Chorizo and Egg Bake

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 the chorizo. You want it to look nice and crumbly. It's okay if it burns, just don't let it burn too bad. Also, try to get as little liquid as possible. See my Notes for why. 

Dear goodness, please see the video posted below to understand what I think of when I see raw eggs. 

Note the oven thermometer. 

Shredding the potatoes. I feel like a TMNT villain. 

Potatoes are pretty moist, so when you are done shredding them, I would squeeze as much liquid out as possible with your hands. 

This is what it looked like. It's kinda like a lasagna, but no noodles. 

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.