Mexican Egg Sandwich (Torta)

This is a fried egg sandwich, or "torta," a word that in Spanish often means "cake," but also means "sandwich" in Mexico. Typically, "bolillo" are the rolls used for this sandwich. A bolillo is a type of French bread roll popularized during the heavy French influence in Mexico in the mid 1800s. The sandwich is a fixture in Mexico, but they are also common in the southwestern areas of the U.S., and other areas where people of Mexican background live. If you cannot find bolillos, you can easily substitute sausage rolls or ciabatta rolls. The "torta" can also be made with chorizo. Remember, the word "torta" is a generic word for "sandwich," and there are a variety of "torta" in Mexico, not just with egg. 

Ingredients (per sandwich):

1 fried egg, yolk intact and slightly runny, or yolk broken and mixed in with the egg white
2 tablespoons refried beans
1 or 2 tablespoons red enchilada sauce (store bought or homemade)*
1 bolillo roll, sausage roll or ciabatta roll, split, then toasted
1 or 2 jalapeño or serrano chili slices, for some "heat"
2 slices Monterey Jack cheese or manchego**
1 or 2 avocado slices
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
sliced onion, sliced tomato and extra enchilada sauce, on the side

Spread the refried beans on the bottom of the roll, top with the cheese. Add the egg and top with the chili pepper. Drizzle on the enchilada sauce. Spread the avocado on the top portion of the roll and sprinkle on the chopped cilantro. Press the sandwich together. Serve with sliced onion and tomatoes on the side. If you like enchilada sauce, as I do, put some in a dish for dipping. YES!

* This is the link for my article about enchilada sauce:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/05/red-enchilada-sauce.html  

** Manchego is a cheese made from sheep's milk in Spain. It has various classifications according to how long it is aged. Mexican manchego is based on the Spanish cheese, but it is typically made with cow's milk and then aged to a point where it is "similar to" Monterey Jack in taste and texture.  

WORD HISTORY:
Fry-This word goes back to Indo European "bher/pher," which "seems" to have had the notion of "fire, heat;" thus also, "cook or roast." This gave Latin "frigere," meaning, "to fry, to roast," two forms of cooking for which we now have separate terms. This passed to Latin-based Old French as "frire," with the meaning, "to fry." English borrowed the word as "frien" in the latter part of the 1200s.