Breakfast Pie, take one (Huevos Rancheros Pie)

This week involves a real bit of ex"pie"rimentation. Huevos Rancheros is one of my favourite breakfast meals. It usually involves spreading a fried tortilla with a ranch style chilli sauce, topped with refried beans and an egg. It's an awesome start to the day, but I thought it might be even more awesome in pie form. So this is my first attempt at a breakfast pie - and it was delicious.

Instead of using normal pastry I thought I'd stick with the original intent of the meal and make a tortilla dough for the crust.

To make the dough:

Combine 1 cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.

Mix 2 and a half cups of plain flour (or try replacing some of the flour with cornmeal - I went with a third cornmeal), a teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder in a bowl. Add the liquid and stir to combine.

Knead on a floured surface for 2-3 minutes, then cover (just clean the bowl out a bit and put it over the dough) and leave for 15 minutes. Roll it out flat and cut out your pie shape - remember to leave some overlap for the edges. The best way to do this is to place the dough in the pie tin and cut around the edges leaving some overhang. Cut out a lid too.

For the filling:

Make your chilli sauce by blending an onion, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, some coriander and a couple of tablespoons of pickled jalapenos, fresh chillies or tinned chipotle (if you want a nice smoky flavour). Blend until smooth-ish, but still a little chunky. Simmer it for 15-20 minutes - you want it quite dry and thick.

To assemble the pie:
Line the bottom with bacon strips. Pour in a tin of kidney beans, black beans, or refried beans. Spoon over the chilli sauce. Whisk 3-4 eggs together until just mixed. Pour over the top of the other ingredients, then place the lid on sealing the edges. Using a knife or fork put a few holes in the lid to let steam out.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes at 170 celcius.

It might sound like a lot of work, but it took about an hour including the cooking time. You could also make the sauce in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to a week.