HIS AND HERS
Grandpa’s Huevos Rancheros
Top with avocado (blue plate) or mushrooms (green plate)
- Slice mushrooms and cook in butter, then set aside
- Sautee slivered onions, the set aside
- Add 1 C enchilada sauce to the pan and bring to simmer
- Dip corn tortillas in sauce and put on a small square of aluminum foil placed on a baking tray
- Mix refried beans in with remaining sauce and heat
- Place on tortillas
- Add sliced onion
- Create a recess in the center and add a whole egg
- Top with avocado (blue plate) or mushrooms (green plate)
- Sprinkle with grated cheese
- Bake at 350º for 13 minutes
- Use foil to move to plates (remove foil or just keep it there) The tortillas will be soft and may fall apart
See also: CAZUELA DE HUEVOS RANCHEROS for a casserole recipe, if you are cooking for more than two people.
When I make Huevos Ranchers it is never the same. Of course, it is served on a corn tortilla, and then spread with refried beans, but sometimes has a fried egg on top, sometimes ham, sometimes green chilis… and then topped with cheese. The concept is a corn tortilla with tasty goodness. Here are several recipes if you want some guidance your first time through.
QUICK AND SIMPLE
PHOTO SHOWN AT RIGHT
Corn tortilla heated and browned on both sides
Smear with refried beans
Sprinkle with diced peppers
Top with scrambled egg disc
Top with shredded beef and salsa mixed together
Top with poached egg
Sprinkle with cheese
Broil about five minutes
Grandma’s Huevos Rancheros
2 fried or poached eggs
½ tsp vegetable oil
1/8 small onion
1/8 sliced bell pepper
¼ clove garlic, chopped
¼ CU Salsa
1 TBL diced green chiles
2 corn tortillas
2 TBS shredded cheese
1. Heat vegetable oil in large skillet
2. Saute onion, bell pepper and garlic
3. Add salsa and chiles – bring to boil, remove from heat
4. Top corn tortilla with 1/3 CU sauce and one egg
5. Sprinkle with cheese
Huevos Rancheros Casserole with Ranchero Sauce
- Place the canned and fresh tomatoes, the onion, jalapeño, garlic, water, chilies powder, salt, cumin, oregano, sugar and vinegar in a 2-quart saucepan. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- While the sauce is simmering, prepare the tortillas and the eggs.
- Heat the oil in a skillet.
- Place a tortilla in the hot oil and fry just until softened.
- As each tortilla is done, place it on a plate.
- Repeat this procedure until all the tortillas are cooked.
- Oil a long baking dish (about 9 x 13 inches).
- Spoon half of the sauce over the bottom, then arrange the tortillas over the sauce.
- Top the tortillas with more sauce.
- Sprinkle with half of the grated cheddar cheese.
- Crack the eggs onto the cheese layer at intervals so that there will be a few inches between each egg.
- Spoon the remaining sauce over the length of the eggs and sprinkle with the remaining cheddar cheese.
- Bake for about 13 minutes at 350º
- Pierce one of the eggs with a sharp paring knife to check that the eggs are done as you like.
- After 20 minutes of baking, the eggs are hard- cooked.
- When the eggs are cooked to your liking, remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
- To serve, cut the casserole into squares. Sprinkle with freshly grated cotija or feta cheese.
Serves 6 to 8.
Note: Cotija cheese is sold in small rounds, and is available in the dairy case of many supermarkets. It is easily crumbled. You can substitute feta cheese.
Black Olive Huevos
Options
Add Black olives
Use a tomatillo rather than tomatoes
Add Artichokes
Top with cilantro
Include diced green chilies
Use tortilla chips or corn chips rather than corn tortilla
Use poached egg rather than Fried Egg
Special Steps Break your egg into separate bowls. This will assure that you have an unbroken yolk. If you break the yolk, save this for scrambled eggs the following morning.
Huevos Rancheros – SAUCE
The Ranchero Sauce
— 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
— 2 fresh tomatoes, diced
— 1 cup diced onion
— 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced
— 2 minced cloves garlic
— 1 cup water
— 2 tablespoons red chile powder
— 1/2 teaspoon salt
— 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
— 1 teaspoon oregano
— 1 teaspoon sugar
— 1 tablespoon vinegar
Adapted from Jacqueline Higuera McMahan, who grew up on a Bay Area rancho, and is the author of “California Rancho Cooking,” “The Salsa Book” and “The Chipotle Chile Cook Book.”
America’s Test Kitchen
- 1 Can diced tomatoes – strained – reserve liquid
- 1 C strained reserved tomato juice
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp lime
- 1/2 Onion – diced
- 4 tsp Chili powder
- 1/2 C canned green chilies
- 2 garlic cloves – sliced thin
- 2 TBL EVOO
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 C pepper jack cheese
- 4 eggs
STEP BY STEP
- Strain diced tomatoes, reserving liquid
- Add brown sugar and lime to strained tomato juice
- To tomatoes, add onion. green chilies, garlic, EVOO, chili powder and salt/pepper to taste
- Stir to combine
- Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper or waxed paper
- Spread into an even layer
Alternately you can use a comal or a large cast iron skillet - Bake at 500º for about 40 minutes
- Turn oven down to 400º
- Put cooked mixture into a glass baking dish, and add the strained/reserved juice back into it, and stir to combine
- Sprinkle with pepper jack
- Nestle 1 egg at a time into an impression you will make in the sauce
- Season with salt and pepper
- Bake at 400º for 15 minutes
- Tent with aluminum for about 5 minutes
- Top with avocado, scallions and cilantro
GZ’s Huevos Rancheros
Geofry Zakarian cooked with his two daughters Anna and Madeline
- 1 can of Refried beans or chili beans
- Pico de gallo – Chop, dice and mix: red chili pepper, roma tomato, lime juice, red onion – add a little bit of chopped cilantro
Optionally, use a jar of store-bought salsa - Crisp corn tortilla taco or tostada
Optionally, you can use a bag of corn chips - Two sunny side up eggs
- Heat beans in a skillet
- Cook two eggs sunny side up
- Put heated beans in the bottom of a bowl
- Put corn chips on top of beans
- Top with an egg
- Garnish with cilantro, avocado, tomato, lime, chili, onion, salt, pepper
- Top with fresh salt and pepper
