Fell That Tree!

A hearty breakfast providing all the fuel
you need to be a lumberjack.
Or a couch potato.

First, a brief personal note: Like Britney, I know I shouldn't have kept you waiting. But I'm here now. Really, I have been ridiculously busy with my day job the past few weeks but I plan to spend some serious time over the next month hunkered down with cooking, eating, and updating What's in the Pot?. Your patience--those of you still with me--will be rewarded.

Second, Faux Gourmet Wants to Know: I wrote about airport food a few months ago, pleasantly surprised as I was to find a delightful eatery in PDX (Portland International Airport). Matt Gross wrote a great piece for the New York Times recently highlighting other great (or, in Chicago & LA's cases, not so great) places to get a meal between flights. He missed out by not traveling to Portland or Seattle; both have great food. Any of you (un)lucky enough to be stuck there during the present blizzard are probably having more time than you'd like to sample it. For my part, I like the wine flights at Vino Volo at Sea-Tac. The Faux Gourmet wants to know . . . What do you like to eat at airports?

And finally, a real update . . .

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Taste & See: The other morning I awoke to a snowy dusting covering my parents' home. After a stressful last few weeks & a harrowing trip back from the East Coast, I was delighted to stretch out in a lazyboy & relax, watching the snow fall outside as I sipped on a latte and perused the headlines. Ah, vacation.

As the various members of my family staggered into the front room in various stages of yawning sleepiness, I was inspired to cook a hearty breakfast for a cold day, the perfect fuel for hitching up the sleigh and trotting out to the woods to fell a Christmas tree. Not that I or anyone I know actually does that. But turns out my chorizo & egg breakfast burritors were also the perfect fuel for . . . lazing around the house enjoying vacation.

Chorizo is a spicy pork or beef sausage colored a peppy red by dried red peppers. You can buy it cured, in which case you can eat it by the slice (prosaically, with crackers, cheese, beer & football). You can also buy it raw, with or without casing. Chorizo is originally from the Iberian Peninsula but at least one version has long been a Mexican staple. (In fact, there's more or less a chorizo family tree.) Mexican-style chorizo has long been part of the cultural heritage of a good chunk of my little town--but the piquant, smoky flavor has also made fans of many of the rest of us.

Do It Yourself: A quick & easy meal with raw chorizo, my preference:

Stuffed Chorizo Sausages:

1. Flatten out about 3/4 cup chorizo into a rectangle.
2. Line one side with roasted red peppers and a mild, melting white cheese (I've used both White Cheddar & Asiago because I had them on hand; use your imagination).
3. Roll up like an eggroll to make a stuffed sausage.
4. Pan fry without oil (the meat has enough of its own fat) until cooked through.
5. Serve with a simple salad. Voila!

***
Chorizo con Huevos Breakfast Burritos:

For a hearty breakfast, I take my cue from chorizo con huevos, a popular Mexican dish. I make no claims of authenticity, per se, but I make big claims of deliciousness & ease, and that's enough for me.

What you need:
1 onion
1 lb raw chorizo
2 roasted red peppers (buy ready-to-use in a jar)
six eggs
1 can black beans
cheddar cheese
olive oil
large tortillas

Optional:
Avocado
Tomatoes
Salsa
Sour Cream


1. Dice the onion and cook til translucent in a large saute pan on medium heat in about a tablespoon of olive oil.
2. Open the can of black beans and cook over medium heat in a small sauce pan; rinse out the can with water and add to beans. Stir occasionally and if they start to boil, turn heat down. They should thicken while you're preparing the rest of the meal.


3. Add the chorizo (if in casing, remove) to the onions and cut up with heavy spatula like ground beef.
4. Dice the roasted red peppers and add to the chorizo when it is cooked all the way through.
5. Crack the eggs into a bowl and add to the chorizo, stirring constantly to mix the eggs in. They'll look a little different from your typical scrambled eggs but cooking the eggs & meat together integrates the flavor much better than cooking them separately & adding at the end.


6. To make each breakfast burrito:

• Toast each tortilla on a dry, hot saute pan for about 20 seconds aside.
• Add a scoop of the egg mixture, a few spoonfuls of black beans, and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese.
• Top with any of the fresh ingedients you desire. Cool tomatoes, avocado, sour cream & salsa are a good foil for the rich, salty egg & meat mixture.

Now go out & fell that tree!