Breakfast Salsa Tacos - Leftovers Series

Usually when I make Carnitas Tacos from scratch there are leftovers. We threw a party for my father-in-law Bob on his 80th birthday this summer. There were 10 of us to feed and I cooked 2 whole pork shoulders (click here for my Pork Carnitas Recipe.) I also made homemade Pinto Beans and Mexican Rice. It was such a big hit, that all the Carnitas were eaten -- so no leftovers there.

To get the birthday party rolling I made 6 homemade salsas served with a big bowl of store-bought tortilla chips. Since the main entree, and the beans and rice, were made a day ahead, I wanted something fresh, so the salsas were made the day of the party with veggies, fruit and pungent dried (and rehydrated) chilis.

For my salsa party recipes, just click on any name listed here: Roasted Salsa Verde (tomatillo,) Red Chili (2 dried types - but same recipe,) Pico de Gallo, Mango, and Avocado Crema. I had a lot of salsa leftovers - mainly Mango, Roasted Salsa Verde and the 2 Red Chilis. Not that the guests didn't like the leftover ones, they raved about them, especially the Mango Salsa, I just made a lot.

So the easiest way I thought to use up the salsas was to make Breakfast Salsa Tacos. I combined two of my favorite Mexican Taco recipes, Scrambled Eggs with Refried Beans, and Mexican Chorizo and Eggs (click on the names to see the complete recipes.)

Homemade salsas are so delicious and will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 to 7 days. And the cooked salsas, Red Chili and Roasted Salsa Verde (tomatillo,) can be frozen for later use.

My homemade salsas add appetizing color and intense flavors. I also used Soy Chorizo that I get from my local 99 cent only Store. Corn tortillas, pinto beans and eggs are cheap too. It's quite impressive when you serve this colorful breakfast made from humble ingredients.

Using fresh made salsa is such a refreshing way to start the day. So read on as I take you step-by-step on my Breakfast Salsa Taco cooking journey.

Ingredients ( enough for 2-3 people)

• 4 eggs - I used large eggs.
• 3 to 4 tablespoons Mexican Chorizo - the soft kind. I used Soy Chorizo, okay to use beef or pork chorizo.
• 3 tablespoon cooked pinto beans - homemade or from the can.
• Corn tortillas - about 6 to 8. I used the small taquera or taco truck ones (measures 4 inches across.) Of course, okay to use regular larger ones. Also, you can use flour or wheat tortillas.
• A few teaspoons of cooking oil, or leftover pork fat and broth from Carnitas - which I used.
• No seasoning necessary as Chorizo and beans have plenty of salt - at least for me.

Directions
Get out the salsas to bring to room temperature, so they are ready to top your tacos.

In my original Chorizo and Eggs recipe listed above I cooked the two ingredients together. For this recipe I cooked the chorizo by itself, adding it to the Refried Beans and Eggs later.

I get things going by adding a teaspoon of oil (or leftover Carnitas broth/fat) in my frying pan, over a medium heat. I add the chorizo and cook and stir it until the liquid is cooked away the the chorizo is crumbly, but still a little moist - about 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove it from the pan when done and set aside. Add more oil if needed and spoon-in the 3 tablespoons of cooked pinto beans. Add a tablespoon of the liquid too. Use a fork and mash the pinto beans. You will form a chunky paste. Stir and heat beans through, about 3 minutes.

Now add the 4 eggs. I like to break the yokes and cook it a minute until the eggs start to set - without stirring. That way you get nice egg pieces and it's not all brown from over-stiring.

At this point see the paragraph below and start the tortillas heating up.

Once eggs are semi-cooked break it all apart and loosely stir it together. Just cook eggs until they are at your desired scramble doneness. About 3 to 5 minutes total.

(If you like your eggs well scrambled, so the white and yoke are blended, then mix eggs in a separate bowl, add them to refried beans. I would still let the eggs set for a minute, then start slowly mixing it all together.)

