Chilaquiles

Place the pasilla chile on the grates of a gas range. Turn the flame to medium and char the pasilla chile, rotating it every 30 seconds or so, until blackened. Transfer the chile to a cutting board and using a knife, scrape off most of the charred bits and discard. Dice up the pasilla chile, removing the seeds and thick membrane.

To the blender, add the diced up pasilla chile, canned tomatoes and hot sauce; pulse until smooth.

In a medium skillet, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced shallot and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Pour in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, beer and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, until reduced by nearly half, about 10 minutes. Stir it frequently to avoid any scorching business that might happen on the bottom of the pan. Also, you know, play with the heat a bit, if you need to.

While the sauce is reducing, let’s fry up the tortillas! To a medium skillet or cast iron skillet, heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil over medium high heat. When the oil glistens, add the tortilla triangles and fry until crispy, about 1 minute, flipping them at the 30 second-mark. Drain the tortilla chips on a few sheets of paper towels. Repeat the frying process until you’ve worked your way through all of the chips. Just a side note: I like my chilaquiles to have some texture so I overcooked my chips by a hair. Like, they were browned a bit. This resulted in the final chilaquiles having good texture.

Preheat the broiler. Give the tomato sauce a taste and adjust the salt and pepper according to taste. To a medium baking dish, arrange a thin layer of tortilla chips. Top with half of the tomato sauce and half of the shredded cheese. Add the remaining chips, cheese and tomato sauce. Transfer to the broiler for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melty. Be sure to keep an eye on it; it can get burnt pretty easily!

While the chilaquiles are in the broiler, fry up the two eggs in a small skillet. Arrange the two fried eggs atop the chilaquiles; garnish with cilantro leaves, sliced radishes, jalapeño and wedges of lime.