My good friend Bev is coming over to watch Wimbledon this
morning. A great excuse to get together, watch some awesome tennis, catch up on
life, and drink a little bubbly. Who
could ask for more?
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| Things get really quiet when folks tuck into this one... followed by, "There's seconds, right?" |
Bev and I are both SoCal Expats, and former members of the
Orange County (California) marketing and communications community. Funny thing is, we didn’t meet
until she moved to Chapel Hill a few years ago. A mutual friend connected us and we’ve been fast friends
every since. It is so fun to
explore your new home with someone who understands where you’ve come from. I love my time with Bev.
So when the weekend rolled around we started looking for a
place to have brunch while watching the Men’s Finals Match. Much to our dismay, we struck out on
two counts:
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| Ortega chilies and vine ripe tomatoes. |
1) Places that are open for breakfast at 9am on Sunday don’t
typically have TVs
2) Restaurants can’t serve alcohol in North Carolina before noon
(big sigh)
Not to be deterred, we decided to get together at my
place. I’ve been wanting to write down the Mexican Tortilla Strata recipe I created for our 4th
of July brunch in the mountains last weekend. So I can make a second batch and actually pay attention. Bev can bring a fruit salad. Steve can pop the cork on a bottle of champagne for us
before he heads out to golf. Again
– who could ask for more?
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| The final layer of low fat Mexican Cheese blend from Sargento |
The strata is in the oven as I write. The house smells marvelous. My gal pal
is on her way and awesome tennis is ready to start.
And that’s about as good as it gets.
Wimbledon Brunch
(Mexican Tortilla Strata)
Serves 4-6 (can easily be doubled and made in a 13 x 9 to
feed a crowd
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| Piping hot from the oven |
Strata base
12 corn tortillas, cut into wide strips (4 per tortilla)
2 large
tomatoes, cut into thick slices
¼ cup deiced Vidalia onions (or other sweet onion from your
region, such as Maui onion on the West Coast)
2 cans of whole Ortega mild green chili peppers, torn into
wide strips
½ pound pork chorizo, browned and drained well (use lots of
paper towels and get out as much of the orange grease as you can.
2 Cups (one package) Sargento low fat shredded Mexican cheese (yes, do
your best to get Sargento as it will melt better. You can also grate a cheese
of your choice)
Egg Mixture –
whisk this REALLY well
7 large eggs
½ cup low fat milk
½ tsp ground cumin (I actually use a bit more, but I LOVE
cumin)
½ tsp chili powder
a good pinch of Kosher salt and lots of ground black pepper
Method:
The night before:
Assemble the night before and stash in the fridge:
Spray an 8x8 square baking disk with cooking spray, then layer the strata base ingredients in the following order:
- Tortilla strips
- Tomatoes (season with salt and pepper here)
- Onions
- Ortega chili strips
- Cheese
- Tortillas
- Chorizo
- Ortega chili strips
- Cheese
- Tortillas
- (save 1/3 of the cheese for the top after you add the egg mixture)
Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Cover with foil and put in fridge over night
The morning you are going to serve:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- Take the strata out of the fridge for about 30 minutes to come up to temp a bit
- Bake foil on for 30 minutes
- Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and a pick inserted into the middle comes out dry
Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes
Slice into wedges and enjoy.
Serving Suggestion: Great with a bit of avocado or guacamole. A sprinkle of queso fresco cheese is
also nice if you happen to have it on hand.
