Shrimp and Avocado Tacos

 

 

 

 

 

Adapted from Cooking Light

1 pound cooked shrimp, tails removed
Lime juice, to taste
Corn tortillas
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 avocado, sliced

1. Add the shrimp to a large skillet. Heat the shrimp over medium-low heat, until warmed through. Toss with lime juice.
2. Divide shrimp among corn tortillas. Top with feta and avocado slices.

Go Your Own Way: Huevos Rancheros (Crispy Tortillas with Eggs, Beans, and Salsa)

Part of being a cook is knowing where you draw the line. When you make a cake, will you make frosting from scratch too, or reach for a can? When you make pizza, will the dough be homemade or packaged? There’s nothing wrong with any of these options, by the way. Also, the line can be adjusted and crossed at any time, according to time and energy. But I have found that sometimes these lines are just a sneaky way of making myself feel bad.

You see, I sometimes get guilty over not doing  enough. When I saw this recipe for huevos rancheros, a dish I love, I balked at the suggestion of making ranchero sauce from scratch. It looked delicious, but also added time when I’m always in need of more quick weeknight meals. I didn’t want my huevos rancheros to be a project. Instead, I thought of using salsa, specifically a pico de gallo from our local grocery that I’m currently obsessed with. Nothing wrong with an easy substitution with something I love, right?

Except then a little voice spoke up, and it got bolder as I thought longer. Maybe you’ve heard this voice too—it’s the one that tells you you’re doing it all wrong, you aren’t trying hard enough, etc. This voice, in its insidious way, pops up all over my life, and while I think as I’ve gotten older I am better at calling it out and surmounting it, it still makes unwelcome appearances. In this iteration, it told me these huevos rancheros wouldn’t be good enough, authentic enough, or worth it if I wasn’t going to make sauce from scratch. I know this is ridiculous, but we all know that, and just because we’re rational beings doesn’t mean rationality can protect us always.

Luckily for all involved, I realized this thought pattern wasn’t helpful and, worst of all, it was preventing me from getting to what’s most important—in this case, a plate of one of my favorite foods. So I bought the pico de gallo. Back at home, I fried eggs, not caring a bit that some turned out lopsided because appearance doesn’t matter, just that the yolk is that perfect blend of runny and solid. I decided not to fry the tortillas one at a time in a pan and instead baked them together on a baking sheet, increasing the efficiency while still getting crispy tortillas. As you probably expected, the huevos rancheros turned out excellently, and they’re perfect for weeknights and summer time, too.

All this to say, if you want to make ranchero sauce from scratch, there is nothing wrong with that either. The important thing is that when the naysayer voice comes up, don’t let it get the power. Just go and do what you want to do.

Huevos Rancheros
Adapted from Breakfast & Brunch

Olive oil
12 eggs
1 30-ounce can refried beans
12 corn tortillas
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Salsa of your choice (I like pico de gallo)
2 avocados, peeled and sliced

1. Heat oven broiler. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Crack as many eggs into the skillet as its size will allow. Cook eggs to desired doneness, flipping to cook the yolk a little (or a lot), then transfer to a plate.
2. Scoop the refried beans into a medium-sized saucepan. Warm up the beans over low heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Spread the tortillas on baking sheets (they should not overlap) and brush the top of each with a little olive oil. Broil the tortillas, one sheet at a time, for 2 minutes per sheet. Turn the tortillas over and broil, one sheet at a time, 1 minute per sheet.
4. Spread the heated refried beans evenly among the broiled tortillas. Follow with a sprinkle of feta. Top each with a fried egg. Garnish with salsa and avocado slices.

Winning Winter: Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

I know that many others have said it already, but I am so over the rainy weather. Here in Seattle, we are blessed with more sunshine than people think, but this winter has lived up to the stereotype of a very rainy city. And when it’s not rainy, we have clouds.  Lots. Still want to move here, Silicon Valley techies?

Since I’m saving my money for other upcoming adventures, I have to devise strategies other than taking a vacation to a warm locale. Cooking helps, especially when I crave simple, warm meals that soothe me when I return home from another rainy walk. There’s something about delicious smells and tastes that makes snow-rain mixes a little more tolerable. Winter is a good time to take old standbys and turn them into something more luxurious, more special, to brighten up dark evenings.

