Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Tacos

Not much to say today, just the short story of the little huevos that could…

Imagine sitting patiently, waiting in your carton with 11 of compatriots, knowing you’re destined for greatness but watching yourself be passed over morning after morning.

There goes the Greek yogurt…
And now it’s those mangoes’ time to shine…
Of course. Today it’s chorizo and some queso fresco. Really??

Imagine the hurt, the shame…  you eventually have to ask yourself if the yolk’s on you. (Awful. I tried so hard, but couldn’t resist. Forgive me? I’ll serve you some amazing breakfast.)

Then, one morning, the tomatoes and limes take their leave.

You’re settling into your carton for yet another day of loneliness and self-loathing when  -what’s this?!?-  you and your brethren are pulled out onto the bright lights of the kitchen.

You know something’s in the works, but you can’t quite put your finger on it…

Fresh flour tortillas? Diced green chiles? Some sort of silky, savory tomato sauce?

It must be something good because the kitchen smells like heaven and you’re right in the middle of all of the action.

And then your moment comes:  7 of you are snagged from your carton and whisked together with some glorious freshly cracked black pepper.

Here comes the ricotta cheese. Then there’s the heavy whipping cream.

And, finally, you achieve greatness as you’re laid out on a warm tortilla, topped with chiles and homemade Ranchero sauce, and served to a couple of hungry breakfast goers.

Take a second. Drink it all in. You’ve earned your place in the pantheon of morningtime greats. This breakfast is all you, little huevos.

Huevos Rancheros Breakfast Tacos

For the sauce:
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 c. white onion, diced
1/2 c. jalapeño, diced
2 tbsp. garlic, minced
2 c. Roma tomatoes, crushed, in their juices (When my schedule doesn’t accommodate boiling and peeling whole tomatoes, I use cans of organic crushed tomatoes in their juices in this sauce. Nobody has ever noticed the difference – go ahead and take a shortcut here.)
1 tbsp. cumin, ground
1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. lime juice, freshly squeezed

For the tacos:
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
7 large eggs
1/3 requesón (Requesón is basically the Mexican equivalent of Italian ricotta cheese. I am finding requesón more and more in mainstream markets, but if you don’t have access to it, feel free to substitute ricotta here.)
1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
1 tbsp. + more heavy cream
1/4 c. mild green chiles, diced (I find these generic green chiles canned in the Hispanic section of any major market.)
2- 8″ flour tortillas

To prepare the sauce, heat the olive oil over a medium flame in a large sauce pan. Add the onion and jalapeño and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until tender and fragrant. Add the garlic and cook for several minutes more. Add the tomatoes, cumin, black pepper, salt and lime juice and stir well. Cook on a medium-low setting for 8-10 minutes more. The finished sauce should be homogeneous, fragrant, and bubbling slightly at the edges. Remove the sauce from heat and pour into the canister of a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process thoroughly – Ranchero sauce is meant to be extremely smooth so you really can’t process this sauce enough. I mixed mine for several minutes to achieve the consistency that I wanted. Set the finished sauce aside to cool further while you work on the eggs and tacos.

To prepare the eggs, whisk them together in a small bowl with a fork until well-blended. Stir the black pepper and requesón into the eggs and set aside while your pan preheats.

Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large frying pan. Pour the egg mixture into the heated, oiled pan and immediately begin stirring slowly in a circular motion with a wooden spoon. Add the heavy cream and use your spoon to work the cream and cheese into the eggs as you continue to scramble them. I added just one tablespoon of heavy cream, but if you prefer ‘looser’ scrambled eggs, you may want to add more cream. Remove your cooked eggs from heat.

To assemble your tacos, heat your tortillas over a comal or in a dry frying pan just until warm and pliable. Divide eggs evenly between the two tortillas and top with green chiles. Finish with spoonfuls of Ranchero sauce to taste and serve immediately.

YIELD:  2 large tacos and approximately 4 cups of Ranchero sauce (store your leftover Ranchero sauce in glass jars or bottles in the refrigerator)