Saturday Morning: Baked Huevos Rancheros

First we’re going to make the sauce. Which begins by preheating the oven to 400°F.

Put some olive oil in a saucepan and turn the heat up to a bit more than medium. Add a quarter of an onion (finely chopped), a quarter of a green pepper (finely chopped), a jalapeño or serrano pepper (seeded and minced), a minced garlic clove, and a quarter teaspoon of oregano. Sauté that for two or three minutes, until things are soft and browning. Add eight ounces of tomato sauce and one ounce of water. Reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.

Pour the thickened sauce into a shallow baking dish. Top with layers of tortilla chips. I used white and blue corn because colors are fun. Crack four eggs over the top. You can try to evenly distribute them but they’re eggs and they’ll go where they want.

Put that on a cookie sheet. Put that in the oven. Set the timer for 15 minutes while that bakes, clean up the mess you made. After one minute, realize that you forgot to put the cheese on it. Open the oven and sprinkle with grated monterey jack cheese.

When the timer goes off, check on the eggs. You want the eggs to be cooked but slightly runny. Time will vary depending on your oven. I accidentally overcooked my eggs. Which was actually okay because of the sauce, but still. The next time I make them I’ll set the timer for 10 minutes.

Serve that up, sprinkled with cilantro. (But not if your cilantro is yellow, brown, or black.)