Huevos Rancheros - Brunching in Sydney's Northern Beaches

Checking the surf

Last Christmas we went back to Sydney for a summer wedding of two of our close friends. We stayed for two amazing weeks of beaches, surfing, brunching and grazing over long coffees. Sometimes I really wondered why I left for Europe in the first place…

In Sydney, we used to live up in the Northern Beaches, in a beautiful small suburb called Fairlight just up the road from the famous Manly beach. Our place was about 5 minute walk down to the local Fairlight beach.

Cooks Terrace

Saturday mornings normally revolve around surfing (for Mark) and lazing on the beach (me). It starts with a drive up the northern beaches to find the best waves, starting from Manly, and heading up towards Mona Vale. This means that between lazing in my bed and lazing on the beach can take up to an hour. Tough life ;)

Barrenjoey Headlands

Palm Beach

On the way home, we’d stop for brunch in a little café called Splat, perched on Queenscliff with views of Manly beach. It’s nothing fancy, just good Australian coffees and solid breakfast feed. Our breakfast orders have never changed over the years: BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato) sandwich with flat white for him, and huevos rancheros with latte for me.

Splat

Anyway, this is my attempt of Splat’s huevos rancheros. Except this time around I’ll have to swap the 30 degree weather and beach views with Lake Zurich!

Huevos Rancheros

Serves 4 for light brunch

1 can red beans, drained

6-8 tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)

1 small zucchini, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 large onion, sliced

3 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon chili flakes or a few dashes of Tabasco sauce

2 teaspoons cumin

½ cup coriander leaves, chopped finely

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 large eggs

Slices of fresh sourdough bread, to serve

4 oven-proof ramekins, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.

Mix the diced garlic, onions, paprika, chilli flakes, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in the frying pan. Fry the garlic and onion mix in hot oil for a couple of minutes.

Add tomatoes, zucchini, celeries or other vegetables. Continue frying until all vegetables are cooked, then turn the heat down to simmer.

Fill each ramekin with vegetable mixture until halfway full. Crack one egg in the middle of each ramekin. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

Serve with slices of sourdough bread.