That’s why adding goat cheese to these quesadillas is so brilliant. I know cheddar cheese is the standard, and for good reason, but adding creamy goat cheese to a quesadilla intrigued me. I will warn you, though, that this filling doesn’t have the appealing appearance of bright orange or yellow cheddar oozing in delicious meltiness. When you stir the goat cheese into the mashed black beans, the filling turns a light gray color that even vibrant green cilantro can’t save, looks-wise. Luckily it’s folded up inside a quesadilla, where no one will examine it too closely.

It’s worth getting past this appearance issue, because the filling tastes fantastic—it’s an appealing mix of textures, creamy with bits of bean and cilantro. You might worry, as I did (as I always do), that there isn’t enough filling. You might have thoughts of doubling it next time. But you don’t need to. You need just two, at most three tablespoons of filling per quesadilla, which you have to spread thinly so it’s easy to flip.

These quesadillas are best eaten right after they are made, when they are crisp on the outside and warm from the skillet. But it’s easy to enhance the leftovers with mashed avocado or salsa. If making food like this is how we’re going to cope with blah rainy weather, then I can be (at least a little more) patient for spring.

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas
Adapted from Amy’s

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
5 ounces goat cheese
1/3 cup chopped cilantro leaves
8 tortillas
Olive oil, for the pan
1 avocado
A little lime juice, to stir in with the mashed avocado

1. In a large bowl, mash the black beans until a chunky puree forms. Mash in the goat cheese until well combined. Stir in the cilantro leaves.
2. Spread 2-3 tablespoons of filling on one half of a tortilla (you should spread it thinly). Fold the side with no filling over and press gently to make sure the tortilla sticks to the filling and stays in place. Set on a plate. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
3. Heat a little olive oil in a skillet or grill pan over medium-low heat. Place as many quesadillas as you can fit in the skillet or pan and cook until browned on the underside, then flip and cook the other side. Repeat with remaining quesadillas, adding a little more oil between batches.
4. While the quesadillas cook, peel and mash the avocado in a small bowl. Add lime juice to taste (taste test as needed). Serve the quesadillas with the mashed avocado for spreading on top or dipping.

Then and Now, the Best Tortilla Soup

In high school, I had a bit of an obsession with tortilla soup. It was a very focused obsession: one tortilla soup, one restaurant (which is kind of a feat considering the place I grew up, a small island near Seattle, has three Mexican restaurants). This tortilla soup, at Casa Rojas, with its chicken, strings of melted cheese, avocado slices, and flavorful broth, had me in its grasp for a while.

But then I moved out and went to college, graduated, moved back home, then out again to Seattle, and tortilla soup never came up. The last time I went to Casa Rojas, which was something like five years ago, my friends and I got burritos that were inexplicably filled with peas. I probably don’t have to tell you that peas did not go down well in these burritos. It occurs to me now that, even though it was a hot summer day, I should have ordered the tortilla soup. But like I said, it had fallen off the radar.

And then, when tortilla soup was as far from my mind as it could be, it returned to my life. As I flipped through one of my notebooks of recipes clipped from here and there, I saw one for tortilla soup. Suddenly, the memory for the soup flooded back, followed by the craving to have it as soon as I could. But I didn’t want to get on the ferry and go to Casa Rojas; goodness knows they’ve started putting peas in the soup, too. Instead, I wanted to make it myself. I know it’s a gamble to try to replicate a favorite restaurant dish in a home kitchen, especially when you haven’t had it in many years, allowing plenty of time for its deliciousness to build up in your memory.

Obviously, that didn’t stop me, and what I ended up with is, I think, even better than what I started with. I could easily replicate everything I loved about the restaurant’s soup. And this is one of the easiest soups I have ever made. There’s really nothing stopping me from making this as often as I please, and especially now, with winter’s end still a ways off, it’s absolutely necessary. I made only a few slight changes to the recipe, including keeping the tortilla chips whole instead of crushing them. I like the whole chips poking out of the broth and soaking it up, delicious even when they’re a little soggy. Somehow, that still works.

One reason I think this soup tastes even better to me than the version from the past is that I’m in a better, happier place. Life’s just more fun now, and after all, those past times are only going to get further away. Best to find new ways to enjoy the present.

Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light

A little olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chicken broth
About 1 ½ pounds chicken breast, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
Tortilla chips
Grated cheddar cheese, for garnish
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Avocado wedges, for garnish

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, chicken pieces, water, chili powder, cumin, and diced tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let simmer 15 minutes.
2. Ladle the soup into bowls (make sure to leave room for all the garnishes!). Place a large handful of tortilla chips in the soup (adjust the amount to fit your preference and the size of the bowls). Garnish with cheese, chopped cilantro, and avocado wedges.

Back in the Kitchen: Sweet Potato Chili

A couple weeks ago, still recovering from the long flights home from South Africa (at least 22 hours in the air, plus more time on buses, trains, and going slightly delusional in the Dubai airport at 2 a.m.), I decided to get back into routine and cook. I didn’t order another round of takeout, as we did the night we got back.  Instead, I hauled my sleepy self into the kitchen to make sweet potato chili.

I wish this story were more inspiring—a home cook getting back into the kitchen after traveling to another country and eating different dishes, rejuvenated with new ideas and tastes. But the truth is, even though I wanted to cook, I also had a different opinion, voicing itself rather loudly, that peeling a yam and slicing an onion and getting everything ready was just too much work and, please, can I just sleep now? So while I managed to prep the vegetables and everything else, my thought process went like this: This probably won’t be that great, I’ll just make it, and that’ll be the end of that.

Sometimes it’s a great thing to be wrong. From the first bite of chili, I could hardly believe how sublime it was. It’s flavored just strongly enough with chili powder, with the sweetness of the yams adding a contrast not usually found in most chili recipes. There’s something luxurious about the texture; this one’s smoother, more subtle than other chilis. When you’re putting it together, it might seem like it needs more vegetables, or something else to fill it up, but trust me, it needs nothing else.

Except toppings, of course. We ate the chili with a lid of grated cheddar on top of each serving and sliced avocado on top of that. As usual, this combination didn’t disappoint. When I make this again, I’d love to serve it with buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, or challah bread. On the night I first made this, just putting the chili together was all I could do, but I could see another time (when I’m not in the grasp of jet lag) when I could make biscuits while the chili simmers and does its flavor-melding magic.

I’m thankful I pushed myself to make this chili and that despite my low expectations, it turned out fabulously. There are nights when ordering takeout is necessary, and others where it’s worth it to do your own thing.

Sweet Potato Chili
Adapted from Modern Jewish Cooking

¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced (optional)
1 large yam, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup water
Toppings: Diced avocado, grated cheddar cheese

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, yam, and brown sugar, stirring to coat with the oil. Let cook for 8-12 minutes, until the vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne. Let cook for a minute or so, then stir in the tomatoes (with their juice), balsamic vinegar, black beans, and water.
3. Bring chili to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Partially cover the chili and let simmer 15-25 minutes, until the chili thickens, stirring occasionally.
4. Serve chili with grated cheddar and diced avocado on the side for topping.

Tomatillo Treasure: Tacos with Salsa Verde

In the spirit of expanding my horizons and whatnot, I’ve lately experimented with ingredients I don’t use often. One of these was mascarpone cheese. Another was tomatillos, which resemble a green tomato and are wrapped in a papery husk oozing sticky sap. If you got past “sticky sap” and are still reading, congrats, because this unusual vegetable transforms into an excellent sauce.

Tomatillos are members of the nightshade family, and are a longtime feature of Mexican cuisine (a really long time—they were favored by the Mayans and Aztecs, or so Wikipedia tells me). I’d only used them once before, and it was to make these tacos in college. I didn’t use tomatillos again until just recently, and that’s a shame, because salsa verde—the most common use for tomatillos—deserves a place on tacos, burritos, nachos, chicken, and anything else you can think of that works.

I began by broiling the tomatillos, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Broiling for more than a minute or two makes me nervous. When I think about it I picture a grilled cheese sandwich emerging from the oven blackened after an attempt to broil it. That image has come to represent all my broiling anxieties, which I had to set aside in order to make this meal. The promise of something delicious often wins over worries (not unfounded, mind you) about burning the food. Luckily, it all turned out fabulous: the tomatillos were pleasantly charred, the thin crescents of onion cooked to perfection.

