Huevos Rancheros

Remember the scene at the end of Reality Bites when Ethan Hawke and Winona Ryder discover their love for each other after a spell of confusing and tense times, and he runs home to be with her after being MIA for a few days, and she’s packing her little brown bag to catch her cab to go find HIM, and she runs out the door to see her cab driving away and to find him on the sidewalk in that gray suit and U2’s “All I Want Is You” is playing in the background and Winona’s little hair cut is so messy and super cool and you have goose willies all over your entire body because Ethan’s hair is equally as messy and super cool and you just want to die?

That has nothing to do with huevos rancheros at all, but I just love that scene so much. I always wanted to live in that cool apartment. And to say things like, “Don’t Bogart that can…man.”

And I loved her freaking hair cut so much. I sort of HAD that style in my mid 20s. It was short, dark brown and cut all messy. People used to tell me all the time that Winona was my celebrity look alike. Which was awesome, until the whole, you know, stealy mcstealer thing.

You’d rather I talk about the runny eggs and salsa, wouldn’t you?

Well, you’re not going to believe it, but this was the FIRST time I’ve ever made huevos rancheros! I mean, I make breakfast tacos like 14 times a day, but this was a little different. I had bought this habanero (yeah!) salsa for another meal a few days ago, and I always ALWAYS have corn and flour tortillas in the fridge. And I should mention that a couple of weeks ago that I actually had huevos rancheros on a whim in a restaurant and fainted in my chair 4 times, so it’s been on the brain since then. Well, that and you know who, who had quite the stellar performance last night I might add. And another thing, and you’re going to feel like I just stabbed you in the eye, but my husband DOES NOT LIKE BREAKFAST FOR DINNER. Ugh! I mean, excuse me!? Who doesn’t like breakfast for dinner, WEIRDOTRON. Well, guess who had an unexpected business trip yesterday to Chicago and guess who broke down into quite an attractive sob sesh because she was going to get to make huevos rancheros and eat them all by herself and smear runny yolks all over her face like a kid high on life and maybe a little bit of Elmer’s glue?

You’d rather I talk about Winona’s hair, wouldn’t you?

Some things in life do not get any better than this.

Sorry for saying “stealy mcstealer” up there.

Huevos Rancheros:

What it took for 1 serving (if you’re like me and eat 2 rancheros’s. Or is it rancheroses? Or is it rancheri?):

* about 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 2 corn tortillas
* 1/2 cup black beans (from a can, drained and rinsed)
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 tsp chili powder
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 2 Tbs. salsa (I used hot!)
* 2 eggs
* 1 Tbs. sour cream
* fresh cilantro, for garnish
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

In a mini food processor, add the beans, garlic, cumin, chili powder, a tsp of oil and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until you get a puree. Transfer to a small sauce pan and set it on a low heat. Stir (or press around) the mixture until it’s heated through. Remove from heat.

Put a small skillet over the heated burner and add the tiniest bit of oil. Lightly fry (it’s almost toasting really) each tortilla until slightly browned and bubbly. Transfer to a plate.

Add a tsp of oil (or a little more) to the skillet and crack your first egg in. If you want to use a bigger skillet and just fry both eggs at the same time, gah fer it. (That’s me trying to sound Irish.) Continue to fry the eggs until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

In the meantime, spread the bean mixture over each tortilla, followed by the salsa. Then top each with an egg. Dollop with a little more salsa, fresh cilantro sprigs and a good grind of black pepper.

Serve with lime wedges and sour cream!

I’m sorry if this picture is gross but with every bite I kept slipping into a coma and waking up because of how insanely awesome this is. So I just had to show you the insides. The GUTS. Or we can just go with insides.