Whenever we travel we always like to eat what the locals eat, no pizza (unless we are in Italy) or grilled cheese here – yes, I use to travel with people who would order these items no matter what country they were in, can you say “boring”!  Even though I had been to Mexico before, on our first morning in Sayulita, I was not sure what we were in store for besides the coffee ritual.  I was thinking it would be a pastry of some sort or maybe a breakfast burrito.  Our first breakfast we decided to pick a spot where locals were eating as we wanted to submerge ourselves into the breakfast culture.  The menu was basically eggs and egg related items.  We looked around and told the waiter we would have coffee and what the table next to us was eating as it looked great and it the plates had had chips it, where else could you get away with this for breakfast!  We were hooked!  The next 4 mornings our favorite breakast became a couple cups of surprisingly good coffee and a big platter of Chilaquiles (torillas cooked in sauce) with eggs.  Every morning I would wonder out loud, how could I make this at home, what could possibly be in the sauce.  I knew it was a tomato based salsa but the peppers were mildy sweet and spicy.  After our trip I kind of put the idea into the back of my mind and decided it would be one of those dishes I would save for our trips to Mexico.

I was flying back from Madison and decided to pick up the breakfast issue of Saveur at the airport.  I always love the photos in Saveur but I really  never make anything in them.  It is definitely more eye candy for me than anything else.  I squeeled with delight, when I started flipping through the pages and the first one I stopped at was a recipe for Chilaquiles.  I could not believe it!  It clearly was meant to be!  As a regular reader you know we really don’t do breakfast at our house, so I knew these dishes would clearly become dinner.

Tonight I decided to make eggs and “chips”.  The tomato based sauce was made of roasted fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic.  I had a couple dry farmed tomaotes so I used them as well as a plum tomato.  The sweet and spicy came from a can of Chipotle peppers.  The sauce was a bit more spicy then the one in Sayulita but it was smooth and as flavorful as the one we had.  This recipe called for Chorizo, which the Chilaquiles we had in Mexico did not have.  I found some fresh pork chorizo at the market and they definitely added some extra spice.  I used local made corn tortillias and lightly fried them with grapeseed oil to make the “chips” for the dish.   After making the sauce, adding the cooked chorizo and simmering the chips in it (for only a couple minutes), I topped it with scrambled eggs and Queso Cheese.  I whipped up some homemade refried beans, which was the first thing I ever learned how to cook as a kid, and served it along side the main attraction.  The end result was a dish that was spicy and very satisfying, not only did it bring back memories of Sayulita;  but, it became a new favorite comfort food for dinner.  Next time, we decided we would add a batch of blood orange margaritas, to make it more of a dinner instead of breakfast.

Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge:

Eggs – Local Sonoma

Chorizo – Local

Tomatoes – Local

Onions & Garlic – Local

Canned Chipotle Peppers – had on hand

Tortillas – Local Fairfax

Queso – Local Bodega Bay

Cilantro – our garden

Kidney Beans – Organic, had on hand

Butter – Local Petaluma

Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand