Mexican Brunch

March 14, 2010 at 10:17 pm (Menus, Mexican & S. American, unrated)

Inspired by the delicious corn tortillas from Austin, I decided to host a tex-mex brunch.  I wasn’t sure how many people to invite, but we ended up with 9 people (including Derek and me), which was a reasonable number.  This was the menu:

• corn and white flour tortillas, and corn chips
• scrambled eggs, at the bottom of this recipe
• scrambled tofu with green peppers
• refried beans
• pico de gallo
• Frontera Grill salad made from 1 pineapple, 1 English cucumber, and most of a daikon radish, plus lime juice, salt, and chile powder
• guacamole
• grated cheese (only a few ounces were eaten)
• Frontera Grill margaritas (courtesy of Derek)

I was planning on everyone making their own breakfast tacos, but that plan didn’t work out so well.  I don’t think my guests had ever had breakfast tacos before, and I failed to explain the concept properly.  So people piled their tortillas with all the fillings, and then they were (of course) very difficult to eat, and messy.  If I serve a Mexican brunch again I think I’ll just serve tortilla chips and skip the tortillas altogether.  I’ll eat them myself 🙂

The grated cheese was hardly touched.  I don’t think it’s necessary.

I made the refries and the potatoes the day before, which worked out just fine.  They both reheated really well.  I made the scrambled tofu and the scrambled eggs right before we ate.  I would have preferred to crack all the eggs and beat them with salt and milk the day before, but I wasn’t sure if that would work.  Does anyone know?

I made half of the pico de gallo the day before, but added the lime juice, salt, and cilantro right before we ate.  Cook’s Illustrated says not to add these three ingredients ahead of time.  I can imagine the cilantro getting a little sodden, but I don’t see why the salt and lime juice shouldn’t be added ahead of time.  Maybe the liquid will separate from the tomatoes?  I can’t imagine this is an issue with canned tomatoes though.  Anyone know?

I made the guacamole right before we ate, but probably it would have been fine if I made it the day before?

The salad was tasty, but I cut all the veggies/fruit the day before, and I used the julienne blade on my mandoline to slide the cucumber and radish.  By the next morning tons of water had leaked out of the veggies (probably mostly the cucumber).  After adding a little lime juice the salad was drowning in liquid.  Next time I will cut the cucumber and radish into “french fry slices”, and I won’t cut the fruit or veggies until right before I want to serve the salad.

I would like to have another tex-mex brunch at some point.  Here’s what I would make for 8-10 people:

• 12 eggs
• 1.5 pounds tofu
• 4 cups of refried beans
• 1 quart of pico de gallo
• the same amount of pineapple / cucumber / radish salad as above
• homefries, using 3 pounds of potatoes
• 4 avocados worth of guacamole

Plus

• 1 cup of pre-prepared tomatillo sauce
• 2 small bags of tortilla chips

The game plan

The day before:

• Cook the beans.  Make the refries.  Store in the fridge in a 1.5 – 2 quart pot.
• Make the homefries.  Store in the fridge in an oven-safe casserole dish.
• Make the pico de gallo, but don’t add the cilantro.
• Make the guacamole, but don’t add the cilantro.

The morning of:

• Chop the cilantro and add it to the pico de gallo and guacamole.
• Crack the eggs and beat them with the milk and salt and pepper.
• Cut all the veggies for the salad, and dress with lime and salt and chile powder.
• Reheat the potatoes in the oven and the refried beans on the stove top.
• Scramble the tofu and keep it warm in the oven.
• Scramble the eggs and serve immediately.