tortilla scramble

by guest author Mark Bittman

Click here for the WTC recipe index, and scroll to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly version of today’s recipe from guest author Mark Bittman!

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guest spotlight

From Caro: Guys … Mark Bittman!!! I am beyond thrilled that Mark was up for sharing a recipe with us as part of my maternity leave guest series. Mark is a food journalist (he was a reporter, columnist, opinion columnist, and the lead magazine food writer at the NYT for *three decades*) and a prolific author (of more than *30* books, as well as his newsletter, The Bittman Project). He is a regular on the TODAY show (along with many other television, radio, and podcast shows), has six James Beard Awards under his belt, has delivered multiple TED Talks, and on.

All that to say that Mark Bittman is a thought leader in the food world and is brilliantly talented at recipe development, cooking, and writing. His cookbooks taught me how to cook. And here he is on WTC — offering up a delicious tortilla scramble recipe. Lucky us!!

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the art of fast cooking

From Mark: We know what eating well is but don’t always have the time to prepare meals at home, so we settle for some spin on eating fast. Yet as I asserted in 2014 with the first edition How to Cook Everything Fast, cooking remains an essential human activity. It can relax us after long, stressful days, bring us closer to our families, and put a lifetime of nourishment and endless eating possibilities right at our fingertips. The trick is to get food on the table faster — and better — than the abundance of restaurants and food companies jockeying to feed us.

Life may have become more complicated, but cooking can become simpler.

The fact is that you do have time to cook: You just need better recipes. Imagine a road map that captures the rhythm of the kitchen, where preparation and cooking happen seamlessly. Soup begins to simmer while you prepare more vegetables for the pot; oil shimmers in a skillet as you chop an onion; broiled meat rests while rice steams. This is naturally fast cooking, the kind experienced cooks do intuitively.

Fast cooking involves strategy not compromise. Smart, easy techniques, like cutting meat into smaller pieces for lightning-quick braises and harnessing the power of the broiler, give you all the pleasure of eating homemade meals with minimal work and — perhaps more important — time.

From Caro: By now y’all know what he’s talking about, right?! This is why we turned our pot lids into roasting trays for the roasted asparagus farro-tto last spring! And why we used some of our balsamic basil grilled chicken marinade as a dressing for the side salad back in June! The unofficial WTC motto is work smarter not harder — in order to have dinner ready ASAP — and I am so excited to share Mark’s thought process behind the same idea.

The result is delicious food prepared from real ingredients — quickly.

This completely revised and updated How to Cook Everything Fast is both a series of strategies and a collection of innovative recipes that do the planning and organizing for you. Below, have a favorite recipe from the new edition for Tortilla Scramble. We hope you enjoy it.

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DIY fried tortillas

From Mark: Frying your own tortillas isn’t faster than buying chips — but it is better. So with an investment of just a couple extra minutes, you’ll get phenomenal texture. Depending on where you’ve lived or traveled, this recipe might sound a lot like migas, which can also be made from leftover bread.

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B4D

From Caro: You guys went crazy for my starbucks egg bite copycat frittata over the summer, so I knew you’d love this tortilla scramble too. Eggs are such a fast-cooking and affordable protein (even with their price being really jacked up right now), they’re the perfect choice when you want a healthy, filling dinner (or breakfast, lunch, or brunch!) in a hurry.

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tortilla scramble

Serves 2

Cook time: ~30 minutes