Look out, plain oatmeal. Breakfast just got weird.
Late last week, national fast food chain Taco Bell opened its doors to the morning crowd with a series of new Southwest-inspired choices. The most ballyhooed of the selections is the waffle taco, which places sausage or bacon, egg and cheese inside a waffle. That unholy alliance then gets dunked in syrup for a taste the chain hopes will give other fast food breakfasts a run for their money.
I must confess I've yet to try the waffle taco, or any of Taco Bell's other breakfast items, which debuted nationally March 27. But the strange intrigue of the waffle taco got me thinking about the limits of breakfast foods -- and Southwest ones at that.
I hit my day on the run, which means I don't always have the luxury of playing in the kitchen before work or the gym, whichever comes first. Oatmeal and fruit, a bagel or a protein bar are my morning go-tos. But the thought of creating my own silly starters got the better of me, and I collected a few recipes online with the idea of finding something unusual. What follows are three breakfast items that break morning traditions both in terms of flavor and routine.
Southwest Breakfast Pizza
(Adapted from a recipe found at kraftrecipes.com)
6 eggs
¼ cup milk
2 green onions, sliced
1 ready-to-use baked pizza crust (12 inch)
½ cup thick and chunky mild salsa
1 cup Mexican-style shredded cheese blend
4 ounces breakfast sausage
4 ounces chorizo
For avocado cream sauce
1 medium, fully ripened avocado
1 5.3 ounces container of nonfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lime juice
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook sausage and chorizo over medium-high heat in a skillet according to package directions. Place cooked meat on paper towel-covered plate, then blot top side dry with an additional paper towel. Set aside. Combine eggs, green onions and milk into a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Cook on medium heat until liquid is gone and eggs are fluffy.
Spread salsa on the pizza crust. Top with ½ cup of the shredded cheese, then top with half of the scrambled eggs and half of the sausage. Repeat process until the cheese, egg and sausage mixtures are on the crust. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
As the pizza bakes, combine the three cream sauce ingredients in a blender and pulse until smooth. Drizzle the sauce on the freshly baked pizza and serve immediately.
Notes: Six eggs is a lot, and that's reflected in the size of the pizza slices -- these things have some vertical heft. I dressed my eggs up a bit before I put them in the skillet with some cayenne pepper and cumin (1 teaspoon each), but that's because I'm a masochist ab0ut spicy foods in the morning. I like the cream sauce, which I often use in fish tacos, and it provides a cool, calm flavor. You could easily go the other way with the dish and drizzle some sriracha sauce or splash on some hot sauce. Also, a half cup of salsa might not be enough. I had to use a bit more -- chunky salsa doesn't spread quite like marina does.
Chorizo-Jalapeno Muffins
(Adapted from a recipe found at foodbabbles.com)
¾ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 jalapenos, de-seeded and finely chopped
½ cup chorizo (about 4 ounces)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup olive oil
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Cook chorizo over medium-high heat in a skillet according to package directions. In the last two minutes of cooking, add diced jalapenos and continue cooking. Place cooked meat on paper towel-covered plate, then blot top side dry with an additional paper towel. Set aside.
Toss together cheddar cheese and meat and pepper mixture in a small bowl.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil and egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add in cheese mixture and distribute evenly.
Divide batter evenly among the 12 cups. Bake for 20 minutes, allowing them to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes: These are very dense and somewhat dry. The spice of the chorizo and jalapenos are noticeable, but they do not dominate the flavor profile. I think, if I cooked them again, I'd finish the preparation process by topping them with a little more cheese. You can't go wrong with more cheese.
Nutella-banana chimichangas
(Adapted from a recipe found at dessertfortwo.com)
4 cups canola oil
1 small banana
2 tortillas (soft taco size or about eight inches in diameter)
2 tablespoons Nutella hazelnut spread
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
Handful of chopped hazelnuts (optional)
In a cast-iron skillet, heat canola oil to 350 degrees.
Warm the tortillas for about 20 seconds in a microwave. Dice the bananas and mix with cinnamon, cayenne and nuts. Spread 1 tablespoon of Nutella into the center of tortilla, making a small rectangle. Add half the spiced bananas into the center area of the tortilla. Carefully fold and roll tortilla, enclosing the spread and the banana mixture. Secure all ends with a toothpick, making sure the internal ingredients will not be exposed to the hot oil. Repeat the process for the other tortilla.
Drop the wrapped tortillas carefully into the hot oil. Fry for about 1 minute on each side. Remove from oil, then place on paper towel to drain the chimichangas. Serves two.
Notes: These are delicious. The oozing of the hazelnut spread and the subtle spice of the pepper in the banana mixture makes for a complex flavor profile. The recipe site I found this one on -- dessertfortwo.com -- does as the title implies, so it yields a small amount. For me, it's a lot of trouble to get that much oil hot for so little product, so it might be a good excuse to make meat-filled chimichangas as a main course and then fry these for dessert in the same oil. Or you can just make more of the Nutella chimichangas, because one per person may not be enough.
NAN Life on 04/02/2014