Huevos for Mother's Day

Today is Mother’s day and we invited our friend Sharon over to celebrate since her daughter lives in England, husband is spending today with his family and she would be alone. She is a lot of fun to have over and loves cooking and eating. As soon as she walked in the door with her “bag of bubbly” we popped it open, she sat on a stool at the stove top island and we start laughing and talking up a storm. I wanted to really make a special Brunch with lots of stuff today and one that my own Mother would have loved were she still with us. I came up with this menu:

Huevos Rancheros with black bean chili over corn tortillas

Sliced avocados and cilantro leaves for garnish

Breakfast sausages, browned and poached in Chile verde salsa

Plate of composed fresh fruit (no fruit hash today)

Spiced biscuits with Strawberry jam, Roasted rhubarb and sweet butter

Bottles of chilled sparkling wine-Prosecco and Cremant de Bourgougne

Hazelnut-cinnamon coffee & Raspberry Tea

I am on a kick to clean out my freezer and pantry of “older stuff”. There happened to be two bags of last season’s roasted heirloom tomatoes, a bag of homemade chicken stock in the freezer, last week's breakfast sausages and corn tortillas. Out they came to defrost overnight. I was not quite remembering the seasonings in the tomatoes but thought there was at least garlic so I could use them for my Salsa Ranchera. If anyone had seen these bags of soggy defrosted tomatoes they probably would have thrown them away. Not I!  I dumped the whole mess in the blender noting a few leaves of basil and, yes, roasted garlic and let it rip. Since I usually roast these tomatoes in olive oil there was that too. It looked hopeful as it smoothed into a dark reddish-orangey puree. The gold tomatoes contributed to the orange color and the dark caramelized skins made it dark. I heated a little peanut oil in a skillet and poured in the puree to cook down a little. Since it was quite thick to begin with I only had to heat it through. This was going to be transformed into Salsa Ranchera for a Huevos Rancheros brunch. I scooped out 2 cups of the puree into a pint Ball jar for another use and added chicken stock, a sprig of epazote and seasonings to the remainder. As it reduced and the pools of oil formed, I knew it was going to be a winner. This Salsa Ranchera is my go to salsa. It is good for said Huevos but also good to poach chiles rellenos in, and, as I did for many years, as a pizza sauce for “Joe’s Taco Lounge” Mexican pizzas in Mill Valley. The difference is using roasted tomatoes as opposed to fresh or canned. The salsa turned out spicy, earthy- sort of mole-ish. I have added a few notes to  this recipe to make it “earthier” if you want. 

Salsa Ranchera

1 28 oz can fire roasted (or not)tomatoes, drained-or use your own oven roasted tomatoes to equal 3 ¼ c.
½ small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Opt. 1 small chile Serrano or ½ larger one
Vegetable oil
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. fresh ground pepper
Opt. ½ tsp. ancho chile powder
A few leaves epazote
2-3 c. chicken stock
½ tsp salt or to taste
Blend tomatoes, onion, garlic and chile, if used, in a blender until smooth. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the puree until it is slightly thickened. Add spices and stock. Cook to reduce, about 15 min. Season with salt.
Notes: For a smokier version, toast the onion, garlic and chile on a comal until soft and browned before adding to the blender.
The amount of stock depends on what you are using this for. A thinner salsa is required for Chiles Rellenos for instance. Somewhat thicker for pizza sauce and medium consistency for Huevos Rancheros. It freezes very well.

I had so much fun with this menu. The Salsa Ranchera was heated up in one of my Mexican Casuelas which I put on a diffuser over the gas burner. I forgot that I hadn’t used this casserole in awhile and should have soaked it in water before exposing it to direct heat. It heated up slowly and all was fine. Some where on a food show I saw a chef crack a bunch of eggs into a shallow bowl and slide the whole lot into simmering water to poach. Okay, we shall try this today! I cracked 6 large eggs into a shallow bowl and slid them into the bubbling salsa while Sharon and Steve looked on in amazement. A cover went on top and I timed them for 3 minutes. Since there were so many I knew they wouldn’t be done so I spooned some of the salsa over the top and put the lid back on and timed for another 3 min. They cooked perfectly and I was very careful to loosen them from the bottom of the casserole with a rubber spatula so they would slip out onto the waiting tortillas with ease.

Everyone into the salsa hot tub!

While the eggs are poaching heat corn tortillas for a few minutes on a sheet pan ( I used one per person). Sprinkle on convenience  product-Mexican shredded cheese or shred your own cheddar-jack cheese combo. Place them back in the oven until cheese is melted.
Place one tortilla on each plate, spread on some black bean chile, top with 2 eggs and spoon salsa ranchero over the top.

Easy Black Bean Chile
1 can organic black beans
1 can Herdez or other Salsa Casera
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. Mexican oregano
1 tsp. Ancho chile powder
Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer 15-20 min.

Meanwhile I heated some oil in a skillet and browned up the pork breakfast sausages. When they looked golden I poured ½ c. salsa verde over them, stirred up the browned bits and let this cook a little. Keep warm in a 250 oven, covered until ready to serve.

.

No fruit hash this week! I cut up cantaloupe, beautiful strawberries, ripe mangoes and arranged them on one of my earthenware plates along with a big pile of local blueberries and some not so sweet local raspberries.
I kept the spiced biscuits warm in a colorful cotton dinner napkin. Slice one avocado onto a little plate along with some cilantro sprigs for garnishing the eggs.
I put out little pots of jam, butter and roasted rhubarb for the biscuits.

 Steve poured more bubbly and we sat down to enjoy our brunch.  These eggs were over the top good. The yolks melded into the smokey spicy salsa and the black beans brought another chile dimension to it all.
Our fruit was as sweet as could be and the chile verde poached sausages satisfied the carnivores.
Sharon is leaving next weekend for two weeks in Bangladesh on a mission to help children recover from Rotaplast surgery ( cleft palates). She will be one of the non medical volunteers that will comfort the children after surgery. This will entail long hours and who knows what kind of living conditions. What a fitting Mother’s Day tribute to a woman with a huge heart and a penchant for giving back. We wished her a safe journey with mucho hugs and kisses.
Did we really finish two bottles of sparkling wine? Whoa!!