Huevos Rancheros

By LaLaCooks

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Review:
This dish definitely deserves five stars for amazing flavor. If there was a restaurant near by house that served this dish as good as Tyler's recipe, I would be there all the time. There are just two things to watch out for with this recipe. First is to read the recipe all the way through before beginning. It is a time consuming recipe, with many steps, and although the recipe is not difficult, it helps to be organized before starting. My second tip is to be very conscious of the spice level in the dried peppers. Luckily (or unluckily) I touched my mouth after de-seeding the peppers, and my mouth was instantly on fire. That lead me to gradually add the dried pepper mixture to the roasted tomato mixture as I was pureeing it, just a tablespoon at a time. I didn't want the tomato sauce to be too spicy. I was glad I did that, because I ended up only using a quarter of the reconstituted dried pepper mixture in the tomato sauce. We like spicy food, but any spicier would have been too much. BTW...I was able to find all of the dried peppers in my local Whole Foods.

Ingredients

• Salsa Roja:
• 4 medium corn tortillas
• Peanut oil, for deep-frying
• Salsa Roja, recipe follows
• Chorizo Refried Beans, recipe follows
• 4 large eggs, fried sunny side up
• 1 cup crumbled queso fresco
• Fresh cilantro sprigs
• Fried chorizo (reserved from Refried Beans recipe)
• 4 lime wedges
• 1 dried ancho chile, stemmed and seeded
• 1 dried Anaheim chile, stemmed and seeded
• 2 dried chipotle chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 cup hot water
• 8 plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 medium Spanish onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 sprigs cilantro
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 lime, juiced
• Chorizo Refried Beans:
• 4 links smoked Mexican chorizo
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 white onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans red kidney beans
• 1 to 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Preparation

Step 1

Salsa Roja:
Tear all the chiles into large pieces and toast them in a large dry skillet over medium heat until they change color a bit, about 2 minutes. Add the spices and continue to toast for 2 to 3 minutes until everything is fragrant. Remove from heat and carefully add about 1 cup of hot water to just cover the chiles. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Put the quartered tomatoes, sliced onion, and whole garlic cloves onto a roasting tray, spreading out evenly. Drizzle with plenty of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle with cilantro sprigs. Broil until everything is nicely charred, about 10 minutes (you want lots of deep rich color so don't be afraid if some of the edges get pretty black).

Add the chile mixture to a blender and puree. Remove the tomato/onion mixture from the roasting pan and carefully add it to the blender, (it will be hot). Blend until smooth (you may need to work in 2 batches). Once everything is pureed, pour the mixture back into the pot over low heat adding a little water if the salsa is too thick. Stir in the sugar and lime juice and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside until ready to use.

Chorizo Refried Beans:
Finely chop the chorizo into small dice. In a heavy-bottomed pot add olive oil and chorizo. Put the pot over low heat and slowly bring the heat up to medium. Fry the chorizo for a few minutes to infuse the olive oil. Using a slotted spoon remove about 1/4 cup of chorizo, for garnish, and set aside. To the remaining chorizo in the pot add the onion and garlic and fry until both are cooked, about 2 minutes. Add the beans with their liquid and stock and simmer to allow the flavors to come together about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Use a potato masher to mash the beans into a coarse puree. Alternatively, you could let the beans cool for about 5 minutes and carefully puree in a food processor until smooth. Set aside until ready to use.

Main Recipe:
Heat about 3 inches of peanut oil, in a heavy-bottomed pot to 375 degrees F. Preheat the broiler. Fry the tortillas for 30 to 40 seconds until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Dip the tortillas into the Salsa Roja while still hot, using tongs, and then transfer to serving plates. Top each tortilla with a good spoonful of refried beans and then arrange a sunny side up fried egg on top of the beans. Garnish with crumbled queso fresco, Salsa Roja, cilantro, fried chorizo and lime wedges.