As owner and chef of both 29 Cooks and Gather Events in Emmaus, Cindie Feldman's schedule isn't always conducive to getting home and putting dinner on the table—especially since her husband, Kevin, is typically by her side at both operations. For this reason, she savors brunch. “It's a time that everyone can make,” she says, speaking of her sons, Marc, 24, and Nick, 25. Over the years, she's learned that the better the food is, the more likely they are to make time for it. But she doesn't mind the pressure of serving the restaurant-quality food they've come to expect at home—likely the byproduct of her cooking for them for so many years. Cindie says if she's still in her kitchen on her day off, wanting to create, then she's doing what she should be in life. And as for her husband, Kevin: “He is my biggest fan when it comes to my cooking.”
At the Feldman house, they're huge fans of Mexican food. Cindie says they always have pickled jalapeños in the house—whether they've made them or bought them. And they've got every variety of hot sauce on deck. Her breakfast tostada recipe was born on a morning that she was scouring through her ingredients, trying to figure out what to make. She had six eggs, a pound of bacon and some grilled chicken. She landed on tostadas, and they've since become a family favorite—it's the creaminess of the yolk and the spice of the chipotle chicken, according to her.
Here, Cindie's dishing her from-scratch instructions, but she doesn't look down on anyone who wants to serve their pico de gallo from a jar. She says, on any given day, you can find her at Whole Foods, picking up ready-made guacamole just like the rest of the world.
Ingredients
- 12 corn tostada shells
- 1 lb. bacon, cooked and chopped; fat reserved
- 12 large raw eggs
Refried Beans
- 2 14-oz. cans pinto beans, one can drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
Pico De Gallo
- 3 fresh plum tomatoes, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime
- Pinch of kosher salt
Chipotle Grilled Chicken
- 1 pack of 6–8 boneless chicken thighs
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. onion powder
- 1–2 tsp. ground chipotle powder
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 limes
Toppings
- 2 ripe avocados, sliced or diced
- Fresh and/or pickled jalapeño
- Sour cream
- Colby cheese, shredded
- Your favorite hot sauce
Directions
Heat oven to 375˚F. Place the tostada shells on sheet trays and put in the oven for 3–4 minutes, just to freshen and crisp them more.
Refried Beans
Put about 4 Tbsp. of bacon fat in a saucepan. If you didn't save it, use olive oil or corn oil. Add the onions and sauté on medium-high heat for just a few minutes or until a little soft. Add the garlic and sauté for just 30 seconds. Add the beans and cover, turning the heat down to low. Simmer the beans and soften them a bit. Stir occasionally. About 10–15 minutes total. Remove from the heat and hand mash with a potato masher or a fork. Leave some beans whole for a nicer texture.
Pico De Gallo
Combine the tomato, diced onion, cilantro and lime juice. Stir and add a little salt at a time.
Chipotle Grilled Chicken
Combine the chicken thighs, spices, salt, oil and lime juice in a bowl. Mix well, coating the chicken very well. Grill on a grill pan or a regular grill until the internal temperature is 170 degrees in the center. Let rest for about 10 minutes and dice in small pieces.
Put the finished chicken, condiments, refried beans and pico de gallo in dishes. Put the tostadas on a tray.
At the last minute, place the remainder of the bacon fat or butter in a sauté pan and fry your eggs—either sunny side up or over easy.
Order of assembly:
Tostada shell, refried beans and top with Colby cheese, chicken, pico de gallo, sour cream, jalapeños, bacon, egg and hot sauce.
5402 Chestnut St., Emmaus | 484.951.0442 | gathereventspa.com
4030 Chestnut St., Emmaus 484.951.0422 | 29cooks.com
