New Years Day

Happy New Year...

Indiscriminate partying, imbibing alcoholic beverages to excess, making much noise chasing off the
old year and welcoming in the new, waking up fuzzy the next morning in time for the glut of televised games and parades...
It's been years since I spent the last hours of the Old Year, and the early hours of the New, partying in such a way. I usually become aware the New Year has arrived when I'm awakened by the noise of those who still celebrate the occasion in such ways. As for the parades and football games on January first, I don't get much involved in 'em anymore.
Most of the day is spent grazing on experimental food ideas and possible candidates for incorporation into the menus of special occasions and holiday celebrations ahead during the new year. Two foods, however, have become annual traditions: Hoppin' John for good luck in the New Year and Huevos de Muerte as a sort of memorial for the Old...

Huevos de Muerte (rough translation: Quiche of Death)

I came across the recipe about 20 years ago in the Orange County Register, a daily newspaper published in Orange County, California. The yellowed newsprint clipping that I kept in a box is long gone, so I can't give
credit where credit is due. All I can say is thank you, whoever you are.

1/2 pound hot country style sausage
1/2 pound Mexican style pork chorizo
1    large onion, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
15   canned, pickled jalapeno chiles, chopped
1    cup grated cheddar cheese
1    cup grated jack cheese
4    eggs
1    cup milk
1    cup cilantro (yes, that's right, 1 cup), washed and chopped
1    10 inch pie pan
      flour tortillas as needed

Fry country sausage and chorizo together. Add onion and bell pepper and fry to wilt. Drain, but save, rendered fat. Beat eggs and milk. Stir jalapenos and cilantro into egg/milk mixture. Using a basting brush, paint 3 to 4 flour tortillas with rendered fat and cover the bottom and sides of the pie pan, overlapping as necessary. Repeat, with another layer of tortillas painted with rendered fat as before. Spread sausage/onion/pepper mix over tortillas. Spread cheeses over sausage. Pour in egg/milk mixture. Bake in 375 degree oven until pie is set. If necessary, put some aluminum foil around the edge to keep it from browning too much before the middle is set. Serve with hot sauce, salsa fresca and sliced, pickled jalapenos on the side to add per individual discretion..

Makes one 10 inch pie.

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