This is a breakfast meal that I grew up on. Sunday mornings, mom would throw together the ingredients and feed the four of us. To this day, I've turned many people on to the easy, awesome dish and it's by far my favorite breakfast. Admittedly, up until recently, I didn't even know how to spell "migas", but managed to stumble upon an article that explained a little about the meal.
It's a traditional dish in Spain and Portugal, using ingredients such as day old bread or tortillas. What you see here is the Tex-Mex version (there's that phrase again...) that uses corn tortillas, eggs, and choice of meat. Mom used ham, and normally I do too. But on this day, not a scrap of ham was to be found in the apartment.
It's a traditional dish in Spain and Portugal, using ingredients such as day old bread or tortillas. What you see here is the Tex-Mex version (there's that phrase again...) that uses corn tortillas, eggs, and choice of meat. Mom used ham, and normally I do too. But on this day, not a scrap of ham was to be found in the apartment.
- 4 eggs
- 5 corn tortillas
- 1 Italian sausage
- 1/8 cup vegetable oil
- salt
- pepper
- garlic
- cayenne pepper
- basil
- 5 or 6 jalapeño slices (optional)
- bread for toast (optional)
- 2 skillets
- spatula
The most important thing to remember when making this dish is that prep of all the food items must be done before cooking commences. Once the food is in the skillet, there's very little time to cut up anything.
Preparation
Cut the tortillas in half and stack the halves on top of each other. Slice the tortillas in 1/2 inch strips; they should be long and thin. Then cut them the opposite way, making little square or rectangular chunks. Put them off to the side.
As previously stated, we normally use Oscar Mayer boiled ham, but since we neglected to pick any up at the store, we used sausage, since we like meat in our meals. Of course, meat is entirely optional and a simple egg/tortilla/veggie dish is just as tasty. If you choose to use ham, cut it up the same way as the tortillas. Long thin slices, then cut perpendicularly into little chunks.
Crack the eggs and add the spices.
Cut up any additional veggies you want to add. My mother uses green onions and jalapeños for a nice flavor kick. The traditional dishes tend to have tomatoes, cheese, chile peppers, and onions. Just remember, the more you add to it, the more egg you may have to use since it's an encasing ingredient that binds the other components. Think of it like an omelet. Add the veggies to the eggs.
Cooking
In our case, using the sausage, we chopped it up into small bite-size pieces and threw it into a skillet to cook with pepper, basil, and garlic.
Pour the oil into the second skillet, or preferably one with a clean bottom. If you cooked sausage, do not use the left over oil/fat from the pan. You want just enough oil on the bottom to lightly coat the tortilla pieces, but not absolutely saturate them. Doing so would make them soggy and harder to crisp. Heat the oil on medium. Our old stove liked a 6, this new stove likes about a 4. Toss a single tortilla in. If it sizzles immediately, it's time to move on. Add the tortilla chunks in slowly. Push them around to make a thin layer at the bottom. Let them fry, occasionally stirring and flipping the pieces over. The point is to make little crunchy bits. If you see that some are starting to burn, lower the heat and continue to flip.
Once the tortillas are golden (or slightly burned like we like 'em), throw in whatever meat you chose to use. Let the meat heat up, now constantly stirring the tortillas/meat because you don't want it to burn. Add the eggs/veggies and turn the mixture until it's thoroughly cooked. It will start to break up as it cooks, so don't worry about that, or attempt to keep it in one flat omelet-like state. It's supposed to be crumbly. Translated, migas means "crumbs".
We like our migas with toast and in my case, with a little raspberry Freezerves jam.
The special breakfast on this wonderful day, our 1 year anniversary, cost a grand total of $1.50 to feed two with no leftovers.
Preparation
Cut the tortillas in half and stack the halves on top of each other. Slice the tortillas in 1/2 inch strips; they should be long and thin. Then cut them the opposite way, making little square or rectangular chunks. Put them off to the side.
As previously stated, we normally use Oscar Mayer boiled ham, but since we neglected to pick any up at the store, we used sausage, since we like meat in our meals. Of course, meat is entirely optional and a simple egg/tortilla/veggie dish is just as tasty. If you choose to use ham, cut it up the same way as the tortillas. Long thin slices, then cut perpendicularly into little chunks.
Crack the eggs and add the spices.
Cut up any additional veggies you want to add. My mother uses green onions and jalapeños for a nice flavor kick. The traditional dishes tend to have tomatoes, cheese, chile peppers, and onions. Just remember, the more you add to it, the more egg you may have to use since it's an encasing ingredient that binds the other components. Think of it like an omelet. Add the veggies to the eggs.
Cooking
In our case, using the sausage, we chopped it up into small bite-size pieces and threw it into a skillet to cook with pepper, basil, and garlic.
Pour the oil into the second skillet, or preferably one with a clean bottom. If you cooked sausage, do not use the left over oil/fat from the pan. You want just enough oil on the bottom to lightly coat the tortilla pieces, but not absolutely saturate them. Doing so would make them soggy and harder to crisp. Heat the oil on medium. Our old stove liked a 6, this new stove likes about a 4. Toss a single tortilla in. If it sizzles immediately, it's time to move on. Add the tortilla chunks in slowly. Push them around to make a thin layer at the bottom. Let them fry, occasionally stirring and flipping the pieces over. The point is to make little crunchy bits. If you see that some are starting to burn, lower the heat and continue to flip.
Once the tortillas are golden (or slightly burned like we like 'em), throw in whatever meat you chose to use. Let the meat heat up, now constantly stirring the tortillas/meat because you don't want it to burn. Add the eggs/veggies and turn the mixture until it's thoroughly cooked. It will start to break up as it cooks, so don't worry about that, or attempt to keep it in one flat omelet-like state. It's supposed to be crumbly. Translated, migas means "crumbs".
We like our migas with toast and in my case, with a little raspberry Freezerves jam.
The special breakfast on this wonderful day, our 1 year anniversary, cost a grand total of $1.50 to feed two with no leftovers.
- eggs 44¢
- corn tortillas 20¢
- Italian sausage 54¢
- toast 32¢
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