Mexican Baked Eggs

My journey as an ex-pat has encountered a few bumps along the road. Consumed by the excitement of our adventure in America I was initially swept along and kept afloat by the momentum of the move. I didn’t have time to miss much at first as we thrust ourselves into “tourist mode” in our new home town of Chicago.

With our most basic needs satisfied, I felt safe each time I shut the front door to our house. Cocooned within four walls amongst all our familiar belongings, we had created a recognizable interior landscape.

But the calm follows the storm, and with it a new reality dawns. We settled in over the following months and we welcomed a succession of visitors. I felt ecstatic when folks arrived, and deflated when they departed taking with them good memories of our time together plus the the reminders of all we were missing back home. During this period I would go so far as to say that at some point I was anxious of friends’ arrivals because ultimately I would have to say goodbye.

As the home ties pulled tighter over time, the ones I’d been carefully nurturing in our new city and country were beginning to strengthen too. That tug of war ended without a clear winner, but I’d learned a new respect for all that I had before and all that I have now.

From learning a new language to becoming accustomed to everyday life in a new country, we’re only truly comfortable when we achieve a degree of fluency. That doesn’t require abandoning origins and familiarity with home, but having an intimacy with the new one.

Wherever you may land, getting to shop and eat in the patchwork of ethnic neighborhoods has given us a greater understanding and appreciation for different cuisines and their ingredients. My husband refers to Huevos Rancheros, his favorite traditional Mexican dish, as “the breakfast of Kings”. Using our basic ratatouille recipe from last week, we’ve come up with a good alternative.

Prep Time 10 minutes              Cooking Time 7 hours on LOW Servings 4

Ingredients

Sunkissed Provencal Ratatouille recipe
2 x 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 fresh green chili, serrano or jalapeno chopped
4 eggs
tortilla
feta cheese, crumbled
cilantro

Make the ratatouille according to the recipe and cook on LOW for 6 hours. After 6 hours, add the two cans of tomato sauce and the chili. Using a stick blender, blend the mixture in the slow cooker. Taste and season accordingly.

Using the back of a spoon, make a shallow dip for each egg in the ratatouille and tomato sauce mixture. Carefully break the eggs into each dip one by one. Cover and bake for a further hour on Low.

Spoon over warmed tortilla and sprinkle with feta and cilantro.

Zen Moment

“Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserve; it is life’s undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room.”
~Harriet Beecher Stowe