My favorite Mexican breakfast is chorizo huevos rancheros with creamy avocado salsa, crispy tortillas, fresh refried beans, and a new take on a pico de gallo imagined as a salad. This breakfast has crunch, acidity, spice, and packs in the flavor. I'd eat huevos rancheros everyday...but I don't. But you can! Here's how.
INGREDIENTS
2 Corn Tortillas
2 Eggs
1 Pint Black Beans, drained and washed of their can juices
1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes
4-5 Links of Chorizo Sausage
3 Large Bunches of Cilantro
2 Avocado, One for the salsa, one for serving on top
1 Onion, Half for the Salsa, half for the beans
5 Cloves of Garlic, 3 for the salsa, 1 for the beans, 1 for the pico salad
3 Jalapeños, 2 for the salsa, 1 for the Pico de Gallo salad
2 Tablespoons, Apple Cider Vinegar
3-4 Juicy Limes, plus the zest
1/4 Cup Pickled onions
1 Cube of Calco de Pollo (1 bouillon Cube)
1/4 of Cotija cheese, crumbled
3 Tablespoons of Butter
2-3 tablespoons of Canola Oil
Water as needed
DIRECTIONS
First thing to tackle is charring 3 cloves of garlic (in the paper), a half an onion and 2 jalapeños. Lightly coat in oil and salt and char under the broiler for a few minutes each side. Then let those cool.
In a blender, add the garlic, taken out of their paper, the jalapeños with the stems removed and the onion. Then add 1 of the avocados, 1 big bunch of cilantro, 1-2 limes (depending on how much you love lime juice), the apple cider vinegar, the cube of Calco de Pollo, salt and pepper. Blender until its a think, but pourable sauce. Add water until you reach your desired consistency. If you find its too spicy for you, add some honey to balance out the spicy. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
To make the pico salad, half the cherry tomatoes, slice the jalapeños into thin rounds, add the pickled jalapeños, tear about a 1/4 of cilantro leaves, the zest of one lime, the juice of one lime and salt and pepper. Mix together and set aside.
Crack the eggs into ramekins and set those aside.
Remove the chorizo meat from its casings and break it up. Now move everything over to the stove to finish it up.
Over medium-high heat, add the chorizo to a pan with a tiny bit of oil to help it along and cook that, breaking it up into little crumbled, until it’s nicely browned. Then remove the chorizo from the pan and drain and reserve the fat to cook the beans in later.
Next, fry up the tortillas, in a small pan, add a 1/4 of oil and bring it up to frying temp. Then add the tortillas, flipping every 30 seconds until the tortillas are crispy, they will brown and continue to cook when you remove them from the pan so make sure you don’t keep them in the oil for too long. If they fry too fast before crisping up the way you want, just lower the temp and try to find the sweet spot with the heat. Then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
Next, the beans. In a steel or cast iron pan, on medium heat, add diced onions and garlic and cook until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Then add the beans and add the zest of one lime and sauté for another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and then with a masher, start to mash the beans while cooking, until you reach the consistency you are looking for. I like mine with some texture still. You can add a little water to control the consistency. Just keep mashing until you’ve got it where you want. Then add some lime juice and check for salt. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Finally, fry up some sunny side up eggs in a tablespoon oil and a tablespoon of butter in a small non-stick pan. Cook just until the whites set, then season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat to assemble the Huevos Rancheros.
The first step is to make a bed of the avocado salsa. Then smear the refried beans onto one side of each tortilla, and place them on the salsa. Then add a mound of the crumbled chorizo on top of the beans, followed by the fried eggs. Next, add the pico salad around the dish, then drizzle a touch more avocado salsa. Finish with cotija cheese, a few slices of avocado and some fresh sprigs of cilantro…and if you’re down with it…your favorite hot sauce. All that’s left is to enjoy this breakfast of champions.
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