Yes, I admit it. I haven’t posted in over a year. Life sort of “happened” and I haven’t had the time or the wherewithal to post but I’m back! And after reading thru this recipe, I think you’ll be glad that I am!

I was flipping thru the channels yesterday and landed on one of my favorite shows, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, Rick Bayless’ homage to great Mexican food and low and behold – the whole episode centered on one of my favorite dishes, Chilaquiles! “Chris, what are Chilaquiles,” you may ask? Only one of the most comforting and satisfying dishes you can have. Especially after a heavy night of drinking. Ahem. It I digress.

It’s a dish consisting of (usually) leftover taco chips or stale tortillas, fried in oil, and then drenched in your favorite type of salsa (mine is ALWAYS salsa verde, and usually homemade), topped with your choice of eggs/meat (I use eggs and soy chorizo), fresh quest fresco and served with a side of refried beans (again, homemade if at all possible) and rice. See? Yummy!!

Since I watched that episode yesterday, I woke up this morning knowing what was on the menu today for breakfast and I thought I’d share with you. Please note that using canned refried beans, prepared salsa and regular tortilla chips works just fine. You can make this “regular” with meat, or you can go veggie with soy chorizo like I did, or even go nuts and go vegan omitting the queso fresco and the eggs and swapping in scrambled tofu. Either way, you owe it to yourself to try this dish and be as creative as you’d like! Words of advice from an Italian!

Enjoy and tell em Rocco sent you!

Salsa Verde

Again, feel free to use prepared salsa. But fresh is always best

1. 6-8 tomatillos
2. 1 poblano pepper
3. 1 jalapeño
4. 1 bunch cebollitos (bulb onions)
5. 1 head of garlic
6. Juice of 1-2 limes
7. Cilantro
8. 1 tbsp sugar or agave
9. Salt and pepper to taste

Throw ingredients 1-5 on a hot grill and cook until tomatillos, peppers and onions start to char. Remove from grill and put peppers in paper bag to help remove skin

Get out your blender and throw the tomatillos and onions plus a few cloves of the roasted garlic in and process for 10 pulses.

Once peppers have cooled, remove the skin, seeds (unless you like your salsa REALLY spicy), and the inner membranes. Throw those into the blender and pulse again 10-15 times.

Add the juice of 1 lime, the sugar, some salt and pepper and blend until it becomes smooth. Taste and adjust sugar, like juice, salt and pepper. Add some cilantro and blend. Put aside.

Refried Beans

1. 1 15 oz canned black beans, drained and liquid reserved
2. 1/2 red pepper, diced
3. 1/3 yellow onion, diced
4. Cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper

Heat 10″ skillet on medium heat and add 1 tsp oil. Add peppers and onions and sauté 2-3 minutes until they start to become soft. Throw in about 1 tsp each chili powder and cumin, and about 1/2 tsp garlic powder and stir to release oils.

Add the black beans and start to warm them, using a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to mash them. Slowly add in the reserved liquid and stir and smash until you start to see the consistency of refried beans. Add salt and pepper, tasting, and adjust accordingly. Set aside.

Chilaquiles

You can make your own tortilla chips by frying stale/regular or corn tortillas in hot oil. But I used some baked corn “chips” that I made.

1. 8-10 tortilla chips
2. 1/3 cup salsa verde (above)
3. 1/4 cup refried beans (above)
4. 1-2 eggs
5. 1 oz queso fresco, or more depending on your tastes
6. (Optional) prepared chorizo/soy chorizo
7. (Optional) prepared Spanish or regular rice

1. In a 10″ skillet, pour about 1/3 cup salsa verde and gentle heat.
2. In another skillet, heat on medium and prepare your eggs any way you like – scrambled, over easy, etc
3. To the warmer salsa, add the tortilla chips and flip in salsa until they start to get soft and warm
4. On a plate, layer the tortillas in salsa, then the eggs and (optional) meat, and top with queso fresco Add the beans and (optional) rice to the side and serve

You can also top the whole thing with crema/sour cream/non fat Greek yogurt, as well as diced onion, tomato and cilantro

ENJOY!