Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ode to Breakfast Relleno



Your life is not complete if you live in Dallas and have not gone to Cafe Brazil.  The food is all good, though most of it is good in a general sense, not a "wowowowow" sense.  It's... the character of the place.  The offerings of art on the walls.  The kind of crazy people who are there at 2 am (now why would I know anything about that???).  Go. Experience. Enjoy.

If, while you are there, you experience the breakfast relleno, then you are among the most blessed, at least in my opinion.  If you are not in Dallas or not interested in going to CB, well, I still have an answer for you.

This is my copycat recipe, and I must say I stand by it.  It is VERY rare that I would rather eat something I cooked when, ceteris paribus, I could eat it at a restaurant.  This, my friends, trumps the restaurant version, and I attribute that to the sauce, which here has a fresh vibrance because of the herbs and veggies.  


Furthermore, I have spent $11.19 (including tax and tip) many times to experience the gloriousness that is an egg-and-cheese-and-creamy-jalapeno-sauce-stuffed poblano with fried sweet potatoes, but no more.  Now I spent this grand total to make 8 bad boys:  11.88.  That means 1.49 per serving, including sweet potato fries.  Broken down: $1.5 for poblanos, $.1 for eggs, $1.50 for cheese, 2.99 for chorizo, .77 for bell pepper, .50 for sour cream, .12 for cilantro, .50 for more cheese, 3 for fries. 


Plus, at my house, we always have crazy people, art on the walls, and cats to boot.  So one could say that Cafe Brazil ain't got nothin' on us.

The recipe for the sauce comes from this lovely lady.  

Ingredients:
Peppers:
8 poblano peppers
12 eggs
1 c shredded cheddar or Mexican cheese
1 lb Mexican chorizo

For sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cilantro
2/3 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste

To make it happen:  
1) Roast poblanos at 400while you do the following 2 steps.  If you want sweet potato fries, slice em up and put them in while you roast the peppers.  They take about 25 minutes at 400 when they're chunky.
2) Crumble and cook chorizo in skillet on a stove. Remove chorizo to a bowl
3) Cook eggs in the greasy greasy chorizo skillet. Mix eggs and chorizo.
4) Get poblanos out. Slit and devein/seed the peppers.  Stuff peppers with egg/chorizo mix and top with a sprinkling of cheese.  Pop in the oven for 7 minutes-ish
4) Meanwhile, create sauce by cooking the onions, bell pepper, salt and garlic in the olive oil.   Then, place the veggie mixture into a food processor with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, cayenne and black pepper. Swirl away! Scrape down as you need to.
5) Top with sauce and serve.

I serve with sweet potatoes on the side or underneath. Salty, savory, sweet... this has it all!  340 calories including the sweet potatoes....

2 comments:

  1. We are flattered that you were so inspired by our dish! Thanks for the post!!

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  2. I am so amused you found my recipe! While I stand by my cilantro sauce, I will indubitably be in soon. There are not 16 varieties of coffee available at any given time in my house, and tongue-in-cheek though I may be, the people watching is better chez vous:-).

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