>> Pati Narrates: There's something so romantic about travelling by train, isn't there?

The sounds of the tracks, the swaying cars, watching the scenery change through the window.

Years ago, when my boys were really little boys, we took one of our all-time- favorite family vacations: a ride on the rails on the Chepe Express, a one week journey from the breathtaking Copper Canyon to the end of the line, Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

Today I'm going to relive a part of that ride and I'm taking you with me.

One of my favorite parts of that trip was the food on that train, especially the breakfast.

From the fresh-squeezed orange juice to the pressed coffee, to the crispy chilaquiles.

>> Alan: This is so good!

>> Pati Narrates: So in honor of the Chepe, I'm making a mind-blowing Sinaloan breakfast, starting with something I've always wanted to share, my recipe for homemade puff pastry, which is the base for one of Mexico's most iconic pan dulces, Orejas.

Ah, the crunch!

Mmm.

Then just you wait.

Hearty, meaty, spicy, a steak and egg recipe piled onto a crispy potato hash cake and topped with roasted tomato and jalapeno salsita.

An incredible meal that will last all day.

Breakfast, brunch, lunch that's gonna make you last until dinner.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Pati: One of the things I love most about Mexican breakfasts is pan dulce.

Pan dulce encompasses a universe of possibilities, there's Conchas, there's Campechanas, but one of my favorite things are Orejas.

An oreja is an adaptation of the French Palmier.

To make it, you need puff pastry, and people are usually intimidated when making puff pastry, but there's a very easy way to make really good puff pastry, and it's so good and so easy that I bet you'll like it more than buying puff pastry at the store.

I have 2 and 2/3 cups of all purpose flour, and then I'll add 1/4 tsp of salt, 3 sticks of unsalted butter which is 3/4 pounds, and it needs to be very cold.

See, the whole secret of puff pastry is you need to create layers of dough and butter, because the butter puffs in the layers you make in the oven, and that's why puff pastry is so light and crisp and delightful.

I'll pulse the food processor just a few times.

I just want the really cold butter to break into the flour.

Then once you see that the butter is starting to break into the flour, I'll add 3/4 cups of very cold water, and then pulse a little.

This is how you want the dough to turn out before you start to roll it, it's very crumbly, it doesn't seem to want to come together.

I dusted my counter with flour, I'll dust my rolling pin, and then I also have a lot of flour in my hands, and this is where we get very French, with a Mexican adaptation.

The first thing is you'll roll the dough into something that resembles a triangle, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I'll fold it as if it was an envelope, it doesn't matter that it's breaking.

We're starting to create layers with the dough and butter, and after you make this envelope shape, you'll quarter turn counterclockwise, and now this time we'll roll this into sort of a rectangle.

Once you have this rectangle, fold the top to the middle, and the bottom to the middle.

Now we'll turn this folded rectangle onto itself like this, and this makes us have 8 layers of pastry, and you'll do the same again, triangle fold, rectangle fold.

This makes it 32, but then we fold it again.

And this makes it 64.

When you make puff pastry at home, it makes you feel so accomplished.

Before I use this puff pastry, it needs to chill for at least 30 minutes.

I made this puff earlier, and it's nice and chilled.

What I have here is 2 cups of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon, and I'm always careful with the cinnamon because I love a little bit of cinnamon, but I don't like it when things have an overpowered cinnamon taste.

To make sure the sugar and cinnamon are incorporated into the puff pastry, you need to roll the pastry onto the sugar base.

How much fun is that?

We need to roll the puff pastry into a really large rectangle, about 24 inches by 10 - 12 inches.

Now I'll take a butter knife and just make a line down the middle, but you're just making a line to give you a guide, you don't want to cut through the dough all the way to the countertop.

Then I'm gonna add the rest of the sugar.

I'm gonna roll it a little so it really goes in.

Then what you'll do is really fun, you'll just roll the bottom and top to the center, and you want to do it tightly.

We're making these two rows meet, and then you wanna pinch them together.

I'll cut this into 2 because it's too big, but you can start to see how beautiful this is gonna be.

See?

This is the shape of the oreja.

We'll wrap it in plastic wrap, put it in the refrigerator and let it chill for half an hour so I can slice the orejas beautifully.

