There is one thing I have made thousands of times and I can confidently say I am the expert on. It is the most comforting food I can produce and I will reach for it any time of day. I learned how to make it from my dad, and he learned it from his mom. We have added to it and made our own specific improvements on it, but the base is always the same and it is–well, nothing is perfect, but this comes pretty darn close. It is simple, delicious, crispy, extremely customizable, ready in five minutes, and one of my favorite dishes of all time.
Obviously, I’m talking about my breakfast.
I am a major creature of habit with certain things. I need to exercise every morning. I need to call my mom every Saturday. I need to watch Love Actually every Christmas season. And I need my breakfast to fulfill very specific needs. I explained a few months ago in a post how flavors are lumped into a few major groups: sweet, bitter, salty, acidic, savory, and spicy. My breakfast needs to check each one of those boxes. That sounds high maintenance, but it’s really not. The magic is in the very basic ingredients used to assemble my pièce de résistance.
The main dish, so to speak, is what my family calls tortillas and eggs. The more specific idea is explained in this post but I consider this the new and improved, 2.0 version. Here is the gist of it: fry torn pieces of yellow corn tortillas in some kind of liquid fat–I usually choose butter or corn oil. My dad opts for fat rendered from chorizo. Once the pieces are crispy like chips, you pour a beaten egg over them with cheese, cream, and salsa. Cook until they are scrambled and garnish as desired.
The side kick is my beloved Noosa yogurt. I get the larger containers and take half for a single serving. I usually reach for blueberry, strawberry-rhubarb, coconut, vanilla, or peach. And it is always topped with fruit (usually blueberries) and crunchy granola. Most recently it has been my Hawaiian granola, but I also enjoy the classic plain granola. As a side note, Noosa containers are excellent storage for salad toppings.
I always start my day with caffeine, usually in the form of coffee, but sometimes black or green tea if I’m feeling a little exotic. Recently, I purchased a stovetop espresso maker from Target because it’s about $1,975 less than a Nespresso machine, and anyway, I feel a little superior about my coffee coming from a bean and not a $12 pod.
Eggs and Tortillas 2.0
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp Salted butter alternatively, corn oil works
- 1 6" corn tortilla
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg white
- 1 tbsp Half and half
- 2 tbsp Salsa Authentica (red salsa) Trader Joe's
- 2 tbsp Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Sprinkle of garlic powder
- Guacamole, salsa, cheese, green onions, sour cream for topping
Instructions
- In a small frying pan on medium flame, melt butter or heat oil until butter is bubbling or oil is shimmering.
- While butter (or oil) is heating in the pan, crack egg and egg white in a small bowl. Add cream, salsa, half and half, cheese, and garlic powder.
- Tear the tortilla into ~1" pieces and drop into the hot butter or oil. Fry pieces until crisp, about 1 minute on each side.
- Pour the egg batter over the crisped tortilla pieces and immediately begin folding into a scramble. Use a silicon spatula to both get all of the egg batter out of the bowl and to scramble the egg in the pan. Once egg is completely scrambled and the batter has cooked onto the tortilla chips, remove from the pan and serve. Garnish with guacamole, more salsa, cheese, sour cream, and/or green onions. Eat immediately.