One Of Natalie Wood's Favorite Dishes To Cook Was A Mexican Breakfast Classic

Stars, they're just like us -- that is, if we all like huevos rancheros, and really, who doesn't? Hollywood icon Natalie Wood was known and loved for her work in classic films like "Brainstorm," "West Side Story," and "Splendor in the Grass." But apparently, she was also known for her skills in the kitchen, especially when it came to one of her favorite dishes: huevos rancheros.

Huevos rancheros is a long popular Mexican breakfast dish; an essential recipe consists of eggs, tortillas, and ranchero sauce, a tomato-based sauce spiced and seasoned with chili peppers and herbs. It made its way from rural Mexico to the United States via Texas and would have become a go-to in California, where Mexican food has been an important cuisine for decades.

Wood may have come to know and love huevos rancheros at any time during her childhood in northern and then southern California. As an adult and full-fledged movie star, the dish became her culinary signature. Her specific approach was included in Gregory Swenson's "Recipes for Rebels: In the Kitchen with James Dean," a collection of dishes from friends, colleagues, and family members of the legendary James Dean. As fans may recall, Wood and Dean worked together on 1955's "Rebel Without a Cause."

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How To Make Natalie Wood's Huevos Rancheros

Wood's huevos rancheros recipe is a little different than the ones we might be used to making or seeing on restaurant menus today. There's no cilantro -- a win for those of us who think it tastes like soap, anyway -- or cheese or various other trappings. The focus is really on perfectly crisped tortillas, fried eggs with a hint of buttery richness, and sweet, spicy, herbaceous ranchero sauce. As the dish's name might give away, ranchero sauce is really the main attraction -- paying extra attention to it by pan-frying it to cook down the tomatoes is a way to give the dish a serious flavor boost.

To make the movie star's huevos rancheros spin, just as "Recipes for Rebels" suggests she might have done and shared with her friend James Dean, fry the tortillas briefly in hot oil. For the all-important sauce, simmer chopped tomatoes, a chopped serrano or chili pepper, salt, pepper, garlic, and marjoram until they're well incorporated and, well, saucy. Marjoram is a unique twist for ranchero sauce, as most recipes don't include it. Delicious and versatile, it's a mild herb that really deserves to be used in more dishes. Its taste is comparable to oregano, earthy, woody, and slightly sweet with floral, citrus, and pine notes. It would open up the ranchero sauce with herby complexity. You can either fry up the eggs in this sauce, or separately in butter before assembling all three elements.

Read the original article on Tasting Table.