Chilaquiles Rojos con Huevos Revueltos – Tortillas with Salsa and Scrambled Eggs

Chilaquiles, that is fried tortillas and salsa, with scrambled eggs are the perfect breakfast for a weekend morning if you like your eggs spicy and are in need of some carbs. They can be made meatless or you can use leftovers from your roast chicken or steak dinner the night before. This may well be the best hangover cure breakfast but, of course, I have no personal experience of such things. 

Last month one of my favorite blogger friends posted her recipe for a delicious chilaquile casserole, and that got me thinking and reminiscing about how I love chilaquiles.

Years ago, my older sister and I used to go for breakfast at a Mexican restaurant in Montrose, an area of Houston known for being eclectic and seedy and, somehow, at the very same time, trendy. Or maybe trendy came later. There was certainly a whole lot of eclectic and seedy going on. This was a very long time ago. Now you hardly ever have to step over drunks sleeping it off in doorways and unsightly puddles of who knows what on the way to breakfast in Montrose. 

The restaurant was in an old wood-framed house that had been added on to and extended to accommodate more and more patrons over the years. Even on a weekday morning, there were plenty of people enjoying the breakfast menu. I’m not sure that some of them weren’t still there from the night before, to be honest, since it was open 24 hours. Yeah, that kind of joint. 

There were probably some lovely things on the menu but I really couldn’t tell you because I always ordered the chilaquiles. Their version was like my favorite huevos rancheros, that is to say, scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions and jalapeños, but with crunchy corn tortillas and cheese. Always a winning combination.

According to my non-extensive research, read lazy, chilaquiles were created as a way to use up stale corn tortillas but I’d call them reason enough to rush out and buy some fresh ones too. Those tortillas add crunch and flavor, and if you are grasping for a healthy attribute, I’m guessing fiber. But don’t quote me on that.

Ingredients to feed two
4 soft corn tortillas - we are not talking about chips here
4 eggs
2 2/3 oz or 75g extra sharp cheddar
Canola or other light oil
Leftover meat – optional – shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, it’s all good. Or try refried beans!
1 cup or 240ml spicy tomato-based picante sauce or salsa plus extra for serving

Optional for serving – avocado and green onions or cilantro. Some people even put sour cream.

Method
Cut your tortillas in triangles and beat your eggs in a small bowl. Grate your cheese and set it aside. Cut your leftover meat into bite-sized pieces, if using.

This was leftover grilled rump steak.

Drizzle a little oil in a non-stick pan and fry the triangles until crispy. Remove and drain on some paper towels.

In that same pan, warm your leftover meat, and then push it to the sides and add the beaten eggs in the middle.

Stir frequently to break the eggs up into bite-sized pieces, mixing in the meat as you go. When the eggs are cooked to your satisfaction, remove them from the pan and set them aside, covered, on a plate.

Now add the tortillas back in to the pan and pour on the picante sauce.

Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. You want fairly good coverage with the salsa, but keep some triangle corners dry so they are still crispy.

Add the scrambled eggs back in and stir well.

Top with grated cheddar and put the lid on so it melts.

Divide onto two plates and serve with sliced avocado, if desired, and more salsa.

Enjoy!

Beet Cornbread Muffins for #MuffinMonday

Beets give these muffins their distinctive bright color but the corn and cornmeal mellow the beety flavor making these muffins light and delicious. 

When I starting dating my husband more than 30 years ago, he would not eat three things: olives, beets and asparagus. He’s overcome his dislike of olives and asparagus, and actually really likes them both, but I am still working on getting him to eat beets. When I saw this recipe in the free supermarket (Waitrose) recipe booklet, it seemed worth a try. Let me just admit right now that he wasn’t crazy about these muffins. But my friend Glenys and I, beet lovers both, really liked them. I'll just keep on trying.

Ingredients
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons or 200g fine cornmeal or polenta
Generous pinch dried chili flakes or crushed red peppers
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 heaped cup or 195g canned corn, drained
8 2/3 oz or 245g cooked beets (I bought these in a vacuum pack in the supermarket – four small to medium-sized beets)
1/4 cup or 50g butter, melted and cooled
Scant 2/3 cup or 150g thick, Greek-style yogurt
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by lining it with paper muffin cups or greasing it.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your cornmeal with dried red pepper, baking powder and salt.

Puree your corn and beets together in a food processor or with a hand blender until relatively smooth. A few corn kernels left here and there are fine.

Add in the eggs, yogurt and melted butter and process or blend again.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry mixture and stir until well combined.

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These make a great addition to any brunch or luncheon menu.

Enjoy!

Cheesy Breakfast Sausage Bundt #BundtBakers

Step outside the sweet box and bake a Bundt with cheddar, cream cheese, sausage and green onions. Great for breakfast buffets and luncheons, slices of this cheesy sausage Bundt are just as fabulous toasted the next day.  

