Last Friday, the city of Chicago was placed under an “excessive heat warning,” which, I read somewhere online, was the first one issued to Chicago since 2006. It’s been such a hot summer that I’ve been positively giddy riding the El to work, knowing that I get to spend eight hours in air conditioning.
Using the oven is an absolute no, and the stove can be on for less than 10 minutes at a time. House rules.
I was taking those rules into consideration during my search for interesting, challenging, and delicious-looking/sounding recipes, when I stumbled across this beauty, which excited me for three reasons. 1. Poached eggs. 2. Huevos Rancheros. 3. The stove only needed to be on for about 10 minutes—which meant that my apartment, which is already usually about 10 degrees warmer than outside, stays only 10 degrees warmer than outside.
And finally, practically the first thing I thought of trying to make when I first started this blog was a poached egg. It seemed like the perfect challenge.
The Recipe
Skillet-Poached Huevos Rancheros, RealSimple.com
Apprehension Meter
When I read the words “poached” and “huevos rancheros,” I almost skipped past the recipe, not quite believing I was ready to take on two of the items on my “to try to cook” list (in this heat I barely have the energy to pierce the plastic film of a frozen dinner before putting it in the microwave). But upon second glance, I realized that maybe this was just the recipe to help me ease into the world of poaching eggs, as the eggs were being poached not in water (they’re normally poached in water, right?), but in a mixture of salsa and beans. I liked the possibility of room for error.
Also, I’ve never been sure what exactly makes huevos rancheros huevos rancheros, but this seemed like a simpler version than what I’ve ordered off the menu of the diner down the street. Another easy introduction. All of this put my apprehension meter at fairly low reading, spiking occasionally when I thought of how poorly this could turn out, and in turn, how hungry I could end up.
Here’s How It Really Went
Making this recipe was similar to what I imagine tightrope walking to be like. Quick and kind of tense, with furrowed brow and the potential for a runny mess. Just kidding. Sort of.
The beginning steps of the recipe couldn’t have been simpler- emptying a jar of salsa and a can of drained and rinsed beans into a skillet is about as easy as it gets. I used a garlic chipotle salsa from Trader Joe’s, which gave it a really nice garlicky, sort of spicy flavor. My new* kitchen quickly filled with a sweet, spicy, Mexican aroma, which, in my mind, goes hand in hand with a hot summer evening.
When it came time to make the “wells,” I was a little confused. This was the first time I’d ever heard “well” used in a recipe as a noun. Following my best guess as to what this could mean, I used a wooden spoon and tried to create four small, separate openings in the salsa/bean mixture.
When I tried to make the first well, I thought for about two seconds that I had succeeded, but then the small open space quickly filled back up with salsa. At first I thought the salsa I was using was too liquidy, that I should have been using a chunkier version. But, then again, don’t eggs have to poach in some kind of liquid? Wasn’t this the liquid they needed in order to poach themselves?
I don’t have the answer to that, but overall I don’t think the viscosity of the salsa I used had much of an effect on the final product. It turns out that the wells didn’t have to be perfectly formed to host the eggs that I delicately poured into them from a small measuring cup. The eggs seemed to make do with the little gaps I had created for them.
That was the tense part, the part where I was holding my breath and not realizing it. But once those little oeufs had nestled into their wells, all I had to do was place the cover (aka a cookie sheet) on the skillet and let the heat work its magic.
Cookin' away... also, not only does my new kitchen have a window, it even has a door! Hello natural light, breeze, and make-shift vent for when I burn things.
Upon removing the cookie sheet approximately five minutes later, I was greeted by four beautiful white blobs, my first poached eggs. I felt a kind of pride at that moment. I sprinkled on the scallions and cilantro (I’d leave this out next time, due to my newly-realized disgust for fresh cilantro), scooped the mixture onto a warmed tortilla (courtesy of the microwave) and tucked into a delicious, summery, easy one-skillet meal.
I ate mine with the egg/salsa/bean mixture atop a tortilla, open faced, while the boyfriend rolled his up like a burrito.
In the end, the eggs may or may not have really been poached. I’ll have to try a real poached egg sometime to know for sure. But until then, this recipe has officially been added as a regular to my summer repertoire. And maybe even my winter one.
*Since my last post, I’ve moved into a new apartment. The kitchen is bigger, a little brighter, and has a little more character—thanks mostly to this "rustic" beauty.
