Huevos Rancheros

Matt and I randomly had all of the makings of huevos rancheros sitting in the fridge last Sunday and – aside from getting some jalapeno in my eye* - it was one of the best impromptu brunches to ever happen!

We bought this huge bag of masa flour to make tacos with homemade tortillas several months ago and it has seriously come in handy since. To make them, you literally just mix the masa with water, form it into small balls, and press into tortillas. I’ll have to blog about that another time, but they were a great base for the huevos rancheros.

To make the sauce, I roasted the red pepper and jalapeno and pureed them into a tomato based sauce. I topped the tortillas and sauce with some fried eggs and chopped cilantro. Here’s my (rough) recipe:

Ingredients
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 can of tomatoes
½ c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
Pinch of ground chili (not chili powder)
Salt and pepper
4 Corn tortillas
4 Eggs
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions
Roast the bell pepper and the jalapeno over an open flame or under the broiler until they’re nice and charred on the outside. Transfer them to a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let them steam in the covered bowl for 10 minutes or so. When they’re nice and soft, peel the charred skin, take out the seeds, and roughly chop them.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. When the onion starts to soften, add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the ground chili, cook for a few seconds in the oil, and then add the tomatoes. Bring up to simmer and add the red bell and jalapeno peppers. Puree in a blender or using a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the cilantro into the sauce and reserve some for garnish.

Fry a couple of eggs for each portion, making sure the yolks are nice and runny. To assemble, put some sauce over a couple of tortillas and top with the eggs and cilantro.

* If you get some hot pepper in your eye, washing it out with milk helps. I seriously had to do that. Matt tried to not laugh.

Thai Curry Mussels

Thai curry mussels are popping up on menus all over the place these days, but I feel like I’m always disappointed when I order them. They’re never spicy enough! Last weekend I made my own using some panang curry paste and coconut milk. I probably would have normally used red curry paste, but I had a half can of the Panang in the refrigerator that needed to be used. If this weren’t a last minute creation, I also would have topped with some cilantro instead of the chives I already had. It was still delicious though, and plenty spicy :)

Thai Curry Mussels

½ c. onion, chopped
1 small clove of garlic, minced
Vegetable oil
1 ½ tbsp. Thai Panang curry paste
1 ¼ c. light coconut milk
¼ tsp. fish sauce
1 lb. mussels, cleaned
Cilantro, chopped (optional)

Making the sauce was really simple. I just sweat the onions in some vegetable oil and added the garlic when the onions started to soften. Then, I added the curry paste and stir fried for a minute or so until it was very fragrant. Then, I added the coconut milk and fish sauce. After bringing that to a simmer, I added the mussels and cooked until they opened (discarding any that didn’t). They were very saucy, so we ate them with a big hunk of bread for dipping.