Why my breakfast is better than yours

Last Friday's Breakfast:



First component: tomatillo-chipotle salsa. This stuff can literally be made, from start to finish in less than ten minutes. Take some tomatillos and boil them for a few minutes. Rick Bayless and other Mexican cooking authorities would cry foul here and claim that you need to roast them to concentrate the juices, to sweeten and lend a charred taste. My grandmother, Cecilia Gamez, says "well, yeah, they taste better if you roast them, but it's easier to boil them." In this particular preparation, you can't really tell the difference. The canned chipotles en adobo are so strongly flavored that any additional roastiness you may get from roasting is overshadowed by the smoked taste of the chile. So you simply boil the tomatillos, add to a blender with two or three chipotles and some roasted garlic (put under broiler for 5 minutes), a bit of sugar, and a bit of water to thin. Blend. That's it.

The potato cake is a bit more troublesome, but this is a leftovers meal. A couple nights before, I made some potato cakes--mashed potatoes, some chiles, some lime juice, a few spices, salt and pepper. They keep well. For breakfast, all that was needed was a few minutes under the broiler to crisp and heat.

And the eggs. Well, these were fried. One could poach as well, but I like the texture and taste of eggs with crispy whites, fried in olive oil. Simple. Stack and add some cilantro. Breakfast in under 15 minutes.