Huevos Rancheros Verdes...

7 new recipes came out of our kitchen this week! Trying to keep the list to three, I would have to chose the snazzy Egg and Bacon Bread, that decadent Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake and the refreshing Potato, Chicken and Fresh Pea Salad.

While we've had all the ingredients in tonight's dinner before, we have never paired them together like this for such a speedy meal. This Huevos Rancheros Verdes I prepared is a spin on a Mexican classic that uses green salsa instead of a tomato-based red sauce.

I would like to think we have made solid headway in our trek to expand the types of recipes we try, but then we come across a dish like this which is probably fairly common for others and I am reminded we have a long way to go. That's what is so fantastic about the world of food - there are/is an impossible amount of directions you take food and still be surprised everyday with combinations that you thought you may never like or thought of!

For a sturdy base to this "ranch eggs" dish, we coated corn tortillas with olive oil spray and proceeded to create a larger surface area to work with by overlapping two together. Before topping them off, we put each pair onto a large baking sheet, then spooned over a mixture of pinto beans that we tossed with tart salsa verde (fancy for tomatillo salsa!). On top of that saucy combo, shreds of sharp white Cheddar were scattered over and the filled pairs were slid into the oven to heat the beans through, melt the cheese and crisp up the tortilla bottom.

Those tortillas stayed in the oven long enough that we were able to crack four eggs into a large skillet and cook them to the point where the whites were set, yet the golden yolks were still soft and fluid. If you don't groove on oozing egg yolks, feel free to add a couple more minutes to the cooking time, which will harden them up. I heard the timer ding that the tortillas were done just a minute after the eggs were ready. We scooted one egg on top of each pair of tortillas, then added a quick toss of crisp shredded romaine lettuce, a sliced scallion and fresh cilantro that we dressed with canola oil and lime juice for a clean contrast.

As I said, we've never had the traditional version of this, so I can't say one way or another in regards to how close it stayed authentic, but what I do know is that we'll be having this again and I plan to seek out other versions to compare it to! Jeff did comment that he felt it was kind of awkward to eat and I can see where he is coming from - is this supposed to be a knife and fork meal or are you suppose to just pick it up and eat it? Ready in under thirty minutes, I think this recipe would be perfect to prepare for a passive weekend breakfast, but is still filling enough to serve at dinnertime. It also has the benefit of being pretty darn easy on the wallet too!

Recipes
Huevos Rancheros Verdes