Huevos Rancheros with Roasted Potatoes and Salad

I hate throwing away leftovers or leaving old groceries to rot, so this morning, I whipped up a quick and tasty brunch using a hodgepodge of remainders. (Last night, I prepared a Mexican dinner for Jason and Patrick, so there were some extra ingredients on hand.)

Huevos rancheros are a classic and easy brunch dish to prepare. The only two necessary ingredients are a tortilla, an egg, and some salsa. Everything else can be improvised. I fried an egg and topped it off with caramelized onions (sweet onions fried for 10-15 minutes), mushrooms, and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese and cilantro. You can also add peppers, refried beans, and  avocado slices. While frying the egg, I also tossed two tortillas on a hot pan to make them crispy. I had a couple leftover items from last night, homemade salsa and half a can of diced green chili peppers, which were used as garnishes.

The side of salad was dressed with a mango-pepper sauce, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. I roasted some potatoes I had lightly pre-fried for a Japanese curry last week. They never made it into that curry, so I seasoned them with cajun and chipotle powder and stuck them in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Patrick juiced apples, oranges, kiwi, and carrots, and voila — breakfast! I could cut down cooking time to 30 minutes if I did this regularly.

Many more meals to document in the next few days. Coming up: a post about my recent attempts to prepare a week’s worth of meals in one night.