CHILAQUILES BRUNCH CASSEROLE

I have found my go-to breakfast casserole for guests!  My family loves Mexican food of every variety, and this recipe is so simple, yet it tastes like I am a genius in the kitchen!  This recipe was found on smittenkitchen.com, and she has some incredible dishes.  I added more cheese because there can never be too much cheese for us, but other than that I followed her recipe.  Update:  Getting the egg correctly cooked with the yellow runny and the white firm is tricky so recently I have just cooked the eggs separately and served them on top of the chip concoction.  It's not quite as wonderful but still pretty damn tasty -- and much quicker and easier!

12 or more (6 inch) corn tortillas, quartered and fried until crisp *

10 oz. can red enchilada sauce (I used Hatch)

15 ox. can black beans drained and rinsed

3 c. (12 oz) coarsely grated cheese (I used 8 oz sharp cheddar & 4 oz. pepper jack)

6-8 large eggs (I used 6)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Thinly sliced scallions, sour cream , diced avocado, and salsa as toppings

Chorizo, or your favorite cooked breakfast meat, totally optional**

*I am lucky in that my HEB makes fresh tortilla chips so I bought a bag of them and used about 8 oz of them.  (In Austin, Fiesta also makes its own chips.)  I think a high-quality chip is critical to the outcome of the dish, so if you don’t have access to them I would recommend frying the fresh tortillas, but you can easily do them the day before and store them in an airtight container.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a baking dish (8x12 or possibly 9x13 if you make your layers thinner), spray with Pam.  Line ¼ of the tortillas in the bottom of the dish.  Drizzle with ¼ of the enchilada sauce, followed by black beans and cheese.  Repeat these layers 3 times.  Bake for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and tortillas have softened a little.  

Remove from the oven to a cooling rack (leaving oven on) and use a spoon to push little nests into the tortillas where you would like each egg to go.  It won’t fully hold it, but it will help them stay in place.  Crack an egg into each nest and season the egg with salt and pepper.   Return the casserole to the oven until the whites of the eggs are opaque but not fully set.  This part is tricky because if you leave the eggs too long the yolk will harden, and you want the yolk to be runny.  The goal is to let the whites finish cooking in the residual heat of the casserole, which should occur in about 8 minutes.  After about 4 minutes I put my casserole back in the oven a little longer hoping to get the egg whites a little more done.  The whites were still a little jiggly but once served it wasn’t noticeable that they weren’t totally set.  If you leave the casserole in until the whites are set the yolks will harden in the residual heat.

Scoop out an egg with the chip concoction underneath for each person and serve with the toppings.  We of course used all of them.   **No one thought the chorizo was necessary at all, so I would make the dish without it the first time and see if anyone complains about the lack of meat.