When fellow Bundt Baker, Anne from My Sweet Heart,  first proposed a breakfast Bundt theme for this month, I knew I wanted to make something savory, something with breakfast sausage. I can’t actually buy ready-to-cook breakfast sausage here in Dubai, so I replicate it with Penzey’s Breakfast Sausage Seasonings mixed into ground pork. Breakfast sausage is one of my guilty pleasures. Especially the spicy ones that say “hot” on the label. Whenever I arrive back in the States, one of the first items on the “to-do” list is a trip to the grocery store to stock up on essentials like bread, milk, eggs and fresh vegetables but at least two packages of hot breakfast sausage always make it into the cart. I know it’s not the healthiest of food items, but it’s a rare treat. So is this wonderful savory Bundt.

Many thanks to our Bundt Baker host, Kelly at Passion Kneaded for generously filling in for Anne and hosting this month’s creative theme.

My cheesy breakfast Bundt is adapted from a recipe called Wylma's Breakfast Bread. I don’t know Wylma but I think I’d like her a lot.

Ingredients
For the Bundt:
1 lb or 455g spicy breakfast sausage meat or ground pork with 1 tablespoon breakfast sausage seasonings
4 cups or 500g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup or 120g butter unsalted butter, chilled
12 oz or 340g cream cheese, chilled
8 oz or 225g shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
Bunch green onion tops (Mine weighed about 1 3/4oz or 50g.)
8 eggs
3 cups or 710ml milk

For the glaze:
3 oz or 85g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk plus 3-4 teaspoons more till desired consistency is reached
1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used Louisiana Habanero Hot Sauce. If you like spicy, this one’s wonderful. And, no, I didn’t get any free from the company. My sister is my supplier.)

Optional garnish: Green onion tops or chives

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease and flour a 10-15 cup Bundt pan.

Brown your sausage meat in a skillet over a medium heat, cutting it up and crumbling it with the spatula as you go. Once it’s golden brown, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and put it on some paper towels to absorb the grease.

Chop your green onion tops finely and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

Cut your cold butter into cubes and toss them in the dry ingredients.

Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a coarse mixture that looks a little like damp sand.

Cut your cream cheese into cubes as well and toss them into the dry ingredients.

Use a pastry blender to cut the cream cheese into the dry ingredients. It won’t completely disappear like the butter did but that’s fine. You want some small pieces of cream cheese still visible.

Now add in your drained sausage, the grated cheddar cheese and the green onions and stir well.

In another bowl, beat together the eggs and the milk.

Fold the egg mixture into the dry mixture until just combined.

Pour into your prepared pan.

Bake in your preheated oven for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool further.

Meanwhile, you can be making the cream cheese glaze. Mix together the cream cheese with the hot sauce and one tablespoon of the milk.

Stir vigorously until completely combined. Add more milk, teaspoon by teaspoon and whisk to get all the tiny lumps out, until you have a glaze of pouring consistency.

I kept testing mine by lifting the spatula or whisk out and seeing if the glaze would drip off slowly. I ended up adding four teaspoons myself but our cream cheese is very rich and stiff to start with. You will have to use your judgment here.

For the green onion garnish, I sliced a couple of green onion tops lengthwise with a Japanese tool called a negi cutter. (Negi being green onion.) It’s a handy multi-blade knife that makes cutting even strips very easy.

Then I cut the stripes into shorter lengths and popped them into a bowl with iced water so they’d curl up.

This takes about 15 or 20 minutes, then I drained the green onion curls on paper towels. Just chop your green onions into little circles if you don’t have a negi cutter.

Pour on the cream cheese glaze when you are ready to serve and sprinkle on your green onions.

Enjoy!

Are you looking for breakfast Bundt inspiration for your next brunch, wedding or baby shower? Bundt Bakers has got you covered!

• Breakfast Banana Bundt Cake from Varada at Varada's Kitchen
• Blackberry Chocolate Coffee Cake from Lauren at From Gate to Plate
• Breakfast Bundt from Jane at Jane's Adventures in Dinner
• Callaloo & Saltfish Mini Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Cheesy Bacon Sausage Brioche Bundt from Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
• Cheesy Breakfast Sausage Bundt from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Feta Cheese and Sundried Tomato Breakfast Bundt from Maria at Box of Stolen Socks
• French Toast Bundt Cake with Maple-Bacon Glaze from Felice at All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Granola Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days
• Individual Breakfast Banana & Ginger Nutella Glazed Oatmeal Bundt Cakes from Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Maple Bacon Bundt Cake with Bacon Pecan Streusel Swirl from Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
• Mimosa Bundt Cake from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Orange Blueberry Bundt Cake from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Sausage and Potato Bundt from Margaret at Tea and Scones
• Whole Grain Breakfast Blueberry Mini Bundts from Laura at The Spiced Life

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme.  Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send me an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.