Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Whole Wheat Tortilla Chorizo Scramble – An Experiment in Hiding High-Fiber

Contrary to popular belief, I really do eat a fairly healthy diet. I know, it doesn't look like it from some of the video recipes I post, but as the old line goes, who are you going to believe, your eyes or me?

I only film a fraction of what I cook, and when I'm not eating candied bacon or inside-out grilled cheese sandwiches, I try to enjoy a diverse array of healthful foods.

One item I include in this selection is high-fiber (really high), whole wheat tortillas. I usually use them for quesadillas, or to wrap up sliced meats for a quick and easy lunch. Sure they taste horrible, but at least the texture is nasty. But, I've seen and read all the evidence for the advantages of getting enough fiber, so I'm always looking for a slightly less disgusting way to choke them down.

This chilaquiles-inspired tortilla chorizo scramble is a great example. I thought that by crisping them up with the pungent chorizo, and enveloping them in scrambled eggs and cheese, they would go from unappetizing to tolerable.

Did I get there? Sort of. This was one of those dishes that I would never describe as delicious, but it wasn't unpleasant either. It was, what it was – a filling, high-fiber, fast and easy breakfast. So, instead of the usual, "enjoy!" I'll simply end with, "enjoy?"




Ingredients for 2 Portions of Whole Wheat Tortilla Chorizo Scramble:
2 high-fiber, whole wheat tortillas, cut in 1/2-inch strips
2 oz of diced, dried chorizo
4 eggs
2 slices pepper jack cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
fresh chives to garnish


View the complete recipe

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks simply ... *interesting* as in the saying ... "May you live in *interesting* times" ;)

I get my extra fiber in the form of flaxseed meal which I add into my morning oatmeal. It's a little more appetizing than ummm cardboard tortilla's *grin*

And you sell this SO well in the video I am frankly surprised I am not going to try it.

Rita said...

if i can find a whole wheat tortilla here in germany, i'll give it a whirl.

Locomotive_breath said...

Valiant effort Chef but I'm going to have to say that this is very Paul Dean-esque. Throw in one healthy ingredient followed by butter/bacon/mayo/lard/cheese/sausage/etc. and then salvage the artery clogger by extolling the virtues of whole wheat. C'mon Chef. You are better than this. I have made over 20 recipes from your site (hope that establishes my bona fides as a fan) but this one is lame.

Here's waiting for the next one...

Shantanu.

Chris K. said...

Who's Paul Dean? Jimmy Dean's brother?

Anonymous said...

Need fiber? Drink a glass of Metamucil in the morning then enjoy the rest of your day by not eating whole wheat puff crisps. One of my doctors suggested it to even out the gastro intestinal side effects of chemo, and now it is part of my day and helps a lot even now that I'm not cancerous.

Chef John said...

loco, so is it valiant, or lame? Make up your mind! ;-)

btw, i think you missed the point of the post. As the title suggests, this was just an experiment to try and make the HF tortillas less gross.

The "reducing fat" reference in the video simply referred to crisping the tortilla in the dry pan with the chorizo, vs. the traditional method of frying in oil or butter first. This isn't and wasn't supposed to be a low fat recipe.

Finally, yes, if you've made that many recipes you are a true fan.

Asian Malaysian said...

I like the idea with the chorizo and the tortilla. Maybe if the scramble and cheese were cooked separately but served together so there would be no loss of chorizoed crispness. Experiments move the culinary world forward. At least that what I used to explain my spongecake souffle.

rosemary said...

"Enjoy?" LOL!! I will make a toasted egg, chorizo and cheese whole wheat bread sandwich.

Alithia said...

While the tortilla really didn't capture me I was inspired to actually have breakfast this morning - a variation of this substituting the tortilla (cos I'm currently in Tonga - yes the island paradise - as we don't have those here) and making it sans the chorizo - again due to not having any. Basically it turned out to be cheesy scrambled eggs on some rather yummy, chunky, croutons :P

And that I did enjoy :D

Anonymous said...

Need fiber? eat raisin bran. That is what I do and it works very well. For this breakfast--I know the 'wheat tortilla's you speak of'--blech had a bad time with them for their lack of flavor--but it makes good packing material. I like the breakfast idea overall on this recipe very much (and wish I could find a decent chorizo locally), but I think I will use Frito's or regular tortilla chips instead. ;-)

CB said...

Hi Chef! Thank you for the recipe idea as always. Wondered if you had any thoughts on the new "genetically Modified Salmon in the news lately? Also--a suggestion for your website--a 'favorites' feature or recipe box online if possible for people to sign-up and log in to keep our favorite recipes at hand would be great. Otherwise I can keep printing them out and favoriting the vids on YT for my most favorite recipes. Just a suggestion! Thank you for all you do!! Cannot wait to see you on the foodnetwork and I hope that dream works out for you.

Steve K. said...

Yeah, you're right about this recipe not being low-fat. Just for fun, I worked out a rough estimate of the calories. 913, with 587 of them coming from fat (64.2%). This is almost identical to a Double Whopper with cheese. Lol. Oh, it probably does have more fiber, though. I forgot to calculate that part. Enjoy!

Steve

Locomotive_breath said...

I meant Paula Dean from Food Network.

Chef: I will keep the faith and try this over the weekend. Cheers!

Kevin said...

Chef John, what's wrong? Has something happend? I can sense when something is wrong and something is strange about you in this video!

Chef John said...

Are you kidding? If not, not sure what you are talking about, everything's great! Maybe it was that this was just an experiment recipe and not taken that seriously>

Anonymous said...

Not every chef has the courage to post not-so-great recipes... Bravo. -JFD

Anonymous said...

hello chef, i just gradue from culinary school, i love you web side, i just make that tortilla chorizo, scramble, is was great, fabuloso, i will try some other recipe.
thank you

rhina

Antara Roy said...

Tortilla is a thicker form of flat bread.. Y dont you use the indian high fibre-whole wheat but thin chapatis or rotis for this recipe.. We make this all the time here.. i also make rolls out of roti bread, veggies and eggs.. and they taste awesome, nowhere close to cardboard!! :-P Try it and u ll notice the difference!! :)

Anonymous said...

What I think is amazing is that so many people gave you a hard time. You yourself said it was an experiment in high fiber and it was not the greatest. What did they expect. That being said any new recipe is a good recipe, because someone may love it, and if you cook at all you should be able to have some idea if it’s a recipe you might like before you make it. Thanks Chef John, and we have probably tried 50 or more of your recipes and have liked if not loved almost all of them. (sorry I don’t comment more). Going to try your breakfast sausage today for tomorrow.

Thanks again David

Unknown said...

I was just searching your site for a roti recipe, as I cook umteen other great things you've posted. Ah Ha, no roti! It seems to me that roti made from chapati flour might be a great sub for the horrible whole wheat tortillas of commerce, also good in the fiber department. If you figure it out, teach the rest of us!