So my idea behind this series of recipes, Sauces to Live by, is to share with you base sauces that are wonderfully flavored on their own, but also super versatile and easily embellished upon. These sauces can then be used in so many different ways that you will want to experiment and find ways to use  it on your own. So stock up! The first sauce that I wrote about a couple weeks ago is a simple, very basic roasted tomatillo salsa. I am a big fan of roasting tomatillos. The vibrant tartness of tomatillos doesn’t mellow through cooking, instead additional depth is brought out.

During my trip to Australia, earlier this year, I had a baked eggs dish with tomatillo salsa that I knew I needed to recreate at home. The bright smokiness of this salsa makes it a perfect complement to rich eggs. I already had a tomatillo salsa that I made and loved, so really I had no excuse. The version in Australia was topped with labneh, a super strained yogurt popular  in Middle Eastern food. I really liked the addition of this creamy element. I decided for my version that I would spice the yogurt with cumin, coriander, and oregano and then bake it along with the salsa and eggs. To top this dish off, I crumbled my homemade chorizo over the bubbling eggs. So good! If you didn’t make the tomatillo salsa after that last post, do it now. Make a couple jars and follow the directions in the recipe to can it. You can then pull it out from your pantry to jazz up anything on the fly. It will instantly bring any dish to life. Also, I will be doing a meat stew with the salsa on a later post. Stay tuned!

E G G S  B A K E D  I N  T O M A T I L L O  S A L S A  +  S P I C E D
Y O G U R T  W/ M E X I C A N  C H O R I Z O
serves 4

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon oregano (preferably Mexican)
3/4 cup Greek yogurt, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup roasted tomatillo salsa, divided
8 large eggs
4-5 oz fresh chorizo, store-bought or homemade
pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika), for serving
toasted pepita (pumpkin) seeds, for serving

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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small pan, toast the cumin and coriander seed over medium high heat, until slightly darkened and super fragrant. Grind in a spice grinder. Rub the oregano between your palms to release the oils, add to the ground spices. Mix the spices into the Greek yogurt. Add the salt.

Spread 3 tablespoons of yogurt onto the bottom of a 5 inch conzuela dish or ramekin. On top of that, spread 3 tablespoons of the roasted tomatillo salsa. Try to keep the the yogurt and salsa separate. It’s alright if some of it mixes together. Next use your finger to make two small wells in the sauce. Carefully break two eggs in. Repeat with the other three dishes.

Place onto a sheet tray, bake on the middle rack of the oven for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through. The time is going to vary a bit depending on how evenly your oven cooks. Keep an eye on them starting around the 10 minute mark. They are done when the egg whites are just set, but the yolks are still jiggly. The eggs will continue to cook a bit once you remove them from the oven, so it is better to undercook.

While the eggs are in the oven, cook the chorizo. Remove from any casing if you are using store-bought and sautée over medium-high heat until brown and crusty. Divide among the eggs. Sprinkle each dish with a generous pinch of pimentón and top with the toasted pepitas. Serve with crusty bread.