It seems to be a good way to use the left over homemade tortillas from the previous day.
ophelea at 9:37PM on 02/16/09