From there, the recipe was less stress-inducing. I blended the tomatillos with a generous bunch of cilantro leaves, which weave their distinctive flavor throughout the sauce. It’s vibrant, as bright and pleasant as new spring leaves. Served on top of beans, cheese, and roasted pepper and onion, the sauce elevates this meal to something beyond—and better than—a regular weeknight taco. (Full disclosure: I added more cheese to my tacos after taking these pictures.)

Tomatillos may not look like much, tucked away in the produce section (well, that’s how it is at our local grocery), covered in muted green husks that belie their ability to transform into a versatile sauce. Once you discover them, I think you’ll see why they have such staying power.

Tacos with Salsa Verde

Olive oil for greasing the baking sheet
¾ pound tomatillos (about 6), husks removed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 onion, sliced into crescent strips
1 bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced
1 cup (or more) grated white cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven broiler. Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil. Spread whole tomatillos and garlic cloves and sliced onion and bell pepper on the baking sheet. Broil for 6 minutes. Remove from oven, stir vegetables, and return to oven to broil 6 minutes more. The tomatillos should be charred in places and the onion and pepper should be soft and browned in some places.
2. Place cilantro leaves and roasted tomatillos and garlic in a food processor and pulse until a smooth sauce forms.
3. In a small saucepan, heat the beans over low heat. Heat the corn tortillas in the microwave or in the oven on low heat.
4. To assemble the tacos, place a couple small spoonfuls of black beans on a corn tortilla. Top with a couple bell pepper strips and onion slices. Top with a tablespoon or so of the salsa verde, avocado slices, and cheese. Repeat until the fillings and sauce are used up.

My Variation: Vegetarian Spring Rolls

Rice paper wrappers, so unassuming in their plastic bag, offer so much more than their bland appearance would suggest. Soak one briefly in warm water, and suddenly you have a durable, pleasantly chewy wrapper for all sorts of ingredients. I recently used them to craft vegetable spring rolls, a meal that welcomes endless variations.

The key here is to slice the filling ingredients thinly so you can roll the rice paper without tearing it or having to corral escaping vegetables. I removed the curved ends from a bell pepper so I had nothing but straight slices (the removed bell pepper bits didn’t go to waste, as Thomas made them into a snack). I sliced thin pieces of juicy mango, soft avocado, and crisp green onions. After layering these ingredients at one end of a rice paper wrapper, I sprinkled a little cilantro and lime juice on top.

I rolled the veggies and rice paper up burrito-style, folding the ends toward the middle to seal them. With a little water, rice paper sticks to itself, allowing for easier sealing. Sure, these aren’t the prettiest of spring rolls, but they hold together in a shape that’s perfect for dipping, and really, that’s all you need here. It didn’t take long for me to develop a technique and a rhythm; roll, fold, repeat. Like sushi, these rolls can bring out your meditative side. That’s one of the reasons I love to cook: getting absorbed in the craft.

But before I got too Zen-like about it, the process was over. We ate almost all of the spring rolls, enjoying the contrast of crunchy bell pepper and soft, sweet mango, with soy sauce for dipping. But the leftovers were few, and this would not do for us because first, we need dinner leftovers for lunches the next day, and second, why deprive yourself of spring rolls two days in a row? So the recipe below is doubled, to prevent the same thing from happening to you. You’re welcome.

But don’t feel like you have to follow the recipe exactly. You might want to, for example, add thinly sliced shrimp, omit the mango, and dip your spring rolls in peanut sauce. You might think of a brilliant combination all your own. I mean it when I say there are endless variations, so head to the kitchen to figure out yours.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Rice paper wrappers
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced, any curved ends removed
2 mangoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 avocados, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bunch green onions, sliced into thin strips
½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
2 teaspoons lime juice
Soy sauce or another sauce of your choice, for dipping

1. In a skillet wide enough to hold a rice paper wrapper, heat water of about ½-inch depth over low heat. When the water is warmlace a rice paper wrapper in the water and let it sit for about a minute or until soft and pliable. Transfer to a work surface.
2. At one end of the rice paper wrapper, place bell pepper, mango, avocado, and green onion (I used about 4 bell pepper slices, 3 mango slices, 2 avocado slices, and 2 green onion strips per roll). Sprinkle with a little chopped cilantro and a scant 1/8 teaspoon of lime juice.
3. Starting at the end with the filling, roll up the spring roll. Fold over the edges toward the center of the roll on the seam, sealing with a little water if needed. Set aside on a plate, seam side down, and repeat this process until all of the filling is used up.
4. Slice each roll in half before serving (this makes for easier dipping). Serve rolls with soy sauce or other sauces for dipping.

