Well, it’s about time! It’s been six weeks since I got back from my month of endless tacos and margaritas in Austin, Texas. Full credit goes to Ali for coming up with the idea to head south with our pups for the coldest month of the year, and I’m so glad we did. We drove down separately with our dogs as our co-pilots and our trunks rattling with kitchen supplies. I caught up with her on I-35 near Oklahoma City and flailed my arm out the window with a stupid grin on my face. After a few months of talking about going to Austin for a month, we were doing it!
Ali got there first, then I showed up and popped a bottle of Champagne, which we poured over ice like thirsty ladies do. We’re both independent, single introverts who are accustomed to living alone, so I think we were both mildly apprehensive about sharing a roof for a whole month. Fortunately, Ali is a great roommate and our only heated discussions revolved around food. Ali is the salsa queen (don’t bring jarred salsa into her house!) and she was surprised to hear me wax poetic about ketchup. It’s true, I love ketchup, but don’t get me started on baby carrots. Ali insists on lemon in her water and unabashedly adores frozen margaritas. I rank tortilla chips based on their air-pocket-to-flat-surface ratio. This is the stuff we learned about each other during fourteen happy hour sessions together.
Watch How to Make Austin-Style Migas
I kept going on to Ali and Jeanine about how I just don’t get migas. Tex-Mex migas are Austin’s version of scrambled eggs with peppers and tortilla chips folded in. Every time I ordered them, though, the chips had already melted into the eggs by the time they arrived. Their crunch had disappeared, leaving behind extra grease, salt and only whisper of corn chips flavor. On the morning I left Austin, however, I stopped at my favorite taco truck and decided to give their migas taco a shot. I waited forever for those tacos, long enough for a hipster construction worker to propose to me (only in Austin). I finally joined Cookie in my car and opened up my bag of tacos. The migas taco was freshly made with super crispy strips of corn tortillas. I took a bite and all of a sudden, migas made perfect sense.
It’s about time I shared my perfected homemade migas with you. I make my migas with fresh, oven-baked tortilla strips that retain their crispness without adding a greasy undertone to the dish. I serve my migas with peppery black beans, which are integral to the recipe below because you’ll sauté all the onions and peppers together, then reserve half of the mixture to add to your eggs. This recipe would be perfect for a small brunch or dinner for two to four. They’re best served right away; reheated leftovers are pretty good but the chips lose their precious crispness along the way.
