Christmas Eve breakfast tradition | Chilaquiles

  For the past few years with the exception of last year, we have made Breakfast Chilaquiles on the morning of Christmas Eve.  I got the original recipe from The Oregonian around Christmas time some years ago and pretty much don't need to look at the recipe any longer.  At the time, I had never heard of chilaquiles and after I made them, it was literally love at first bite.  There are only a couple of things that I eat that make my eyes roll back into my head, this is one of them.

It's the red sauce with fresh cilantro that makes it perfectly Christmas and festive.

  For those of you who don't love recipes written amongst pictures, I'm sorry.  When I am following a recipe closely I cannot stand recipes written out this way either.  However, if I am perusing a recipe for ideas and flavor concepts, I like the pictures amongst the commentary.  Either way, this is a MUST try!

Chilaquiles:

  First, turn your oven on to 350 degrees and then make your Chilaquile sauce.  If you do the sauce in advance, the recipe whips together in no time!  I also tend to double and freeze some so I have the sauce for another occasion already done.

Chilaquile sauce:

2 tsp. olive oil

1 large onion chopped, save about 1/2 cup for later

1-3 Tbls. jalapeno (we leave this out for the kids' sake), save some for later

4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped, save 2 of the chopped cloves for later

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1- 26 oz. box of diced tomatoes

2 Tbls. tomato paste

1.5 cups chicken broth

salt and paper to taste

  Make the sauce in a sauce pan.  Cook onion in oil til soft.  Add jalapeno and garlic and let cook for just a minute.  Add cumin and chili powder, stirring for about  a minute.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth and let simmer for about 7-10 minutes.  You want the sauce to not be too watery.  Let the sauce cool just a bit and food process or blend it until it is smooth.  We will add the sauce back in later.

  While the sauce simmers, grate about 2 cups of cheese.  We prefer sharp Tillamook cheddar, but you can do a mild cheddar or a Mexican blend.

  Next, prepare about 6-8 tortillas.  (Note:  I typically like corn tortillas or a corn-wheat mix, but for this specific chilaquile dish, I think flour is the way to go.)  This dish was created to use up leftover tortillas or tortilla chips, but for us, we make the tortillas to have it.  Basically, you need about 6-8 tortillas cut up into wedges and then toasted in a 350 degree oven to a crisp. Somehow, I forgot to take a picture of my tortillas this morning.  Don't make the mistake of crisping the tortillas first and then cutting them into wedges.  That is, unless you like tortilla confetti all over you kitchen floor.  Also, you can go the corn tortilla route and use about 8-10.

  While the tortillas are crisping, chop up about 1/2 cup of cilantro and save 2 Tbls to serve as a garnish.   In a dutch oven, sauté the reserved onion in 2 tsp. of olive oil for about 3 minutes.  Add in the reserved garlic and jalapeno and add in the chopped cilantro.  Saute for another minute.

  Add the chilaquile sauce into the onion mixture in the dutch oven, be careful it gets bubbly and will spit at you!

  Next, add in the crisped tortillas and mix until the tortillas are all coated with sauce.  Add in about 1 - 1 1/4 cups of the cheese and stir it in.

  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of the chilaquiles and put the dutch oven into the oven for 5-10 minutes to let the cheese melt and allow you to make the eggs.

  Meanwhile, make some eggs, any style.  We typically do an egg over easy (or two) for each person.  We have also done scrambled for the children who do not like "juicy eggs."  This recipe fed 4 adults and 4 children for breakfast this morning.

  Layer, a scoop of chilaquiles with an egg into dishes and then each person can choose their garnishes.

Optional garnishes:

-salsa, green or red or be festive and do both!

-cilantro

-hot sauce of choice

-greek yogurt, or sour cream for you traditionalists

-avocado

This dish doesn't even need garnishing, it is simply that good.  But garnishes are so very yummy too!

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!