Solving the Salad Conundrum: Summer Salad

Have you experienced the salad conundrum? You have something amazing to eat—trout, say, or steamed clams—but you need something to go with it. A salad sounds ideal, but in the summer especially, with produce at its peak, how do you choose what to serve?

I present this summer salad not because it is very fancy or innovative but because it is simple and accessible to anyone trying to get dinner on the table in a timely manner. This salad kicked off summer shortly after Memorial Day weekend, when Thomas came home with fresh trout from Lake Quinault, and it appeared on our table again next to steamed clams. It goes just as well with meat or seafood as it would with something like potato fries or crostini (two sides make a meal).

The corn and tomatoes make this salad fit for summer, more than just an any-time-of-year side dish. Thomas taught me a new method of cooking corn in the microwave—just microwave the un-shucked corn (10 to 15 minutes for two ears), let it cool for a bit, then shuck the corn and slice off the kernels. I haven’t tested if the corn is better or worse than corn that is boiled, but I plan to compare them both sometime, for the cause of science, of course.

In a spur-of-the-moment decision, I finely chopped a shallot and cooked it until caramelized. I’d bought it for one thing, decided not to use it, and left it sitting in the fridge until it was rediscovered. One of my favorite parts of this salad—not surprisingly, knowing how much I love cheese—is the mozzarella, which I cut into small cubes. Few things are better in a salad than coming across cubes of mozzarella. I also cannot say enough about the combination of avocados and tomato: it’s nothing new, it’s something we eat all the time, but there’s a reason for that.

You could use greens other than spinach for the base—whatever is available or sounds most appealing. Or customize the salad completely for whatever your idea of summer is, or wherever you are at that moment. This flexibility might lead you back to the salad conundrum—how do I choose what to use?—but as they say, these are good problems to have.

Summer Salad

A little olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 ears of corn, not shucked
5 ounces spinach leaves
8 ounces mozzarella, cut into cubes
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, core removed, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed, diced
Olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or other salad dressing of your choice

1. In a small skillet, heat a little olive oil over medium-low heat. Add shallot and sauté until browned, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Place the corn in the microwave. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until kernels are tender. Let cool until you can hold the corn, then shuck the corn. Using a sharp knife, remove the kernels from the cob onto a plate. (You can also shuck and boil the corn; whichever method works best for you)
3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach leaves, shallot, corn kernels, mozzarella cubes, avocado, tomato, and red bell pepper. Toss to combine. Serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or other salad dressing of your choice.

Favorite Things: Egg, Cheese, and Bean Tostadas

Every time I think about these tostadas, I wish I could eat them right away. They take a combination of a few of my favorite ingredients—cheese, black beans, avocados, fresh cilantro—and top it all with a fried egg.

Yes, I’m a tad obsessed with eggs—just look at the facts. I eat frittatas for dinner. I put eggs on pizza. I scramble them with ricotta or put them in stir-fries. No, the egg companies aren’t paying me to say this; I’m crazy about eggs all on my own. I also love Mexican food. Even though people actually in Mexico and Southern California probably think Mexican food in Seattle is a sorry approximation at best, I still enjoy the local Mexican restaurants and making the dishes at home.

So it’s really no surprise that I landed on this recipe from Cooking Light. It has nearly everything I want from a meal, ingredient-wise, and making it is simple enough to qualify for weeknight fare. You begin by broiling the tortillas, flipping them, topping them with beans and cheese, and broiling them again. I’m anxious about broiling—so many burned food memories—but 2 minutes on one side and 1 minute on the other was exactly enough to get the tortillas crisped and browned but not burned.

