Give Huevos Rancheros Elevated Status

Huevos Rancheros

Living in Southern California there are certain things that you learn very quickly:

Yes, there are more tenets to Southern California living, but these are 3 of the biggies.

If you’ve ever seen huevos rancheros, you might be surprised that the visual of all that mess can still be eaten by a truly hungover person.  Let’s face it…it’s usually not a very pretty looking dish.  But if I’ve learned nothing about food (and some of my food disasters), sometimes the ugliest looking dishes taste the best.  And that is a truth of huevos rancheros.

Over the holidays, I found myself in the rare position of having to entertain one morning.  The dreaded Brunch.  Based on the crowd I knew that there would be various stages of alcohol recuperation going on…it was the holidays and all.  So I tried to come up with something that would be easy to serve, but not sweet.  We had all had enough sugar and butter to last us another year.  So I thought tangy and spicy and the elevated huevos rancheros was born.

The beauty of this recipe is that it is nearly a make ahead brunch recipe.  The only thing that needs to be made as everyone is ready to eat are the poached eggs.  Okay – stop freaking out about making poached eggs.  I can’t make them either.  But alas, if you are making them in enchilada sauce you can.  It’s genius really.  I got the idea from an Italian dish that poaches eggs in tomato sauce.  Did I say it was genius?  Oh, and instead of using corn tortillas and standing around frying them up…I used puff pastry.  Upscale baby!

Relationship Advice

Because I watched one of my single girlfriends completely miss an obvious pick up attempt by a single guy at our get together, I find it my duty to help others that may be in this boat.  What made this even more humorous was that she was trying to get his attention too.  Most women do not pick up signs very well, and we make fun of the guys for this (we’re just as bad). If a pick up sign was a physical entity it would look something like a woolly mammoth running right past her and she wouldn’t even blink. Stop trying to be so subtle.  Just because it’s something that you and your friend’s “get” don’t assume anyone else will.  Remember: If you are trying too hard to find out what you’re supposed to do, or what you think you are supposed to do, then you are too focused on yourself instead of the signals someone may be sending you.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1/2  of a 17.3-ounce Package Puff Pastry Sheets  (1 sheet), thawed

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated and divided)

1 15 Ounce Can Black Beans (drained)

1 10 Ounce Package Mexican Chorizo (pork)

1/4 Cup Water

1 28 Ounce Can Enchilada Sauce

12 Eggs

1 Cup Salsa Fresca or Salsa

1 Avocado sliced

1 Bunch Cilantro (leaves chopped)

Sour Cream

Directions

Heat the oven to 425°F.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll out pastry into a 16″x12″ rectangle. Cut the pastry sheet into 6 equal rectangles.  Place the pastry rectangles onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of grated cheese evenly onto each rectangle. Leaving a 1/4″ border around edges of pastry rectangles, liberally pierce the pastry with a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Remove the pastry from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Pour enchilada sauce into a large skillet and heat until it comes to a rolling boil.  Then reduce heat to just a simmer.  Keep stirring the sauce while it’s cooking.

One at a time, break each egg into a bowl and gently slide each egg into the sauce.  Cover the skillet and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour black beans into another skillet and roughly mash with potato masher or back of fork. Put over medium heat and add chorizo.  Stir to thoroughly combine the beans and chorizo.  If contents begin to stick to pan, add 1/4 cup water.  Once thoroughly combined, and chorizo is cooked, reduce heat to low to keep warm.

Put 1 pastry rectangle on a plate.  Spoon 2 poached eggs, with enchilada sauce on top of pastry. Serve with black bean chorizo and garnish with salsa, cilantro, sour cream and more cheese.

Technorati Tags: Breakfast Recipes, Easy Cooking, Easy Recipes, Huevos Rancheros, Semi-Homemade