Bring the hearty taste of Heuvos Rancheros to your breakfast table.
On a recent visit to Austin, Texas, I ordered one of my go-to Mexican dishes at this great little diner, Joann’s Fine Foods, Heuvos Rancheros. Heuvos Rancheros or Ranch Eggs was a breakfast dish created for the work hands on the ranches in Mexico. After hitting the land early, the workers would be ready for another meal or a second breakfast by 11 am. It consists of eggs done any style, tomato salsa sauce, refried beans (you can serve this in paste consistency or leave the beans more whole), tortillas (flour or corn), and avocado or guacamole. It is a hearty dish making it perfect for a late breakfast or brunch on the weekends.
It is pretty simple to replicate at home. The key is the salsa or sauce you serve over the eggs and can sop up with your tortillas. It tastes best if created with fresh ingredients, but you can speed preparation using canned or prepared ingredients as substitutes. They come in handy, especially when items might not be in season. It is one of those dishes I like to try when visiting a new Mexican restaurant for comparison.
How to Make Heuvos Rancheros
Ingredients:
2 brown eggs or farm fresh
1 cup refried beans or canned beans
2-3 corn or flour tortillas, warmed
1/2 avocado sliced or 1/4 cup mashed into simple guacamole (optional)
Queso Fresco (optional)
Cilantro (optional)
For sauce:
1 medium jalapeno chile
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes
1 medium-sized white onion
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano (Mexican oregano if you have it)
1/4 cup water
Pinch Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
To make the sauce/salsa:
You want to roast or blister your vegetables. You can do this over a flame on the grill or under a broiler. Char the chile and tomatoes until blistered all over. You can then let them cool in a brown paper bag. Peel, seed, devein and chop the tomatoes. The jalapeno can be chopped with seeds or remove seeds for less heat.
The garlic and onion can be pan-roasted and then minced and chopped, respectively. The roasting and blistering is the real kicker here. I do this with a lot of my salsa and even the ingredients I use in my guacamole.
In a bowl, mix your roasted ingredients with the remaining sauce ingredients. Warm it or serve at room temperature. Makes roughly 2 1/2 cups. Set aside.
Now that your tomato salsa is ready, you can prepare your eggs and other accompaniments. I like to have mine over easy.
To plate. You can either use the tortillas as a base or serve on the side for wiping up the fantastic combinations. Place the two eggs on the plate or top the tortillas. Pour salsa over the eggs leaving the middle yolk area visible. Place the beans and avocado on the plate alongside the eggs. Garnish with Queso Fresco and fresh cilantro. You can add sides such as hashbrowns, chorizo, or bacon to make it even heartier.
To quicken things up, I would use canned tomatoes with chile or add canned chopped jalapeno to the canned tomatoes. After roasting them, I would still use my chopped onion and garlic and add the tomatoes with chile right into the pan—warm through and season with the cumin, oregano, and salt.
Lisa Rossmeissl is the owner of Boomerang Escapes, a home-based agency located in Old Bridge, New Jersey with agents in TN, MS, and WI.
She has been a professional travel consultant since 2008 and specializes in Australia and the South Pacific. Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, and Cook Islands are among the specialist certificates she holds. Her agency’s focus is on creating custom itineraries with their client’s wants, desires, and budgets in mind. She and her planners believe in getting to know the traveler to ensure they have a vacation to remember. With each planner specializing in a different market area, Boomerang Escapes can offer a wide variety of leisure vacation planning.
