Huevos Rancheros

We invited my parents came over for brunch over the Easter weekend. They wanted to come visit mostly because they wanted to check out the new-ish couch we got and see our kitten, who's fast becoming a cat....oh and us. I wanted to make something for brunch, that would be filling, but wouldn't mean I had to spend too much time in the kitchen while they were here. I also had a beautiful red chilli that was ripe and ready to be picked from my garden, so huevos rancheros was where it was at.

This recipe is a Jamie Oliver one. I am a bit on-the-fence about the purveyor of pukka tukka. Some of his recipes are great and I use them over and over, others are too involved (30 minutes my arse) or have too many ingredients, some of which can be hard to find. I do have a good vegetarian rogan josh recipe of his that I've used millions of times that I'll blog about at some point. Anyway - this recipe falls into the good category - nice and simple and not a single crazy ingredient.

Huevos Rancheros - or as Jamie likes to call it Mexican Breakfast (how British)

olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
2 red peppers, deseeded and finely sliced
2 fresh red or orange chillis, deseeded and finely sliced
1 large dried chilli
3 fresh bay leaves
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
2 large tomatoes, sliced
6 large eggs
6 tortillas
150g cheddar cheese, to serve

My mum is not a big fan of really spicy food, so I only used one fresh chilli and instead of a large dried chilli, I used some dried chilli flakes. I also used dried bay leaves, and instead of tortillas, I served it with some fresh, sliced bread that I drizzled with olive oil and put under the grill for a couple of minutes each side. I don't think this recipe would really serve 6 people if you followed it to the letter - I used 1 and 3/4 tins of tomatoes, 3/4 of one red pepper and 4 eggs and it served 4 of us, but with no leftovers. I think you'd need another half tin of tomatoes at least to stretch it to 6 people, unless you weren't very hungry.

I started by doing the sauce before the parentals arrived, so all I had to do was add the eggs and grill the bread when they got here. Heat the oil on a high heat, add the onion, garlic, peppers, fresh and dried chillis, bay leaves and salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 15 minutes to soften and caramelize everything. I turned the heat down to medium and stirred it pretty consistently so it didn't burn or stick. Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up a bit if necessary. Bring to the boil and turn down to a medium heat and cook it until it begins to reduce down to a thick stew-like consistency. Add more salt and pepper if you need to. I took it off the heat at this point and waited for the 'rents to arrive. When we were ready to eat, I sliced one tomato (because I don't really like fresh tomato, ok) on the top and made wells in the tomato stew and cracked the eggs in. Season from a height (not too sure what the height adds to it), put the lid on and let the eggs poach for about 3-4 minutes - you should be able to see when they're set, or just give them a poke. Grill the bread or warm the tortillas while the eggs are cooking. I sprinkled some fresh parsley from my garden onto the top, took the frying pan right to the table and served the grated cheese and bread on the side so everyone could do their own.

Sometimes when I make this I also add beans (cannellini beans are my favourites), to make it a bit more substantial. Next time I'll add some chopped up chorizo when I'm cooking the onion and red pepper at the beginning - the garlicy, spiciness would go really well in this dish I think,

Mini Breakfast Frittatas

I don't know about you guys but I struggle to find interesting stuff for breakfast during the week. I don't usually eat breakfast until I'm at work at about 9am and I can only do smoothies and yoghurt with fruit for so long. I love eggs and sometimes a savoury fix is what I need. These mini frittatas (sticking with the mini theme here) are great as you can make them ahead of time, which saves time in the morning. And they are a good protein source - if that's important to you.

I just made this recipe up and the good thing is, you can basically just add what you want. It's a good way to get rid of the ends of veggies in the fridge. This recipe makes six, which is three breakfasts for me - just multiply the recipe if you want to make more.

What do I need?

4-5 eggs (depending on size)
5-ish tspns milk (about one per egg - you could also use water or a combo of both). I say 'ish' because you might find you need a wee bit more when you fill up your muffin trays.
1/4 red onion
1 garlic clove (or a teaspoon of crushed garlic, if you still haven't got any fresh stuff, like me)
Veggies - whatever you like and/or have in your fridge. I used a combination of a handful of chopped spinach and kale (as I had these in my garden), 1/4 courgette, 1/4 red capsicum and a wee bit of grated carrot as I had some leftover from the wraps I made for dinner.
Herbs. Again, choose whatever you like. I am a BIG fan of dill with eggs. This time I used a combo of parsley, dill and chives because I had them all growing fresh in the garden (did I mention my garden?). Dried is also ok too.
Cheese. Again, use what you like. For these I used feta, but I've previously used parmesan or just good ol' cheddar. Finely grate it you're using cheddar or parmesan, and you only need a wee bit to top each frittata.
Optional: a little grated lemon zest, a sprinkle of dried or fresh chilli and 50g-ish of ham if you have it/are so inclined (I wasn't this time)
Oil for cooking (I usually use canola)
Salt and pepper

How do I make it?

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Chop all the veggies up pretty small and fry with a little oil (and the chilli if you're using it) for about 5-10 minutes, until cooked. I stir them pretty continuously so they don't brown or burn. Once cooked, set aside. In a jug, beat the eggs, milk/water, chopped herbs, grated lemon zest (if you're using this - and I recommend it), salt and pepper to taste - if you're using ham, don't add too much salt as ham can be pretty salty. Grab a six hole muffin tin (I don't think that's what you call it, but hey) and grease lightly with a little oil on a paper towel or pastry brush. Distribute the egg mixture between the six holes (!). It should fill each one up about half way - adjust with a bit more milk/water if you need to. Then add the veggies, distributing them between the six holes, add the chopped up ham if you're using it at this point too and top with a little cheese of your choice. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the egg is set. Cool on a plate and voilà - three days of breakfasts! Store in a container in the fridge. I usually wrap two up in a piece of foil and when I get to work, pop them on a plate in the microwave for 1 - 1 min 30 and Robert's your father's brother!