Molletes with Pico de Gallo

When Ismael and I have a few more minutes to spare for preparing breakfast, we like to have molletes, a typical and very simple to dish prepare for the start of the day.  While on their own, I find molletes to be a bit bland, but with their traditional accompaniment of pico de gallo - they are very delicious and worth the five extra minutes they take me in the kitchen.

For the molletes you simply need:
- Rolls (one per person)
- Refried Beans
- Cheese (Here I used Chihuahua - a cheese very similar to Monterey Jack)

And before we get started, I would recommend you go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 F.

Simply slice the rolls in half (as those are on the left) and remove some of the fluffy inside (as on the right.)

Smear a thin, but somewhat generous, layer of beans into the hollowed out roll.

Place slices of cheese over the beans, just enough to cover them.  Place the molletes on a baking sheet and hop them into the oven for about 5 minutes - until the cheese melts.

Meanwhile you can make the Pico de Gallo.

Assemble 1 or 2 tomatoes, a small amount of onion, and the smallest serrano pepper you can find.

Honestly, this recipe is basically "to taste"...   Love onions?  Add them on in.  Like your mouth on fire?  Use more serrano pepper.

Finely chop the onion (about 1 Tb), the tomato, and about 1/2 to 1 tsp of the serrano pepper.  (This salsa can go from dull to too-hot-to-eat within the space of 1/4 tsp of serrano.  Of course, if that happens, just fish some of the pepper out of the salsa.)

Mix the onions, tomatoes, and serrano pepper in a small bowl.  Taste and carefully add more serrano, if desired.

Remove the toasted molletes from the oven.

Serve the molletes with plenty of pico de gallo.  Yum!

If this recipe seems familiar, it may be because many of the same ingredients and techniques were used in the Tortas de Pavo recipe.  I will admit that I decided to make molletes because I had refried beans and bread leftover from that meal.  And because I really like molletes.

Happy breakfasting!
~ Kim