Recipe courtesy of Fany Gerson
Divorced Eggs: Huevos Divorciados
- Level: Intermediate
- Total: 1 hr 45 min
- Prep: 30 min
- Inactive: 5 min
- Cook: 1 hr 10 min
- Yield: 4 servings (2 eggs each)
Ingredients
Red Ranchera Sauce:
1 1/4 pounds ripe tomatoes (about 4 medium)
1 serrano or 1/2 jalapeno chile, chopped, with the seeds
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup chopped white onion
Salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Green Tomatillo Sauce:
1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1 serrano or small jalapeno chile
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/4 cup chopped white onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 corn tortillas
8 eggs
3/4 cups queso fresco, crumbled, optional
Directions
- Serving suggestions: refried black beans and fresh-squeezed orange juice
- For the red ranchera sauce: Turn the oven or toaster oven to broil and line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
- Core the tomatoes and place on the sheet pan. Broil the tomatoes until the skin is black and the flesh feels soft, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool until you can handle. Peel the skins.
- Put the peeled tomatoes with their juices in a blender with the chopped chiles, garlic, onions and a bit of salt.
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over moderate heat. Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the blended mixture (be careful as it may splatter a bit). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has changed color to look more brownish, has lost most of its foam and has thickened slightly, 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and add a bit more salt, if needed.
- For the green tomatillo sauce: Put the tomatillos and chile in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Put on a loose lid and cook over a moderate flame, adjusting the heat as needed so it's at a simmer, until the tomatillos change color from bright green to a deeper green, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes, and then carefully drain the tomatillos. Blend these in a stand mixer or hand held blender together with the garlic, onion, cilantro and a bit of salt. Blend until it is all mixed well but you should still see all the little tomatillo seeds.
- Rinse and dry the pot you cooked the tomatillos in and place over a moderate flame. Add the oil and, once it's hot but not smoking, carefully pour in the blended tomatillo sauce (be careful as it may splatter). Cook at a simmer until it has slightly thickened, adding about 1/4 cup water if the mixture seems thick like a paste. It should coat the back of a spoon but still be pourable. Taste and add salt if needed. (Sometimes tomatillos can be a bit tart so you can add up to a teaspoon of granulated sugar to balance it out.)
- Once you are ready to make the eggs, have your sauces warm and your plates ready. Heat 1/2 cup oil in a large pan over moderate-high heat. When you dip the tortillas and see small bubbles in the edges, the oil is ready. Using a pair of tongs, dip the tortillas 1 at a time for a few seconds per side just to soften, and then drain over a paper towel or a paper bag. Cover with foil to keep warm. Save any remaining oil and use it to cook the eggs.
- To cook the eggs, put a large pan or skillet over moderate heat with a little of the reserved oil. Break as many eggs as can fit in the pan. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and cook until the whites are cooked but the yolks are still runny (sunny side up). Continue cooking the eggs until you have cooked them all. (You can put the fried eggs on a sheet pan and keep warm in a low temperature oven.) Put 2 tortillas on each plate and 2 sunny side up eggs on top of that. Ladle red sauce over 1 egg and green sauce over the other. Sprinkle queso fresco on top, if desired. Serve with refried black beans and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Cook’s Note
In Mexico we have an enormous variety of egg recipes but this is one of my favorites. We are known, amongst other things, for our free spirit and sense of humor. Case in point - naming a breakfast dish divorced eggs. The name comes from the fact that the dish is made with 2 different colored sauces, a green one and a red one, which can be prepared ahead of time and reheated.