Once the eggs have cooked for a minute, that's when you start the tortillas heating up. I add a little pork fat or oil to a grill or frying pan and start heating the tortillas over a medium heat. If the tortillas cook too fast, then just drop the heat to low and stack the tortillas and flip them, from time-to-time, until eggs are done.

You can heat the torilllas a little or char them, it's up to you. It takes just 30 seconds, to a minute, for each side to heat through. It's okay to cook all the tortillas ahead and wrap them in a paper towel (to keep warm) and place them on a plate. You can even give them a 20 second microwave to reheat them when the eggs are done.

When the eggs are almost done, I move them to one side of the pan and add the cooked chorizo to heat it up, too. Cook eggs until desired doneness. You could also microwave cooked chorizo for 15 to 30 seconds, if your pan is too small.

That's it, now you just assemble the Breakfast Salsa Tacos by adding some eggs and chorizo to the warm corn tortilla and top with any salsa, or combination of salsas.

Hindsight
It's easy tweak the the main ingredients to balance the tacos your way. Do you like a lot of egg and no chorizo? How about mainly chorizo and refried beans? It's all good. Just break an extra egg or two, or add another scoop of chorizo and refried beans.

It's best to keep leftover salsa in the refrigerator until you get to cooking. Bring the salsas to room temperature before serving.

You can use a favorite cooking oil instead of leftover Carnitas broth/fat (if you are making these Breakfast Salsa Tacos from scratch.) And, of course, you can use your preferred jarred salsa, too.

Carnitas Bowl - Leftovers Series

What to do with leftovers? For this new series I'll give you some edible ideas. First up is a loaded Carnitas Bowl. You've come to the right web address to see many of my Mexican meals all brought together in one blog post with plenty of tasty recipe links.

I threw a party for a friend leaving Los Angeles for South Carolina. I gave him a choice from my cheap$kate repertoire of recipes, and he chose tender, slow-cooked, pork Carnitas Tacos. So, where he's going, that makes sense - good Mexican food is few and far between, there. And I have to modestly say that my Carnitas recipe is one of my best.

I also made pinto beans, Mexican rice, calabasitas, plus fresh red chile and green tomatillo salsas. The party and food was a hit. One of my guest, Ellen Bloom, is a talented local blogger and she wrote all about it - just click here.

Carnitas is a one pot meal (plus a frying pan to chrisp it up) of slow-braised pork shoulder cooked in Mexican cola, orange and lemon juice, onion, garlic, with bay leaf and dried oregano. Once the liquid starts to simmer, just walk away for a few hours until the pork is fall-apart tender. Simple to do and so succulent - it's my favorite protein from a taco truck or taqueria. My recipe, with a video, is a click away, here.

Pork shoulder is the cheapest pork, so I use it often. It's especially cheap at Latin markets, like these.

I could have stopped at Carnitas Tacos, but for a party you gotta have some variety, so I added beans and rice.

Put a pot of beans on and the kitchen will draw guest, from the tantalizing smell of my slow cooked beans recipe (click here.) The recipe link is for Black-eyed Peas, but it simple enough to substitute pinto beans; you just need to cook them an hour or two more to fully tenderize. (Black-eyed peas cook quicker than pinto beans.) For a vegetarian bean recipe (that uses red beans, so the cooking time is about the same) read my recipe and watch the video, here.

I used my Mom's recipe, here, for Mexican Rice. Plus I made a trio of salsas: chunky Pico de Gallo, Red Chile, and a green Roasted Tomatillo. Click on any salsa name to see the recipes.

I finally made a veggie stew called Calabsitas (click here) with squash, corn, onion, zucchini, tomato and Mexican cheese. I went down so well that very little was left over.

 It was too much of a delicious party and I had plenty of leftovers. So after a few days of Carnitas Tacos, to change it up, I started making Carnitas Bowls.

I first chop up some tomato, onion and cilantro. I had some extra cheese so i shredded a little bit. I took out some of my homemade Tomatillo Salsa, too.

In a large bowl I added the leftovers that needed microwaving: beans, rice and carnitas. I stored the carnitas with some of the marinade it was cooked in, so the meat stayed moist when heated.

