Favorites Week: Mexican Baked Eggs

Because I'm always trying out new things in the kitchen, sometimes I'll go long periods of time trying out and working on different techniques (and creating some delicious dinners in the process)... but forsaking the tried and true favorites. Sorry, favorites.

 Kenny is great about supporting me in my culinary adventures, always providing helpful and honest feed back, but also in drawing me back to the forsaken favorites. So after mandating Friday a taco night (taco recipie for another time... that recipie is one favorite to rule them all!) he proclaimed that this week shall be Favorites Week! And because all good things have a jingle, He began to sing "Happy Favorites Week to you..."; this is the man I love.

Day 1: Mexican Baked Eggs! These are very healthy, full of veggies and hitting all the right food groups, as well as low cal. And quick! And obviously delicious! You seriously can't go wrong. You can make them in individual ramekins, but I've found that they cook way faster in a cast iron pan (read: I did not know this and have accidentally turned eggs into rubber ... there might be a scientific discovery in there somewhere but it was NOT edible). 

Napolitos, or cactus, are available in specialty grocery stores or Hispanic grocery stores. They are prickly- if you are clumsy like me you will definitely get pricked once or twice. No pain, no cactus, right?  Because they are slimy, you need to salt them to make them edible. If you like olives, you'll like the salty crunch these bring to the dish. Además, es muy divertido comer cactus!

Mexican Baked Eggs

Serves 2

1/2 large white onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1 napolito cactus, salted and chopped*

1 jalapeño 

1 14oz can of diced tomatoes 

Splash of red wine 

1 1/2 tbsp chile powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

3 cloves garlic, diced

4 eggs

1 avocado, sliced 

1 lime, quartered

Cheddar cheese (optional)

First, peel and chop the cactus. Put in a small bowl and cover it with salt. Toss to coat. Let sit for a couple minutes. Then, rinse the cactus and let some of the slime out of the bowl. Once the napolitos are dry, add more salt and repeat the process. After the second rinse they should be mostly slime free and crunchy.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F.

Heat a tbsp of olive oil over medium heat in a cast iron pan. Sauté the onions until translucent. Add the peppers and continue to sauté for 5- 7 minutes. Add the chili powder, garlic, cumin and jalapeño to the pan and sauté for a minute or until fragrant. Add the red wine and reduce for 3 minutes. Add the can to tomatoes and their juices and reduce heat; simmer until there is no more excess liquid (about 10 - 15 minutes). Add the salted napolitos and combine.

With a spoon, create shallow beds in your mixture in which the eggs will sit. Crack eggs into pan, cover with cheese if desired, and put in the oven. Eggs need to cook for approximately 7 minutes- once they are set in the pan take out of the oven and serve immediately (they will continue to cook in the pan if you 

don't!). 

Serve with slices of fresh avocado and a lime. Buen provecho!