This was a strange title. I want to call it an egg bake, but saying "Chorizo and Egg Egg Bake" sounds very strange. Either way, It is what it is. It's chorizo (a spicy pork sausage type thing) and eggs. Exciting, eh?

I've been wanting to make a large egg bake for a week of breakfasts, but we have a tendency to eat this at any meal, so I'm not going to call it a breakfast food. 

Ingredients:
12 Eggs, Whisked
1 lb. Chorizo, Cooked
1-2 Potatoes, Grated
1/2 Onion, Diced
1/2 c. Mozzarella, Shredded
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
(any other seasonings you think would complement this bake)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 375°F. 
• Cook your chorizo*
• Chop onion and grate potato while chorizo is cooking. 
• Beat the eggs in a large bowl (you're going to be adding everything to this bowl, so make sure it can accomodate potatoes, onion, and cheese)
• Add potatoes, onion and cheese to egg bowl. 
• Pour half the egg mix into a small casserole (7x11 or 9x9)
• Add the chorizo on top of the egg mix
• Pour the rest of the egg mix over the chorizo
• Bake for 22-25 minutes (until eggs aren't runny, you may have to cut it open to check on the middles)
• Let sit for 10 minutes

This is one of my all time favorite shows. As a Minnesotan, I love Rose. The clip is 5 minutes long, but you only have to watch 2 minutes. I strongly recommend watching the whole thing because the Golden Girls are hilarious. So, what is happening in this scene: Rose is baking something and needed egg whites. She didn't want to throw away the yolks, so she put them in a little bag on the counter. Blanche has just written the world's greatest romance novel...

Notes:
I'm pretty sure I watched that video 5 times. I love the Golden Girls. 

I originally got this recipe from PaleOMG (a paleo cooking blog).

*When cooking chorizo, it helps to cook it at a higher temperature (on our stove, that would be a 7). If you do so, turn the fan on because it will burn your eyes with the spices. Also, I start it at a high temperature and then turn it down to a medium-low temperature for the duration of cooking. 

I used a 4 cup measuring cup for the eggs, potatoes, onion, and cheese and it fit. 

Alternatively, you can mix the chorizo in with the egg and potatoes. I didn't use a big enough bowl, so I did it lasagna style. 

I used two tubes of chorizo, which was a little more than a pound. I would definitely use less chorizo next time. It's spicy. Not too spicy for me, but too spicy for a lot of folks. 

We couldn't find soyrizo, but we really wanted to do our recipe with it because it is delicious. 

Review:
It was a tad spicy for my taste, but I think it turned out great! I definitely want to do it again and add other things like spinach. TC says, "I like it. It's spicy! It would be good on tortillas!" He gives it a 4 because we don't have tortillas (there is this place near where we live that makes the most amazing flour tortillas... which I can't have.). I give it a 3.5 because it needs a little more diversity of ingredients. Next time, I will add red peppers and spinach and use less chorizo. As for the mess factor, the potatoes are the only really messy part. The chorizo pan might be difficult to clean, but I use cast iron, so I just wipe out my pan and the next thing I cook (cornbread) will have a little chorizo taste to it. 

Total Score:
4

Update 02/14/2014:
We tried this again with soyrizo instead of chorizo. I don't recommend it. It's very bland. 

I have not been looking forward to this post because the recipe is long and we changed a lot of things in it. So, I have to remember what we changed. Everybody loved this lasagna, so it needs to be posted... I just don't want to. Le sigh. We don't always get what we want. ;)

Ingredients:
9 Uncooked Lasagna Noodles
1 Onion, Chopped
4 Cloves Garlic, Chopped
14.5 oz. Vegetable Broth
3 tbsp Italian Seasonings (basil, rosemary, oregano etc), divide in half
1 can Artichoke Hearts, Drained, and Chopped
1 10 oz Package of Frozen Spinach, Thawed, Drained, and Squeezed Dry
1 Jar Tomato Pasta Sauce (about 12-16 oz)
3 c. Shredded Mozzarella
1/2 container Ricotta
1 Package Seasoned Feta (herbs)

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 9x13 casserole
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil
• Add noodles and cook for about 8-10 minutes (I always add a couple extra noodles to the pot unless one of them breaks. This is also helpful to test the doneness of the noodle. You'll want it to be al dente*.
• Drain noodles. Don't let the noodles lay on top of each other because they could stick.
• Use oil, butter, or spray for a skillet and saute the onions and garlic
• Stir in broth and seasonings
• Bring to a boil
• Reduce heat and simmer
• Stir in pasta sauce
• In a large bowl place the ricotta, spinach, artichokes, mozzarella cheese, and seasonings and mix (there will probably end up being extra of this)
• Spread a little of the tomato sauce on the bottom to keep the noodles from burning or drying out or whatever it is that noodles do.
• Put a layer of noodles over the sauce
• Put a thick layer of the ricotta mix
• Add another layer of noodles
• Add sauce, but don't use it all, save a little
• Add another layer of noodles (should have used 9)
• Put another, thin layer of sauce on the top to prevent noodles from doing bad things. 
• Sprinkle the delicious feta over the top
• Bake covered for 45 minutes
• Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes
• Let stand for 10 minutes before serving

Notes:
If you use the entire container of ricotta, then thaw a second package of spinach to balance it out. The leftovers can be used to make stuffed crescents (recipe coming soon).

I got to the point where the noodles were done cooking, and I picked one of the noodles up out of the pan (with tongs) and thought, "I bet these have wheat in them". Turns out I did not make a gluten-free friendly meal and so I could not participate. Sad day for me. 

We used half the amount of tomato sauce to accommodate TC's high-acid woes. 

Review:
This took forever to make. I don't know that I have ever made lasagna before, and if it always takes this long, I don't know that I want to make it again. TC said it was amazing and would love to have it again. His vegetarian cousin also gave it 5 stars and asked for the recipe. So, we would call this a win, and I may make it again because everyone liked it so much. As for the mess factor, TC mixed the ricotta stuff with his hands, and that was a big mess. I didn't use a big enough pan for the onions because I didn't realize you have to add the broth to it, so it almost overflowed. Since it had to boil, there were little brothy splatters everywhere. That's easily remedied though. 

Total Score:
5