Recipe - California Style Huevos Rancheros

1 tablespoon Olive oil
One half Mediumsize onion, chopped
Three fourths cup Tomato juice, OR One half cup
tomato sauce thinned with 2
Tbsp water
1 small Clove garlic, minced
3 Whole chiles, parched,
peeled and chopped, OR 4 oz
Canned whole green chiles,
chopped
Three fourths teaspoon Ground cumin
One fourth teaspoon Ground Mexican oregano
One half teaspoon Salt
4 Corn tortillas
4 To 8 eggs
2 Avocados, peeled and thinly
cut or sliced up lengthwise
One half cup Grated Monterey Jack or
Cheddar cheese
4 Lettuce leaves, coarsely
chopped

...Serve fresh fruit, warm wheatflour tortillas, sweet butter, honey and
coffee for a great brunch.

1. In a mediumsize saucepan, heat the oil, add the chopped onion, and fry
over medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add tomato juice, garlic,
chiles, herbs, and salt. Reduce heat to simmer for about 10 minutes. Sauce
can be made a day or hours ahead of time and left at this point.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Warm the tortillas by wrapping in foil
and placing on the 4 serving plates (Mexican pottery if possible) in the
warm oven. At the same time, warm the extra tortillas you are serving as
bread.

3. Poach the eggs, using an egg poacher or a frying pan of hot water with
2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt added. First break an egg into a
cup, then stir the water in the frying pan vigorously in a circular motion.
As you stir, slide the egg from the cup into the water. Cover the pan when
all eggs have been added.

4. To assemble the dish, place a tortilla on a plate. Top with a circle of
avocado slices, then arrange a drained poached egg (or 2 eggs) on top,
spoon sauce over, and sprinkle with cheese. Place in the oven until cheese
melts. Add the lettuce garnish after the cheese has melted.

Variation: Instead of the tortillas, rinse large "cupped" iceberg lettuce
leaves and serve the eggs topped with sauce in the lettuce leaves.

Makes 4 servings.

From: JANE BUTEL'S TEXMEX COOKBOOK by Jane Butel, Harmony Books, New
York. 1980. ISBN 0517539861 Shared by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 6/93

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini