Ree Drummond, better known to millions as “The Pioneer Woman,” knows one of the secrets to good cooking is preparation — making sure all the ingredients for a dish are close at hand before one turns on the stove or preheats the oven.
Christmas shopping, however, is another matter altogether.
“Oh, I’m the worst,” Drummond said, laughing. “I don’t even begin thinking about shopping for Christmas until the second week in December.”
Drummond, who grew up in Bartlesville, remembers holiday shopping expeditions to Tulsa’s Utica Square. “I still like to shop there,” she said.
As for holiday traditions in the Drummond family, one of the longest-lasting has been fried quail and cream gravy.
“There used to be a big quail hunt on the Drummond ranch around Thanksgiving, and the birds would become the main dish for Christmas day brunch,” Drummond said. “My father-in-law would usually be doing the cooking. These days, we don’t have a lot of quail — there are a lot of coyotes running around here — so we have to get quail from other sources.
People are also reading…
“Or we’ll just have fried chicken,” she said, laughing. “It’s a lot more user-friendly.”
In 2019, Drummond shared this recipe from her cookbook, “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier,” which includes a recipe that should help feed a gathering on Christmas morning — especially if they like their holiday fare spicy.
TEX-MEX SHEET PAN BREAKFAST
One 28-ounce bag frozen diced hash browns
1 small red onion, cut into ½-inch dice
½ jalapeño, sliced into rounds
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
½ teaspoon black pepper, plus more for sprinkling
½ cup grated pepper jack cheese
2 avocados, cut into ½-inch dice
Cilantro leaves, for serving
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the hash browns, onion, and jalapeño on a sheet pan. Drizzle the melted butter and olive oil on top, then season with the salt and pepper and toss to coat.
3. Bake for 25 minutes, tossing halfway through. Remove the pan from the oven and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees.
4. Stack the tortillas and cut into 6 wedges. Tuck the tortilla wedges into the potatoes, then open the package of chorizo and use a fork to drop bite-size pieces onto the pan. Keep them small, as they need to fully cook in the oven by the time the rest of the ingredients are cooked. Space the chorizo evenly over the pan. Crack the eggs over the top (don’t worry if you break a yolk or two!), then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Return the sheet pan to the oven and bake until the eggs are cooked to your liking and the chorizo is cooked, 12 to 15 minutes. The chorizo should be hot and sizzling.
6. Sprinkle on the jack, the avocados, the pico de gallo, and the hot sauce to taste.
7. Use a spatula to cut large squares of the breakfast and serve with sour cream, cilantro leaves, and more hot sauce!
— From “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The New Frontier” by Ree Drummond. Copyright © 2019 by Ree Drummond. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Tulsa World is where your story lives
The Tulsa World newsroom is committed to covering this community with curiosity, tenacity and depth. Our passion for telling the story of Tulsa remains unwavering. Because your story is our story. Thank you to our subscribers who support local journalism. Join them with limited-time offers at tulsaworld.com/story.