Lunch has never been an easy subject for me. I’m not a huge fan of sandwiches or salads; leftover soup is ideal, but not in this heat. And now that we’re going home for lunch every day to let the pup out for a stretch, I’ve also had to consider what Jeremy wants for lunches. So from time to time here, you’ll see posts about things that worked out well for lunches, as either a quick meal, one that can be prepped ahead of time, or one that can be reheated without much detriment. For today, the subject is migas.

I don’t want any grief about the definition of migas, which apparently is up for debate as either an egg dish or a soup, depending on what part of Texas or Mexico you live in. For my purposes here, it’s an egg and tortilla dish, but I didn’t use any sort of traditional recipe, just going on the general idea and fitting it to my tastes. All I cared about is that it was quick, filling, tasty, and used up the stale corn tortillas I had hanging around the fridge from making chicken enchiladas. The recipe below is generally what I did, but feel free to adjust on the fly, as I did. Also, I don’t tolerate spicy foods very well, so I kept this on the mild side.

Migas

2 corn tortillas, rather stale
2 T olive oil
1 T bacon fat (optional)
6 eggs
1/4 C mild chunky salsa, or to taste
3 green onions, sliced and whites kept separate from greens
1 clove garlic, minced
Sharp cheddar cheese for grating

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Meanwhile, cut the tortillas in half, then into triangles (I got 16 triangles from each tortilla). Drop the tortillas in the oil and fry them quickly until they begin to crisp up. Add the white parts of the green onions, the garlic and the bacon fat, and saute until they are tender.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs and salsa together until combined. Pour into the skillet and stir briskly to scramble, lowering heat somewhat if necessary. Add sliced green onion tops, reserving a few for garnish, and season to taste with salt and pepper. When eggs are cooked to desired degree, remove to plates and top with grated cheese and a sprinkle of green onion. Serves two.

Update 7/6/07: We made migas for the second time for lunch today (the first being sometime in the last week or so). I had run out of green onions, so I just subbed in some chopped sweet onion instead, and it was still very tasty. That was the last of our corn tortillas, though, so unless we start buying them just to make this dish (and maybe we should!), it may be a while before we get to make it again.

Update 8/17/07: We rarely have leftover—or for that matter, fresh—corn tortillas in our house, but I’ve been wanting more migas, so today for lunch I went ahead and made miga-less migas, basically salsa-fied scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese. Frankly, it was almost as yummy as the tortilla-filled kind, so this variant will definitely find its way on the menu again.

Update 1/1/08: I made migas for lunch today with a stale multi-grain wheat tortilla, and they did just fine in place of corn ones. Good to know.