I'm making steak and eggs, but this is not your usual steak and eggs, no this is steak and chorizo and Anaheim chili and eggs, and it'll go on top of a potato hash cake 'cause I'm thinking outrageous breakfast.

I have 4 pounds of red potatoes that I peeled and grated, so potatoes like these, it doesn't matter if they're small or large, just peel them, grate them, strain them so you get most of the juice out, and a really effective way to get the juice out is to put them in a clean kitchen towel and just squeeze the juice out, and I squeezed most of the juice out.

I'm going to grate 1/2 a white onion.

For me a good potato hash cake has very little seasoning because I love potatoes and I really want them to shine.

Then I'll add 3 tbsp of flour, a 1/2 tsp of baking powder which will help that potato hash cake puff.

Some salt and some freshly ground black pepper, and then 3 eggs.

The recipe for this potato hash cake comes from my sister Karen who has an amazing new restaurant in Mexico City, she specializes in amazing breakfasts, and she volunteered these potato hash cakes for my steak and eggs.

This is another trick from my sister, she butters and flours a baking sheet or baking pan so it's very easy to take them out as if they were slices of cake.

I'll pour a little olive oil on top of the potato hash cake so the browning is even more lovely and golden brown.

I have my oven at 400 degrees, it'll bake for 35 - 40 minutes.

You are gonna check it with me, we'll take it out when it's beautifully browned and crispy.

(train passes) >> Pati Narrates: Look how young those boys are!

Where does the time go?

It seems like only yesterday when we all piled onto that train and set out on one of our greatest family adventures.

>> Alan: Hola ma!

>> Pati Narrates: The Chepe Express is a passenger train taking tourists on a beautiful ride through Northern Mexico's Copper Canyon all the way down to the coast of Sinaloa at Los Mochis.

This was not only a great family trip where we first learned Juju was going to be a great eater, but it was also an important trip for me because we took this trip right when I switched careers and was starting my first food blog, which is why I have video of me forcing myself into the train kitchen to ask about their recipes.

The experience and meals on this train were so amazing that it helped fuel my passion for continuing to connect myself and my family to Mexico through food.

>> Alan: This is so good!

>> Pati Narrates: The Chepe has had a few updates since our trip, and the new train is a stunner.

Chepe is the only passenger train in Mexico, right?

>> Rosalva: Yes, yes.

>> Pati: And it's the only one that has food and drinks.

>> Rosalva: Yes.

>> Pati: So when you're coming into Sinaloa from the desert, when the train starts to get into Sinaloa, what do you get into?

>> Rosalva: This area has more tropical vegetation which makes the whole thing different because we're coming from the mountains to the ocean.

>> Pati: I have a very strong personal connection to the Chepe train, and I connected with the freshly-squeezed juice that's coming from the restaurant, and the freshly made coffee, and the pan dulce - >> Rosalva: It is very interesting to speak to people.

You feel the pride of the people that work for the train.

>> Pati: I think a lot of people are used to getting microwaveable hot dogs or pizzas that are just put in a little oven, but here you're getting a full menu.

>> Rosalva: Yeah, you do.

When you get on the train, the first thing you get is a coffee with fresh baked bread.

>> Pati: Why have you maintained having the fresh food come out from the kitchen train?

Why is it important?

>> Rosalva: Well it's very important that people have the tastes and flavors from the local areas, and it's always nice to have them taste the real flavor of Mexico.

>> Pati: In a kitchen that's moving along with a train - do you guys - first of all, do you get dizzy?

Is it fun?

Do you get into a rhythm?

>> Chef: At first it's really difficult because we're not used to movement, but as time passes you get used to it.

>> Pati: Oh wow.

Please, place!

Is this the tacos carne asada?

Mmm.

Mmm!

Mmm!

>> Rosalva: Should I give you a napkin?

>> Pati: Mhmm, mhmm.

These carne asada tacos are very Sinaloa, right?

>> Chef: Yeah, that's pure Sinaloa.

I think that's what this train brings to gastronomy and all over the country, to show the people that not all gastronomy is in the center of the country or in the South - >> Pati: Yeah!

And so many things that grow here, so you're really cooking with local products.

