Chiles Rellenos Breakfast Bake

May 5. Forty-two. The answer to the ultimate question, according to Diego and Douglas Adams. Luis burned the chilaquiles. The tradition holds. I ate them at the counter at 3:15 AM and the char was worse this year — not charred, actually burned, the tortilla strips more carbon than corn — and I ate every bite because the love in burned food is the same as the love in perfect food, it is just expressed differently, the way some people say I love you with words and some say it with wrecked chilaquiles at dawn.

The children's gifts evolve each year, tracking their growth like rings in a tree. Luis Jr. sent a package from Fort Bliss (he was on duty, couldn't come): a card with a hundred-dollar bill inside and a note that said "Buy more flour, Mom." Isabella: a letter, year three, this one about the research internship and how she will use what she learns to prevent what happened to Rosa. Sofia: the bakery's profit-and-loss statement for the first quarter of 2019, highlighted and annotated, as if a P&L is a birthday card and a margin note is a candle. Diego: a device. I don't know what it is. He says it's a "automated dough timer" that beeps when the dough has risen to the optimal volume, and he calibrated it using the density of our concha dough, and it works, sort of, and it beeped during my birthday dinner at a volume that startled the dog next door. Camila: a song. "Mama at Forty-Two." New lyrics, same format. "She's forty-two, the answer true, she makes the bread, she's my best view." I have been the subject of a five-year birthday song discography and each year the lyrics get slightly better and the rhymes get slightly more ambitious and the singing gets noticeably more skilled.

I made a tres leches cake for my own birthday, because no one else was going to make one as good as mine, and false modesty about tres leches is a sin. Rosa's recipe. Three milks, soaked into sponge cake, topped with whipped cream and maraschino cherries. I blew out the candles — forty-two, which is too many candles for one cake but I insist on accuracy — and I wished for the thing I always wish for: more. More of this. More mornings. More flour. More children at the table. More of Rosa in the steam. More.

The chilaquiles are the tradition, and I would not trade them for anything — not even for a plate of perfect ones made by someone who knows what they are doing. But the morning after a birthday, when the char is still faintly in the air and the dog next door has finally settled back down, I want something warm and forgiving and properly cooked. This chiles rellenos breakfast bake is everything the birthday morning deserves: green chiles, eggs, melted cheese, the smell of Rosa’s kitchen without the smoke alarm. I have made it on forty-two birthdays’ worth of mornings, and it has never once beeped at an inappropriate volume.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 cans (7 oz each) whole green chiles, drained
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
6 large eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce, for serving
Sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
Layer the chiles. Split the green chiles open lengthwise and lay them flat in a single layer across the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Add first cheese layer. Sprinkle 1 cup of the Monterey Jack and 1 cup of the cheddar evenly over the chiles.
Repeat the layers. Arrange the remaining chiles over the cheese, then top with the remaining Monterey Jack and cheddar.
Make the custard. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper until smooth and no lumps remain.
Pour and rest. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the layered chiles and cheese. Let the dish sit for 5 minutes so the custard settles into the layers.
Bake. Bake uncovered for 40–45 minutes, until the center is set, the top is lightly golden, and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Rest and serve. Let the bake rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Warm the tomato sauce in a small saucepan. Serve squares topped with tomato sauce, a dollop of sour cream, and fresh cilantro.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chiles Rellenos Breakfast Bake — What I Make When the Chilaquiles Are Beyond Saving