Saturday, a day to wake up late, read the latest hate mail-a-palooza, and make some afternoon breakfast for my wife. She's a big fan of eggs; I'm not so much. So I developed a recipe that both of us can enjoy: scrambled eggs with salsa.
I've made that before. Lightly scramble the eggs until they are just barely cooked all the way through, then add a couple tablespoons of your favorite salsa. I make my own, so it's always fresh and lovely. It adds flavor and color to what is otherwise a super-bland and boring dish.
I decided to step it up a notch today because I had some ground beef I had defrosted but hadn't used yet. How about some southwestern cheeseburger scrambled eggs?
First of all, you should make the salsa. If you want to surprise your partner with breakfast in bed, do this part the night before.
Monkey's Hot Roasted Goodness
2 medium tomatoes
3 medium tomatillos
1 large red bell pepper
1 large tomato, diced
1 medium white onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, thin chiffonade
1 lime
Preheat oven to 325 F and roast the tomatoes, tomatillos, and red pepper.
In a large mixing bowl, combine diced tomato (use an organic heirloom tomato if you can), onion, chili pepper, and cilantro. Season liberally with salt and black pepper. Add the zest and juice of the lime and mix thoroughly.
The other ingredients are roasted when the tomatoes' skins have cracked, the tomatillos are squishy and somewhat translucent, and the smell of the red pepper has filled the room. Remove the skins and cores and mix into the bowl.
Cool the salsa in the refrigerator. Once cooled, it can be transferred to a glass jar for longer storage. Placing the hot salsa in a sealed container will steam the raw ingredients and turn your salsa to mush.
Again, if you do this the night before, it will have enough time to become completely lovely.
Now have some fun with this.
Soutwestern Cheeseburger Scrambled Eggs
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
6 eggs
6 tablespoons Monkey's Hot Roasted Goodness (Salsa)
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
4 green onions, sliced on a bias
In a non-stick skillet, warm the ground beef without oil until some liquid has been rendered. Turn up the heat and brown the beef lightly. Season with salt, pepper, and coriander seed. Remove from pan to a side bowl.
Add onion and fry until crispy. Pour on top of beef and mix.
Melt the butter in the pan and add the eggs. Scramble the eggs gently until firm.
Add the salsa whenever you need some liquid. Add the beef and onion mixture toward the end. Turn off the heat and add the cheese. Top with green onion and serve.
Enjoy!