While the tortillas broil, you fry the eggs. There’s a whole bunch of blog posts and articles out there about the best way to fry eggs; here’s my contribution. I oil a large skillet (with about 1 tablespoon of oil), heat the oil over medium heat, and crack in two eggs. I let the eggs cook in the oil, flipping them once the side touching the pan is lightly browned, and repeat on the other side. I like the yolks slightly runny, but you should cook yours over a lower heat for longer if you want the yolks fully cooked.

In the magazine, these tostadas are billed as heuvos rancheros tacos, but as I see it, they are an improvement on tacos because you’re not restricted by having to fold it in half after you’ve piled all of your favorite ingredients on. Just thinking about it, I wish I could eat them right away.

Egg, Cheese, and Bean Tostadas
Adapted from Cooking Light

8 6-inch corn tortillas
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for tortillas
½ cup grated orange cheddar
½ cup grated sharp white cheddar
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
8 eggs
Pico de gallo or other salsa, to taste
Sour cream, to taste
1 avocado, peeled, seed removed, and mashed
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat oven broiler. Arrange 4 tortillas each on 2 baking sheets. Spread a little olive oil on each tortilla. When the broiler is ready, put one of the baking sheets in the oven and broil the tortillas for 2 minutes. Repeat with second sheet of tortillas.
2. Turn the tortillas over and top each one with cheese and beans. Broil one sheet of tortillas at a time for 1 minute each.
3. While the tortillas broil, cook the eggs. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Crack 2 eggs into the pan. Cook until both eggs are lightly browned on the bottom, then flip the eggs and cook the other side until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining eggs, adding another tablespoon of oil after you’ve cooked 4 of the eggs.
4. To assemble the tostadas: Top each tortilla with a fried egg. Dollop a little pico de gallo, sour cream, and mashed avocado on top. Finish with a sprinkling of cilantro.

The Mashup: Eggs and Ricotta on Avocado Toast

I cannot resist adding avocados to most meals. Need just one more thing for that omelet? Avocados! Is your salad missing some luxury? Avocados! So I am the least surprised person that I made this recipe and thought, this needs avocados.

This meal is a mashup between a Bon Appetit recipe and the avocado toast I had at Oddfellows Café in Seattle. Thomas and I made the magazine recipe a few times before, and while it fulfilled our need for eggs on toast (and breakfast for dinner, another favorite thing), I thought back to that avocado toast and knew this meal had a higher potential. In doing this, I was not only reminded that avocados and eggs belong together, but I learned that throwing ricotta into the mix only makes it better.

Even with the introduction of avocados, the recipe still needed a few little tweaks. The original calls for ½ cup of ricotta, but this was too much. I wanted the ricotta to accent the eggs rather than compete with them. That’s how I feel about most egg scrambles and cheese—a sprinkling of sharp cheddar, a handful of feta, rather than globs of cheese that steal attention from the eggs (I’m all for globs of cheese in, say, a grilled cheese sandwich or melted brie on crackers).

Another change was that I didn’t break the eggs into smaller pieces by stirring them constantly. Instead, I stirred them very little, a technique I’ve picked up from Thomas’s sister. By holding back on stirring, you get thick folds of egg, which I broke up just a bit when stirring in the ricotta. Big pieces of delicious egg, blended with creamy ricotta, sitting atop gently mashed avocado and a crispy piece of bread—this is the breakfast-for-dinner I want to eat any time of year, including chilly January nights when a quick and comforting supper is most welcome.

Of course, I don’t have to keep it all to myself—I could also see serving this to guests for a breakfast or brunch. But in that case, I’ll be at least doubling the batch. Definitely.

Eggs and Ricotta on Avocado Toast
Adapted from Bon Appetit

4 eggs
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon olive oil (or butter, if you wish)
¼ cup ricotta cheese
1 avocado, peeled and gently mashed
4 slices artisan or regular bread, toasted

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until well combined. Stir in chopped chives.
2. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil or butter over medium low heat. Add the egg-chive mixture. Resisting stirring it very much; just a few times will be enough, to break the egg mixture into large pieces.
3. Remove the eggs from heat and stir in the ricotta, breaking up the eggs as little as possible (I used the back of a large spoon to gently mash the ricotta into the eggs).
4. Divide the mashed avocado among the four slices of bread, spreading evenly on each slice. Top with the egg-ricotta mixture, distributing evenly on each slice.