Anglo Hispanic Salsa breakfast

There is no disputing the fact that a good breakfast sets you up for the day. Enjoyable though a full English breakfast is, it often tends to be heavy on bad fats and a bit sparse on the fresh vegetables. With a taste for bacon and eggs with a twist I set off yesterday (Saturday) to the Pyrmont Growers market. This is a fantastic gathering of local(ish) farmers and small producers of meats, cheeses, pickles basically all the things you shouldn’t be looking at when hungry. It’s held in the park in front of Star City casino on the first Saturday of the month and was a perfect day, azure sky and warm autumn sun.

I have been experimenting with Mexican food recently and was excited when I came across a Mexican born vegetable grower, (disappointed he wasn’t dressed like a Mariachi). He had some amazing produce, most notably tomatillos. They are a round, green fruit with a husk and belong to the tomato family. Generally they are quite hard to come by but if you enjoy salsa well worth the searching. They have a bitter, sour flavour and add an authentically Mexican taste to salsa.

Wrapped

Fresh tomatillo

I also picked up some deep red, spicy chorizo sausage and nitrate free bacon from Trunkeys who produce high quality bacon and pork. This combined with free range eggs set the scene for a breakfast that I had to share.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 Jalapeno chilli peppers
1 red capsicum
3 medium size tomatillos
½ white onion
½ bunch of coriander (or as the Mexicans call it, cilantro)
4 good sized roma tomatoes
Juice of 1 ½ limes
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp soft brown sugar
12 slices of chorizo sausage, uncured variety best quality you can lay your hands on.
dry cured bacon
4 organic eggs
sour dough bread

Method

The key to great tasting Mexican salsa is to char the vegetables first. This will give it a beautiful smoky undertone that brings the heat and sweetness together nicely.
Start by charring the raw ingredients over a gas flame. You will need to remove the paper like husk from the tomatillo first. If your hob is electric put the capsicum, chillies, tomatoes and tomatillo in a large pan and heat until the skin becomes ‘blackened’. Set aside to cool.

Charred peppers, capsicums, tomatoes and tomatillos

Nicely charred

Finely chop the white onion and put in a bowl. Deseed the chilli and finely chop. Add to the onion.
Roughly chop the tomatoes and the tomatillo and add to the mix.
Deseed the capsicum and remove the white spongy part too. You may wish to remove some of the skin at this stage depending how partial you are to smoke flavour.
Finely chop the coriander stalks and leaves and add to the rest of the ingredients. Mix together with the sugar, cumin and fresh lime juice.
Cover and set aside to allow the flavours blend together.

Authentic Mexican salsa

In a griddle pan, grill or even frying pan cook the bacon then the chorizo. Do them separately as you don’t want the flavours to mix just yet.
Toast the bread and poach the eggs. If you are not a dab hand at poaching, here’s how:
Fill a shallow pan (a sauté pan is perfect for the job) with boiling water to about 3 inches deep.
Add a tablespoon of vinegar and allow to heat to the point that small bubbles are forming and releasing from the bottom of the pan.
Crack the egg into a shallow cup or ramekin.
Stir the water to make a small vortex (whirl pool effect) in the middle of the water; this will cool it to the perfect temperature.
Gently pour the egg in.
It will take about 2 minutes to cook if you like your eggs runny a little longer if you prefer them firm.
Put about 3 large spoons of salsa around the edge of the plate and sit the toast in the middle. Stack the bacon, then the poached egg and chorizo on top.
Anglo-Hispanic salsa breakfast.

The senoritia’s loved the salsa

A breakfast that gives you a glow

Tags: bacon, Breakfast, Salsa

About the Author

Gareth Englishman in Sydney loves a whisky, pies and all things savoury. Digital Marketer by day, cook the rest of the time. Amateur writer, photographer & aspiring anthropologists.