Lola's Cocina

This Mother’s Day, spoil your madre with a breakfast made for champions by preparing a DIY tostada bar. Once the prep work is taken care of, you can relax with your familia and eat tostada after tostada to your heart’s content. Read More…

As my familia continues to grow I have momentarily taken a break from the blog, but couldn’t resist sharing this recipe with all of you. I recently set out to whip up a quick papas con chorizo breakfast but soon realized that I only had sweet potatoes in the pantry.

After contemplating a run to the market, I decided to improvise on my traditional recipe and add a healthful twist to it by using the sweet potatoes that had been bypassed for over a week. To my pleasant surprise, the flavor combination was spectacular and my new recipe was an immediate hit with Amado and Michael. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention and this little creation was so good that I simply had to share it.

To save time, I used pre-made sopes that simply had to be fried before enjoying them.

Fresh ingredients like cabbage and radishes add fun color, texture, and flavor.

The best part about this dish is that I prepared the toppings in advance and whipped up these flavorful sopes the next day in a snap. And like all Mexican breakfasts, they can be enjoyed morning, noon, or night.

Yields: 12 sopes

Ingredients:
4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
10 ounces soyrizo
½ cup frying oil, divided
2 cups refried beans*
12 pre-made corn sopes
¼ small purple cabbage, finely shredded
5 medium radishes, thinly sliced
¼ pound queso fresco, crumbled

Preparation:
Heat three tablespoons of oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot, add sweet potatoes (test one to make sure it sizzles when added) and cook until slightly soft, about 10 minutes, flipping after five minutes.

Once soft, move potatoes to the edges of the pan and add soyrizo to the middle, breaking it down into smaller pieces with a wooden spatula. Allow to cook for three minutes before mixing with sweet potatoes. Add lid, lower flame to low, and cook an additional 10 minutes until sweet potatoes are soft but not mushy.

In a separate frying pan, add the remaining oil and fry sopes until golden brown, about one minute on each side. Remove from pan and drain excess oil onto a dish lined with a paper towel.

To serve, add a layer of refried beans, then sweet potato mixture. Top with shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, queso fresco, and your favorite salsa.

*Homemade Refried Beans: add 1.5 cups of Peruvian beans (or your favorite beans) to a crockpot with ½ large onion, 1 head of garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and salt (to taste). Cover the beans with approximately four inches of water and set crockpot on low for 8-10 hours. You can do this a day in advance. Next, in a medium pan, add 2 tablespoons frying oil. Once hot, add drained beans with ½ cup of bean broth to the pan and mash. Simmer until beans reach desired consistency and dryness, approximately 10 to 15 minutes – beans should not be watery or overly dry. Refried beans tend to dry out once cooled, so add more bean broth if this happens. Alternatively, feel free to used canned beans to make the refried beans or used simply reheat canned refried beans to save time.

These Chilaquiles with Beef Chorizo and Spicy Chipotle Crema are an ode to my madre. She is the inspiration for many of the recipes I share here on Lola’s Cocina and the reason I developed a love of cooking at the ripe old age of eight. On one of my recent visits to California, she taught me how to make her homemade chilaquiles. I’ve taken her recipe and added my own sazón to it using Cacique® products.

You can find my full recipe (and many other tasty recipes!) on the Cacique® #GoAutentico blog. Check it out and treat someone special to a meal inspired by my beloved México lindo y querido.
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Homemade chilaquiles, Photo credit: Lola’s Cocina

Chilaquiles [chee-la-key-less] have always been one of my favorite Mexican breakfast dishes. This particular recipe is one that I made alongside chef and restaurateur, Oscar Carrizosa, who teaches hands-on cooking classes at Casa Crespo in Oaxaca.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit this area of Mexico, I highly recommend that you take one of the many cooking classes taught by Oaxaca’s local chefs and home cooks. You will most definitely be pleased with the variety of new dishes you bring home to share in your own kitchen. Until then, I hope that you enjoy this recipe that hails from over 2,000 miles away!    Read More…