Huevos divorciados (divorced eggs — two salsas)

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, as fresh as possible
• 4 corn tortillas
• 200 g refried beans, thick enough to hold a border; warmed through
• For the salsa roja
• 300 g ripe tomatoes
• 1–2 dried chillies (such as guajillo or ancho), toasted and soaked
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• For the salsa verde
• 300 g tomatillos, husked
• 1–2 serrano or jalapeño chillies, roughly chopped
• ¼ white onion, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove
• 10 g fresh coriander, leaves and tender stems
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• To finish
• 60 ml Mexican crema, drizzled over at service
• to taste fine salt

Method

1. 1
   Make the salsa roja. Char the tomatoes, garlic, onion and soaked dried chillies under a hot grill or directly on a comal until blistered and softened, so the scorched skins give the salsa its smoky backbone rather than leaving it tasting of raw blended tomato. Blend to a rough purée, then heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in the purée — it will sputter — and cook, stirring, until the salsa deepens in colour and loses its raw, watery edge, which tells you the moisture has cooked off and the flavour has concentrated. Season with salt; the salsa is ready when it coats a spoon and smells earthy rather than sharp.
2. 2
   Make the salsa verde. Simmer the tomatillos, chillies, onion and garlic in just enough salted water to cover until the tomatillos turn from bright to dull olive-green and collapse slightly, about 10 minutes, reserving a little of the cooking liquid because it carries tomatillo flavour you will want back when adjusting consistency. Drain and blend with the coriander until smooth, adding cooking liquid as needed, then heat the oil in a small saucepan, pour in the blended salsa and cook until it thickens and loses its raw, acidic sting. Season with salt; the salsa is ready when the colour settles to a deep khaki-green and the tart edge softens to a round, herbal note.
3. 3
   Warm the corn tortillas two at a time on a dry comal over medium heat, turning once, until pliable and lightly toasted, so they are supple enough to eat without cracking but firm enough to support the egg and salsa without going sodden immediately. Place two tortillas side by side on each plate as the base for each egg and keep warm.
4. 4
   Fry the eggs sunny-side up or over-easy in a film of oil over medium heat until the whites are just set and opaque but the yolks remain fully liquid, because a hard yolk removes the defining yolk-into-salsa experience while an under-set white will not hold the salsa. This is where the dish lives or dies: pull the pan off the heat the moment the white loses its wobble, and slide each egg immediately onto its tortilla base.
5. 5
   Spoon the warm refried beans in a thick, upright line between the two eggs on each plate, pressing them up to form a wall substantial enough to read as a clear visual divider — not a thin smear — so the red and green salsas stay strictly on their respective sides. A meagre border will collapse under the ladle and the whole point of the dish, the divorce, is lost.
6. 6
   Ladle the hot salsa roja over one egg, starting from the centre and covering that egg only, then ladle the hot salsa verde over the second egg in the same manner, letting no salsa cross the bean border. Drizzle the Mexican crema over both eggs to unify the plate, and serve immediately so the salsas do not soften the tortillas beyond rescue.