Casa M Huevos Rancheros

One of Manny's all-time favorite breakfast/brunch foods for sure is huevos rancheros. Fried eggs with runny yolks over lightly fried corn tortillas is the stuff dreams are made of. Couple that with a good salsa (or two) and you've got a full on meal. Honestly this dish is pretty simple for one or two people, it gets more challenging for a group of 4-6 due to timing on frying the tortillas and keeping them warm while you fry the eggs. The only thing that takes a little time to make are the salsas. We highly recommend Casa M salsa roja from this link and Casa M salsa verde from this link for this recipe. If you make both and use both on a single plate as pictured here, that's called huevos rancheros divorciados (divorced ranch style eggs)

Less oil is more when frying the tortillas, but the opposite is true for frying the eggs. Be stingy with the oil when doing the tortillas and generous with the oil when frying the eggs. Cracking the eggs and adding them individually to the oil in the frying pan allows the whites just a few seconds to "set" a little such that even if the whites of a second egg encroach on the first they will come apart. This makes removing the eggs to a platter oh so much simpler. Having more oil in the pan than you think you need has multiple benefits... first, you never worry about the egg sticking to the pan, even if you're not using non-stick, second, it gives you enough oil to baste with without having to tilt the pan to get it into a spoon. The oil temperature is critical. Over time you'll get to know your stove settings for frying the eggs. You want slightly brown/crispy edges on the ring of the whites with fully set whites and runny yolks that are make opaque by the basting oil cooking the tops so they don't look quite so "sunny side up".

As always, from our table to yours... #SpiceConfidently #EssenceOfFlavor #ChemistryInTheKitchen #CasaMSpice

— Mike Hernandez

ingredients

For the Tortillas and Eggs:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
12 eggs

Pulling It All Together:

2 cups Casa M salsa roja from this link
2 cups Casa M salsa verde from this link
Casa M Spice Co® Chain Reaction®
Casa M Spice Co® Cattle Drive®
diced sweet onion
sliced avocado
cilantro leaves

FEATURED QUOTE

Cracking the eggs and adding them individually to the oil in the frying pan allows the whites just a few seconds to "set" a little such that even if the whites of a second egg encroach on the first they will come apart. This makes removing the eggs to a platter oh so much simpler.

- Mike Hernandez

LET’S GET COOKING

1.
Make the salsas first. You can do just one or both. Keep it/them warm while you finish the tortillas and eggs.
2.
In a frying pan (large enough to hold a batch of 3 corn tortillas at once) add no more than two Tablespoons of avocado oil and heat over medium heat. You'll see the oil start to shimmer when it's hot. Add a tortilla. You'll see the edges of the tortilla start to sizzle when you add it if the oil is hot enough. If not, remove the tortilla and heat a little more and try again. Once you're at the right heat, put three tortillas into the frying pan. They can overlap a little since you'll move them around a good bit. Fry them, moving them around and flipping them with tongs often so you can monitor their progress. You're looking for just as it starts to not bend when you pick it up to turn it with the tongs. Not too rigid though, you don't want it to be a tostada and you still want it to be plyable enough to cut with a knife and fork with just enough texture and crunch and fried flavor depth. Remove them to a plate lined with paper towels to drain while you do the next batch. Once you've worked through all 12 tortillas, place them in a warmer, warming drawer, or oven set to 200F to keep them warm and move on to the eggs.
3.
Add the 1/2 cup of oil to the frying pan you were just using. The oil can be at the same heat as for cooking the tortillas to start. You can adjust after the first batch of eggs as needed. Crack one egg at a time directly into the oil in the frying pan until you have 4 eggs going. Separate the whites as needed to keep the eggs individual. Using a spatula or spoon, baste the eggs with the hot oil to cook the tops. Ideally, your cook time will be just over one minute here. In that time the whites should be fully set, with basting hazing over the tops of the yolks, but the yolks still being very "jiggly", and finally the edges of the whites should be on the verge of getting crispy or slightly crispy (my favorite). Using an offset spatula, carefully remove each egg to a platter (not lined so it's still easy to get under them to pick them back up). Now there are two approaches here, you can continue to cook the next two batches of eggs until all your eggs are finished or you can assemble the first batch of plates and come back to finish up the eggs. It really depends on your confience with how quickly you can work through each batch of eggs. The goal, of course, is to serve the eggs while they're still hot, but you can't heat the eggs while they're waiting or the yolks will set.
4.
Assemble the plates by placing tortillas on a plate, then carefully adding an egg on top of each tortilla. Season the eggs with Casa M Spice Co® Chain Reaction and a little Casa M Spice Co® Cattle Drive®. Then spoon on salsa around the whites, leaving the yolks exposed.
5.
Garnish the eggs with diced onion, sliced avocado, and a few cilantro leaves.
6.
Serve immediately.