Chilaquiles

We teamed up with our friends Kent & Shannon Rollins to bring you a recipe from their new cookbook, Comfort Food the Cowboy Way. Find a link to order it after the recipe. We'll let Kent take it from here...

This dish is a bit like nachos that have been cooked in a traditional sauce of dried chilies, giving it a deep red sauce. Add in the chili de arbol if you like extra heat! This is typically made using dried corn tortillas, but you could use flour, if you like. Be sure to leave the tortillas out on the counter overnight so they dry out well, which will help them crisp up better when frying. This is topped with a fried egg, to make it a unique breakfast dish, but you can serve it up any time you have a hankering for some traditional Mexican food.

The Ingredients

• 3 dried chili cascavels, stemmed and seeded
• 3 dried ancho chilies, stemmed and seeded
• 3 dried guajillo chilies, stemmed and seeded
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4 Roma tomatoes, cored
• 1 white onion, sliced
• 1 to 2 chili de arbols, optional
• 3 tablespoons corn oil
• 8 (8 to 10-inch) corn tortillas, dried
• 4 large eggs
• Queso fresco, crumbled for serving
• Avocado, sliced for serving

The Steps

1. Place a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Heat to smoking then turn off. Add the cascavel, ancho and guajillo chilies and garlic. Press the peppers down slightly to toast slightly, turning them occasionally, 4 minutes.
2. Place the tomatoes, onion, contents of the skillet and the chili de arbol, if using, to a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil then turn the heat off and let set for 15 minutes, or until the peppers soften.
3. Strain the ingredients from the pot and place in a blender. Reserve 1 cup of the broth. Blend the contents until smooth.
4. In a large cast iron skillet, heat the corn oil over medium-high heat.
5. Cut the tortillas into chips sizes. Add the chips to the skillet, and toss to lightly coast with the oil. Continue cooking until the chips have evenly toasted, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Remove the tortillas and place on a paper towel.
6. Return to the skillet and pour in the red sauce. Stir in ¼ to ½ cup of the reserved broth and cook over medium heat until it comes to a hard simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.
7. Toss the tortillas chips into the skillet with the sauce until evenly coated. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more of the reserved broth, but you don’t want the sauce to be too soupy. Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes, but be careful not to overcook to where the chips get soggy. Set in a warm place.
8. Grease a medium skillet and add the eggs. Cook over medium heat until they are over-easy to over medium.
9. Top the chips with the fried eggs, queso fresco and sliced avocados. Serve immediately.

Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 40 min
Serves: 4

Find more recipes like this in Comfort Food the Cowboy Way. Order your copy here.

You can find Cowboy Kent Rollins on YouTube & Instagram.