Tags
breakfast, brunch, cooking, eggs, migas, recipes, Tex-Mex, tortilla chips, vegetarian
Growing up in San Antonio, there are just certain things that you don’t think twice about. A lot of times, this pertains to food: chips and salsa should always be complimentary, the chips are often red and green during the holidays, and migas are really tasty.
Then you go north for school and notice the absence of all these things. In fact, you see things like canned tamales. Pardon?? I don’t even want to know.
When you come back, you find yourself working and hanging out with people from all over who have been transplanted into this seemingly other world. That’s just how music is. They can’t believe that it’s 75 degrees in December. You catch them gawking in awe at the Christmas-colored chips, expecting them to be flavored. (They’re not.) And if you tell them of a great place to get migas, they’ll give you a blank stare, probably thinking you misspoke about where to find female friends.
Okay, I’ll stop writing like that. It’s true, though!
I’m guessing a lot of people who read this won’t know what migas are, but all should become familiar with their deliciousness. I didn’t have them much growing up, but whenever my parents made scrambled eggs, they were pretty close. Migas means “crumbs” in Spanish, and there are evidently quite different versions of this dish in Spain and Portugal. The Tex-Mex rendition is basically made up of eggs, onions, peppers, cheese, and fried corn tortillas. The tortillas get soft, but I think it’s important that you don’t use plain corn tortillas. I used tortilla chips, which is a pretty common shortcut!
Hey, they even look kind of festive!
Tex-Mex Migas
As a redheaded Euro-mutt, I’m not even going to pretend like this recipe is authentic. However, being from Tex-Mex land, I know good migas when I taste them. I made these and promptly cleaned my plate. Feel free to simply use this as a guide…don’t like onions too much? Use less onion (etc.). Since I can’t eat 6 eggs by myself, I ended up only cooking 3 of them and using half of everything else. Will cook the rest tomorrow!
6 eggs
about 1/8 to 1/4 cup milk
oil as needed (I used olive oil) – optional: AND a pat of butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
about half of a small (7 oz) can of diced green chiles
salsa to taste
cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (shred it yourself!)
a couple handfuls of tortilla chips, roughly smashed
salt and pepper to taste
optional toppings: avocado, tomatoes, cilantro
Scramble the eggs and milk together in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of oil (and butter if you’re using it) over medium heat. Saute the onion until tender, then add the pepper. Once the pepper is soft, turn the heat down to medium low and pour in the eggs. Add the green chiles and salsa and stir everything together. When the eggs are about halfway cooked, mix in the tortilla chips. Cook until the eggs are no longer slimy, but not dried out.
To serve, top with the shredded cheese and whatever you fancy (I fancied avocado), then eat up!
Half of this could have been a light breakfast for two, but I ate it all for a big lunch. So I guess you could say the full serving could feed 2 to 4, depending on appetites.
Update: I made these again today, but added a pat of butter to the oil. As you can imagine, this only made things tastier. :)
Babygirl said:
Very nice.. the pictures of this dish make you hungry lol
katie said:
That’s it- I am having these for dinner.
Victoria (District Chocoholic) said:
Two days, two Jessica posts that send me to google. And take me back to my days in the Southwest. This looks incredible. Would be an awesome Christmas morning breakfast. Or…Monday morning breakfast.
UrMomCooks said:
Thank you for this! Every time I start to think about feeding people some real food I get sidetracked with more baking!!! These look darn good!
Jessica said:
Babygirl – Success! :)
Katie – So did you? I’ve been making sure to label all the GF things. :)
Victoria – bwahahaha! And yes, it would be a good Christmas breakfast. I always associate Mexican food with the holidays. We’re having tamales on Friday night!
UrMomCooks – Oh, I know! It’s hard to think about things other than sweets this time of year.
Katie said:
I made ’em, and they were delicious! I didn’t have tortilla chips, but I fried corn tortillas first and broke them up. It was a perfect meal, especially since I was starving and it was fast! :D
Jill said:
I have no excuse not to make these now.
Mary at n00bcakes said:
Oh dear god, those look DELICIOUS. Despite being dirty yanks, my parents love mexican food and have raised my brother and me thusly. I’ve definitely had these before, though I didn’t know the name at the time. I can’t wait to make these sometime soon, they look awesome.
Also, don’t you just LOVE perfectly ripened avocados? *sigh*
Jessica said:
Katie – Yay!! You did it the fancier way by frying tortillas! Frying stuff scares me, which is why I took the chip shortcut. Glad you liked it!
Jill – Do it!
Mary – Mexican food is my faaavorite. Well, Thai and Indian are right up there, but I haven’t been eating them for as long. I felt really lucky with this avocado! Sometimes I don’t pick the perfect ones…and the other half stayed green for my leftovers today! :-O (I left the pit in and pressed Press ‘n Seal against it)
Alina @ Duty Free Foodie said:
This is such a good idea! I’ve never had or even heard of migas before but I am putting this on my to-make list for sure!
Sweet Tea, Esq. said:
Just found your site. And now I am in love with you for this recipe. I love San Antonio and go there purely for the food.
Jessica said:
Alina (whoa, belatedly) – Let me know if you do make this!
Sweet Tea – Aww, you’re so sweet! Yes, there are definitely some good eats here. :) Hope this helps satisfy your SA cravings!
bluemixer said:
I live in San Antonio, but I’ve never had migas. If I go out for Mexican food for breakfast, I just can’t resist a breakfast taco. :)
Jessica said:
Awesome! And I’m usually the same way! I’ve actually never had huevos rancheros because of this. :)
Karen said:
I was looking for a recipe for dinner tonight–this hits the (pms) nail on the head! Cheese, chips, salsa. It has all the right ingredients for my cravings…well, you know…except the chocolate I’ll have for dessert.
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