How to make Colm O'Gorman's easy Mexican eggs, perfect for a family brunch

With chorizo and corn and a special roasted salsa roja, everyone will love this dish

This week’s recipe is a lovely Mexican dish that is perfect for a family weekend brunch. ‘Migas’ means ‘crumbs’ in Spanish, and the dish has its origins in Spain where stale bread is fried with other ingredients to make a popular breakfast or tapas dish. The Mexican version uses tortilla instead of bread, and always features scrambled eggs. It is a perfect brunch dish which can be prepared in about thirty minutes and then served in the middle of the table.

I use chorizo and corn in my migas. Use fresh corn on the cob if you can, it adds freshness and sweetness to the dish and works beautifully with the sweet sauteed onion and peppers. Slightly stale tortillas work best for this recipe. If you buy yours fresh, just remove them from the wrapper and let them dry out for an hour or so before you toast them. This is not essential, but it will give you a crisper tortilla chip. I toast my tortillas in the fat left over after crisping up the sliced chorizo. This adds some lovely flavour and a little colour to the tortilla wedges.

My roasted salsa roja is an essential component to this recipe, so do not skip it. It is easy to prepare and tastes fabulous. Once you try it, you will want to make it again and again. It is a perfect dip for tortilla chips, and lovely with loaded nachos. I always add a teaspoon of chipotle paste to my salsa as it adds some extra smokiness and a little more heat; if you prefer a milder salsa, just leave it out.

This recipe serves four to six people.

Mexican Eggs - Migas with Chorizo and Corn

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This lovely Mexican dish is perfect for a family weekend brunch

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Roasted Salsa Roja

• 2-3 plum tomatoes, about 200g

• ½ small red onion

• 1 whole red chilli

• 1 tsp chipotle paste (optional)

• A handful fresh coriander

• Juice of one lime

• Salt and pepper to taste.

• Migas

• 6-8 corn tortillas

• 150g spicy chorizo

• 1 medium onion

• 1 orange or red pepper

• 1 ear corn on the cob

• 8 eggs

• Salt and pepper

• 100g vintage cheddar

• To Serve

• 1 ripe avocado

• 3 spring onions

• Some fresh coriander

•  

Method

1. Begin by making the salsa roja. Heat a heavy based non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Wash the tomatoes and chilli. Peel the onion and the garlic and cut the onion into quarters. Pop the tomatoes, onion, chilli and garlic into the hot pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cover with lid and roast the vegetables, turning them a few times to ensure that they cook evenly, until the tomatoes and chilli start to blister, and everything is a little charred all over. About eight to ten minutes will do it.

2. When they are done, cut the stalk off the chilli and chop it into chunks. Put all the roasted vegetables into the bowl of a food processor along with the coriander and the chipotle paste if you are using it. Pulse a few times until you have a slightly chunky salsa. Pop the salsa into a bowl and stir in the freshly squeezed lime juice. Season to taste with some flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside while to get on with the rest of the dish.

3. Cut the tortillas into wedges, you should get about twelve wedges per medium sized tortilla. Slice the chorizo and pop it into to a large non-stick frying pan over a medium/high heat. You do not need to add any oil as there is plenty of fat in the chorizo. Fry until the chorizo starts to crisp, then remove it from the pan using a slotted spoon so that you leave behind all the oil from the chorizo. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and then pop on a handful of the tortilla wedges, cooking them for a minute or two on each side until they are toasted and golden. Pop the toasted tortilla onto a wire rack to cool when you remove them from the pan. As they cool, they will crisp up beautifully. Repeat in batches, adding a little more olive oil if required until all the tortilla are toasted.

4. Peel and slice the onion and the red pepper. Stand the ear of corn on one end in a bowl and use a sharp knife to cut away all the kernels. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil the same pan that you used to toast the tortillas and return it to the heat. Sautee the onions over a medium heat for a few minutes until they soften and then add the red pepper. Cook for another two to three minutes and add the corn.

5. Crack the eggs into a bowl, season with a teaspoon of flaky sea salt, a good grind of black pepper and whisk to combine.

6. Add two thirds of the toasted tortilla wedges to the frying pan and toss to combine them with the vegetables. Spoon over three to four tablespoons of the salsa roja and then pour over the egg mixture. Reduce the heat to low and cook for a few minutes until you see the egg at the edges of the pan begin to crisp and solidify. Scatter over half of the cooked chorizo and the grated cheddar.

7. Put the pan under a hot grill until the cheese melts and bubbles and the egg is cooked through. This will only take about five minutes under a hot grill but do keep an eye on it as you do not want to overcook the eggs. While it is finishing under the grill, wash and thinly slice the spring onion and peel and cut the avocado into 1cm sized chinks.

8. When the cheese is bubbling, remove the pan from the grill. Sprinkle the remaining cooked chorizo, chopped spring onions and avocado over the migas, and then scatter with some roughly chopped fresh coriander.

9. Serve your migas in the pan in the middle of the table, with a bowl of salsa roja and the remaining toasted tortilla wedges on the side.