Friday, October 20, 2006

Old Town Fiesta, Part I

During October 12-15 I had the chance to join my wife in Albuquerque, NM and then ramble across the high desert to the Grand Canyon and then the Chaco Canyon. The culinary high point was on Thursday when I got to spend a good portion of the day exploring the shops and eateries of Old Town. Old Town is where the first families settled in Albuquerque back in 1706, the architecture is Pueblo-Spanish (adobe) and many of the original homes still exist as shops, galleries and businesses.

The next few posts will feature each of the four eateries I had the time to visit along with recipes that I have made and perhaps pics of some of my purchases. We'll see.

For now, here's my first stop:

Alfredo's Coffee House
2104 Charlevoix St NW

• Cappuccino
• Huevos Rancheros with meat and green salsa, mexican rice and pintos on the side, lettuce and tomato garnish

This was a nice little place located in the Hacienda Place area of Old Town. though it was going on 11am I was still in need of a cup-o-joe and some breakfast. Heevos Rancheros was definitely on my mind, and I wasn't disappointed (well, except for the kitchen mix-up that put papas on my plate instead of arroz...which ended up being cold) in the eggs. I ordered them over easy and the yolk mixture with the salsa, meat and tortilla was great.

A favorite southwestern dish I like to whip up are my Breakfast Burritos.

Breakfast Burritos

7.5 oz...........Chorizo, carne de res
4...................Large eggs
1/2...............Medium Red Onion, diced
2...................Serrano Chilis, minced
1/4 cup........Crema or sour creme
1 cup............Enchilada Sauce
small bunch..Cilantro, chopped
5...................6" Flour tortillas

Remove chorizo from plastic casing and break up into chunks. Cook chorizo for 2 min. as it starts breaking up. Mash with spoon while cooking. add onions and chilis and cook until onions are translucent. Add eggs and continuously fold to mix evenly as eggs cook. Season with salt. Cooks eggs until just set, no further. Take off heat and divide onto warmed tortillas. Roll tortilla and with seam down, coat with enchilada sauce and zigzag with crema, each from a squirt bottle down length. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve. Makes 5 burritos.

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