Our cookbook of the week is Simply Julia by Julia Turshen. Over the next three days, we’ll feature more recipes from the book and an interview with the author.
For Julia Turshen , flexibility and fun are key to healthy eating — and her breakfast nachos offer plenty of both. In preparation for our conversation, I diced tomatoes, avocado and white onion, and I grated cheese and scrambled some eggs. Tucking into a plateful of crispy nachos, I felt positively giddy.
“The thing that feels most important to me about this recipe is that it’s really fun,” says Turshen with a laugh. “And to me, fun is a really important part of healthy cooking because healthy to me is how I feel when I’m cooking, when I’m eating.”
The flexibility of the dish comes in handy for using up odds and ends, she adds: chop up leftover radishes or scallions, for example, and toss them in the tomato mixture; or scatter over roasted vegetables, beans or crumbled sausage before the nachos hit the oven.
The seed for an enthusiastic and joyful approach to breakfast was planted when Turshen was a child at sleepaway camp. One of the counsellors told the campers that she could hardly wait to go to sleep because she was so excited to eat breakfast the next morning. Her sentiment made an impression on Turshen, and this recipe embodies the excitement a special breakfast can bring.
“Fun is a really valuable thing and something we have access to in our kitchens that we often forget — or at least I do. It’s easy to forget, ‘Oh, you could have a super fun meal,’” says Turshen. “We talk about vegetables or different places food is from, and I just feel like fun is a really important thing. It can really change your day, or even just a moment, and that counts for a lot.”
BREAKFAST NACHOS
2 large tomatoes, finely diced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and finely diced
3 tbsp minced red, yellow or white onion
1 large handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped (a little stem is fine)
3 tbsp sliced pickled jalapeños (or 1 whole pickled jalapeño), finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
kosher salt
6 large eggs
1 tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz (170 g) tortilla chips (about 6 cups)
1 cup (110 g) coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup (110 g) coarsely grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream
Step 1
Position your oven rack 6 inches (15 cm) from the broil element and turn the broiler to high.
Step 2
Place the tomatoes, avocado, onion, cilantro, pickled jalapeños and lime juice in a large bowl and season with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Mix gently to combine and season to taste with more salt if needed. Let the mixture sit while you prepare the nachos.
Step 3
Place the eggs and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Place the butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once it melts, add the beaten eggs and cook, stirring, until the eggs are just set, about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and reserve the mixture.
Step 4
Lay the chips in an even layer on a sheet pan and sprinkle evenly with half of the cheddar cheese and half of the Monterey Jack cheese. Evenly divide the scrambled eggs on top of the cheese layer and then evenly sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the eggs.
Step 5
Broil until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes (but keep an eye on the nachos as broilers vary and yours might take a little less or a little more time).
Step 6
Top the nachos with the tomato mixture and dollop the sour cream on top. Serve immediately.
Serves: 6
Recipe and photo excerpted from the book Simply Julia by Julia Turshen. Copyright 2021 by Julia Turshen. Published by Harper Wave, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2021
