Breakfast Tacos from Texas
When I lived in Houston, I’d eat breakfast tacos almost every morning. I had three favorite food joints. First, Mission Burritos is an outstanding place to eat - tasty bacon, tasty eggs; it’s one of the main reasons I’d like to visit Houston again before I move to Michigan. Next, there was a pizza place just a block from the house I was renting…the pizza they sold was crap, but they made breakfast tacos with big hunks of potato. Finally, a woman who volunteered for the Parent Teacher Organization at the middle school where I worked made tacos to raise money for the school. These, too, were potato-based, but had some serious heat. The following recipe - see bottom of post - steals liberally from all of my favorite Texan breakfast tacos.
If you’re new to the world of breakfast tacos, or new to cooking in general, take a look at the following video. You’ll walk away from it with a basic recipe for homemade flour tortillas and two different kinds of breakfast taco filling. The technique used for the egg and potato filling is the same technique i recommend below, but I use riced potatoes rather than diced.
Breakfast Tacos, DQ Style
Ingredients
-3 baking potatoes (about 1 lb)
-2 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
-1 small white onion, diced
-1 jalapeño, diced (or, if you want less heat, seeded and diced)
-salt and pepper
-6 eggs
-2 tablespoons of half and half (OR 1 tablespoon of sour cream and 2 tablespoons of no fat milk)
-1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
-Flour tortillas
-Cooked bacon, cooked chorizo, or refriend beans (optional)
-Salsa
Process
-Peel, quarter, and boil potatoes until cooked through (about 20 minutes).
-While potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a large, no-stick pan. Saute diced onion and diced jalapeño at medium heat until onions are soft (about 10 minutes).
-When potatoes are cooked, run them through a ricer (here’s a link to the one I use), and add potatoes to the onion/jalapeño mixture. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Take the mixture off heat.
-In a bowl, whisk eggs and half and half together until blended. Add eggs to potato/onion/jalapeño mixture and place on low heat. Stir continually until eggs are cooked.
-Add cheese to mixture, stir until melted. Take off heat.
-Place a nice dollup of mixture into tortilla and add bacon, chorizo, or refried beans if using. Serve with salsa.
NOTE - I’m making these tomorrow, but using burrito-size tortillas. After enjoying as much as my tummy will hold, I’ll make a couple more burritos and freeze them for easy, throw-’em-in-the-microwave, weekday meals.
