Butternut Squash Breakfast Tacos for Dinner

I cook dinner for my brood nearly every night of the week.

Only recently have I come to realize that many of my meals are a slight variation on a theme. Take for instance the taco theme. There are a million and one ways to make a tasty taco. Why not explore them all?

This recipe is one that came together on a moment's notice. It's not that I had a moment's notice to prepare dinner. For I know this is part of my job description from the moment I awake any given  morning. But a moment's notice because the day got away from me and it was suddenly 5pm and I had three hungry munchkins at my feet demanding I feed them.

With no real plan for dinner in that moment, I began fantasizing about placing a carry-out order at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. In all practicality—and back in reality—I began pulling items fast from the fridge and frying them up. First came the chorizo, then the red onion, red bell pepper and butternut squash. Next the egg. I threw it all together on top of a corn tortilla and called it a night. My sweet hubby was so impressed with the flavor he couldn't stop raving about my new taco creation in-between bites.

There was something remarkably special about the caramelized butternut squash that put this dish over the top into the "Best Taco Ever" category in The Little White Kitchen. Perhaps it will fill the role of "Best Taco Ever" in your Big Blue Kitchen, or Awkwardly Tight Yellow Kitchen, or So Large I Can Hardly See You Across the Room Gray Kitchen, or ....

Butternut Squash Breakfast Tacos

Ingredients:
1 pound ground Chorizo sausage
8 eggs, fried
3 TBS vegetable oil
1/2 large butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 large red onion, diced
salt & pepper, to taste
1 TBS brown sugar
8 soft corn tortillas

The Preparation Method:


This is going to require all four burners on your stovetop to be working at once. Get ready!

In one pan, over medium-high heat fry the chorizo sausage until cooked through. Set aside.

At the same time, in another pan, heat 3 TBS vegetable oil. Add the diced red onion, red bell pepper and butternut squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to suite your tastes. Saute over medium-high heat until the onions start to caramelize. Add 1 TBS brown sugar. Stir to combine. Continue to saute until onions are nicely caramelized and the butternut squash is easily pierced with a fork. Set aside.

At the same time, in a third pan, begin frying the eggs. We like ours over hard. Set the fried eggs aside.

In a fourth pan, heat a touch of vegetable oil and fry the corn tortillas to make them super pliable. Corn tortillas just aren't quite right unless they're gently fried.

Once sufficiently warm, pile each tortilla high with one fried egg, a heaping spoonful of chorizo, and a double-heaping spoonful of sauteed veggies. 

Yum-yum-ya-yum-yum.

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This is the jam that inspired my four-burner stovetop session. I may have played it five times over during the fifteen minutes it took me to prepare this dinner. I may have broke out a few hot Bollywood moves on my linoleum floor. I may have busted into a few old-school breakdancing moves in front of my three young children. Or I may not have done any of those things.

Panjabi MC featuring Jay-Z — Beware