The heated sauce also flavored the Mexican rice - so if you make my Carnitas recipe make sure to reserve plenty of flavorful cooked marinade.

After microwaving, for final assembly, I first added the cheese so it would soften from the heat. Next, I topped the bowl with the chopped tomato, onion and cilantro. And finally I spooned on some salsa.

It was so good. Over the next couple of days, the Carnitas Bowls lost a few ingredients as they were used up. But that's okay, each bowl was unique and all of them were delish.

My Carnitas Bowl is adaptable so make it your own. Add as much of the particular ingredients you like to balance the flavors in your favor.

Do try out my carnitas, beans and rice recipes and throw your own taco party. And make plenty so you can have leftovers to reward yourself with a tasty Carnitas Bowl.

Roasted Salsa Verde (Tomatillo Salsa)

Bright and tart, The 99 Cent Chef's Roasted Salsa Verde will have you emptying a bag of tortilla chips. So I apologize for showing you how to made a delicious salsa that you can't stop dipping chips into.

This taco truck favorite cools down any grilled carnitas or carne asada taco filling. It's always difficult choosing sides: spicy and smokey Salsa Roja (recipe here,) fresh chopped Pico de Gallo (recipe here,) or a tart Salsa Verde.

Los Angeles has Latin markets in almost every neighborhood, so it's easy to find the main ingredient in a Salsa Verde, tomatillos. Even some regular markets around town carry them. And they are certainly cheap enough, usually less than a dollar per pound.

Select a tomatillo that's pale to bright green (under the papery husk) and hard like an apple. You are basically making a dipping sauce for chips, veggies, or a topping for tacos, burritos and enchiladas.

Every Lating eatery make their own version. Some are made mild with boiled and crushed tomatillos, others are roasted sweet with black flecks of charred tomatillo and chiles (my version,) and at the Border Grill, here in LA, they do theirs super sour and fresh, with what must be barely cooked, or raw tomatillos! I love them all.

I like to roast my tomatillos with a bit of onion, garlic and a chile or two, then blender it all together. I find that baking the veggies makes a sweeter salsa. But you could just boil the tomatillos for a few minutes or more, the longer you cook them the less tart the salsa. (Next time I'm doing the boiling method for variety.)

So if you can find tomatillos by all means try out the Chintzy Chef's brightly flavored Roasted Salsa Verde - it will be a new favorite for you.

Ingredients (enough for a party of 3-5)

• 3 pounds of tomatillos - or about 10 medium sized tomatillos
• 1 whole large onion - white or yellow
• 1 clove chopped garlic - or 1/2 teaspoon from jar.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• 2 large chiles or a couple smaller ones - optional. Mild like a pastilla (poblano,) anaheim, or any peppers. Okay to add a jalapeno, but add a little at a time to desired spicyness.

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees, Peel off papery husk covering to reveal bright green tomatillos. Also peel a large onion and cut into quarters.

Spread out tomatillos, chiles, and chopped onion on a large cookie sheet (or large pan.) It's okay if veggies touch each other - you could even do some stacking if your pan is too small.

Bake for about 45 minutes until tomatillos start to brown/blacken. They do not need to blacken all over - same with the chiles. Okay to remove any ones early, that blacken too much. I like to have about half black/green tomatillos.

After roasting tomatillos, onion and chiles in the oven, remove and allow to cool about 5 minutes.

For the chiles, peel off some of the skin and remove the stems and seeds. You don't need to remove all the charred skin.

To a blender or food processor add the roasted tomatillos, chiles, onion and one teaspoon chopped garlic. Pulse/blend until smooth, about 30 seconds to a minute. (You can blend half the ingredients at a time if you have a small food processor like mine.)

Finally salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Hindsight
I made my Roasted Salsa Verde with mildly spicy chiles, but you could leave them out for a cooler version.

You can just low boil or steam the tomatillos and onions for about 10-20 minutes until soft. Or simmer for 5 minutes for a fresh and tart salsa. Finally blend it all together.

Salsa Verde will keep a week or so refrigerated.