Huevos Rancheros

One of things you can do when you live on a farm is raise chickens. It’s actually a venture initiated by our kids; and it’s completely their business. They bought the chicks; they buy the feed, and now 14 weeks later, they collect eggs and the money they generate!

The chickens are raised on pasture and roost in a chicken coop. They get fresh grass every week or so. The reality is, chickens will still get a large part of their diet from the feed you provide, but every so often they’ll catch themselves a cricket or worm or will peck at some grass; basically giving them the chance to do what they were meant to. If you’ve never had a truly free-range egg, this would be the time to try it. If you can, skip the ones you find in the “organic” section of your grocery store that are labelled free-range, and try to get some directly from a farm. But take a quick peek if you can and see if those chickens are getting real pasture to roam; you’ll know the difference when you crack open an egg. Beta carotene from the grass gives the yolks a dark orange colour. Every time you bake with them, you’ll marvel at the robustness of the yolks, that stand up firmly above the whites, not like the standard egg where the flaccid, light yellow yolk just muddles itself into the bowl.

free range eggs

I could go on, but this post isn’t meant to be a crusade for free-range eggs. It’s actually to wax poetic about my new favourite breakfast, Huevos Rancheros. I’ve seen it on menus but never did think I would like a tomato-based breakfast. Boy, was I wrong. I used Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen cookbook, our homemade tomato sauce, garden cilantro, and of course, our eggs. The result was so spectacular, I did it again about a week later for our weekend guests.

Garden Cilantro