What's for Dinner? Mexican Breakfast

What's for Dinner?

Today, it's a dish I call "Desayuno Mexicano" or "Mexican Breakfast" since I learned to make this in Mexico.

Desayuno Mexicano

Ingredients:
2-3 eggs per person
1-2 strips of bacon per person
1-3 corn tortillas per person
1 clove of garlic per person
1/4 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. dried thyme
hot peppers (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

The amounts are not fixed in stone, and this can be easily expanded to fit the number of people eating and the size of their appetites. Depending on your skill to "wing it" when it comes to cooking, you should be able to play with this recipe. So, on with the cooking steps.

Crack the eggs into a container large enough to hold them. Add the oregano, thyme, garlic powder, and peppers. Mix it all up and let sit for the dried ingredients to hydrate and release their flavors.

Next, I pull my corn tortillas out from the freezer. I don't use corn tortillas often enough to have them on-hand fresh since they keep nicely in the freezer anyway. Separate the tortillas on the counter to thaw. Blot them with paper towels if they get wet, or knock off the thin layer of ice that may have formed on the tortillas. We want them thawed, not soggy. When they are thawed, stack them up, and chop them into one-half to one inch squares.

Fry and crumble up the bacon in a large sauce pan. I normally freeze my packages of bacon. Freezing it lets me chop off one-eighth or one-quarter inch slices of bacon across the grain. When it cooks up, the bacon separates into nice little pieces on its own. So easy! Once the bacon is cooked up, move it off to a little dish. You can drain off most of the bacon fat, but don't throw it out!

Since the pan is still hot and nicely greased with the bacon fat, add in the cut up tortilla pieces and toss, coating them evenly with the bacon fat. Yum. Stir and toss continually. If you need more lubrication, add back in some more of the bacon fat. If there is any bacon fat left over when the cooking is done, pour it into a pint mason jar, seal, and place in the freezer. It's instant bacon flavor! Tossing out bacon fat is one of the seven deadly sins, so don't do it!

Anyway, toss the tortillas until they start to crisp up and get a little golden color. I like some crunch in my tortillas, so I wait for them to crisp up a bunch. Do not get distracted at this point! You can go from the golden-brown stage to the opening-windows-and-turning-off-the-smoke-alarm stage in seconds if you walk away. As they are just beginning to crisp up, I'll sprinkle 1-2 pinches of salt on them. Don't go overboard! This dish already has bacon for saltiness.

Once the tortillas are crisped to your liking, give the egg stuff a quick couple of stirs to mix up the floating bits, and pour it into the hot pan over the tortillas. Add the cooked bacon bits back in, and give it a quick stir to mix them up. Then stop! Give the eggs a chance to cook and set up on the bottom. If you have a nice non-stick pan and a wide spatula, you can flip the entire mess over once after a few minutes. If you are not so brave, or your pan is nice, but not non-stick, then use your spatula to flip it over in the largest chunks you can manage.

Serve immediately when done. Stop anyone who likes to salt before tasting and explain just how bad an habit that can be. I will sometimes grate some cheese on top, or pour on some salsa or hot sauce if I didn't have any peppers to add to the dish. Yum!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Desayuno
• Mexicano
• Mexican
• Breakfast
• cooking
• recipe

[beatryxa]

I'm Mexican, that thing has nothing to do whit mexican breakfast, it's more arabic or indu than nothing!, and is a american mess, rather than anything else, it doesn't has nothing to do whit cilaquiles, when we cook eggs in Mexico we don't add cumming, garlic powder or other, only chilli, tomatoes and onions, chorizo or bacon, and tortillas or nopales, cheese but not that kind of spices

[twohonev]

Funny that I learned this dish from a Mexican family in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, and yet you claim it's not Mexican. I believe what you mean to say is that this dish is unlike anything you are familiar with.

[twohonev]

It does look like chilaquiles, but the use of salsa is different. Looking back at it now, I'd say my recipe is based on something I ate in Chihuahua called migas.

[SuperMegaUberGenius]

out of the freezer into the frying pan

/watch?v=SuiM1lq_5Aw

eh, bubba

[Xeres123]

Probably something more close to the border. Dosent look like food from Jalisco or Zacatecas.....not bad looking though.

[socphd81]

looks good...thanks for sharing!

[P3QU3ISCRUZ]

is that chilaquiles



[giftshoppe2]

someone favorited this. It made me hungary so I tried it and I Love It!!

linda in tx

[aubrysmommy13]

no.....no...that is nat mexican food at all...egg mush maby but nat mexican food

[vonyzrz]

eeww!! that is not mexican!!! mexican's don't really use yellow cheese thats only in the u.s and garlic with eggs, i don't know bout that..."stinky"