>> Rosalva: I think the North part of Sinaloa has the most gorgeous callo de hacha, shrimp, chilorio.

>> Chef: Yeah, they have a lot - I think that Mexico has a lot of different ingredients and food.

You can go to another state and there's a lot of different things.

In this case, we want to show the world the gastronomy part.

>> Pati: Ah, the chicharrones and salsa verde!

>> Chef: Yeah - >> Pati: So the salsa verde is made with the Anaheim as well?

>> Chef: Yeah.

>> Pati: Mmm!

Que delicioso.

♪ ♪ Pati: This is such a classic old-fashioned way to travel, slow, no connection, looking at the view.

Why is that so important to preserve, in your view?

>> Rosalva: Well I think that running a traditional train makes the people go back to nostalgia, and when you come here with all this movement, you get rid of the stress, you come and enjoy another part of life, and there is nowhere else to go, so the best thing to do is enjoy what you have around.

>> Pati: Okay, my oreja dough has been chilling for over half an hour.

So "oreja" translates to "ear", as we said, we're making "orejitas", we're making "little ears".

So 1/4 inch.

It's much easier to slice it when it's chilled and it stays like this.

This is incredibly lovely!

We have the remaining sugar.

We are going to super sugarcoat these, and you want to leave about an inch between them because they are gonna puff.

I have my oven at 425 degrees, and I'll bake these about 6 - 7 minutes per side.

I want them to be golden and brown, and then I'll flip them.

Pati: So my potato hash cake is finishing browning in the oven, and I'm gonna make a steak, chorizo, onion, Anaheim, steak and egg thing.

You've never had steak and eggs like these, this is an outrageous version of steak and eggs, I'm gonna show you how I make it.

I have 2 pounds of sirloin steak, I'll try to trim off as much of the fat as I can.

Why I love making steak and eggs with sirloin is because it's a cut of meat that has a lot of flavor and a lot of give when you bite into it.

So I'm cutting the meat into bite-sized pieces, and I want all this steak mixture to be ready to eat so you don't have to cut into anything, you can just dig in!

I'll leave a little bit of fat, it's gonna render when we cook it in the pan.

I have 1 pound of Mexican chorizo.

I took the casings off and I can just throw it in the pan and start browning it, but chorizo meat tends to stick together when you cook it, so it really helps if you coarsely chop it before you add it into the pan.

I added 2 tbsp of oil to my pan which I have at medium-high heat.

(meat sizzles) Oh, now I'm smelling the chorizo a lot more than before!

This is not just steak and eggs, it's steak and chorizo!

The wonderful thing about chorizo is that not only will we have crisp bites of seasoned meat, but we'll have all that rendered flavor for the onions and chilis to cook in, you'll see.

It's been like 8 minutes, the orejas look ready to flip, and you can see how beautiful they look!

So we're just flipping them to the other side.

Did you see all the sugar that melted and started browning with the butter in the puff?

I mean this is just perfect.

So now I'll put it in the oven for another 5 - 6 minutes.

I have 1 white onion which is about 2 cups, and then I have 3/4 pounds of Anaheim chilis.

This is the first time I'm cooking with Anaheim chilis in my kitchen!

So this was a chili that I didn't appreciate before I went to Sinaloa.

Different from a jalapeno, the jalapeno is spicier, the Anaheim is much more mild, peppery, a bit bitter, but I like it more when you roast or char and remove the skin, remove the seeds, it becomes a bit more mellow.

And then you just slice it!

Pati: When you fire-roast or char Anaheim chilis, you don't want to overdo it.

You really want to leave the meat thick and a little crunchy, if you fire-roast them for too long, they'll become like mush, which is not a bad thing, but I do want to have the bite of the chilis.

Ooh, perfection!

So now I'll add a little more oil and raise my heat, and then I'll sear my meat, and the great thing about the sirloin steak is that it really needs 5 minutes.

This will be an outrageous breakfast, brunch, lunch, that's gonna make you last until dinner.

I'll add some salt and pepper.

I don't want to add too much salt because the chorizo has a ton of flavor.

And you really want your heat to be high because you don't want the meat to steam, you want it to sear.

While my sirloin steak is searing, I'm going to make the best ever salsita, and you are going to be shocked because it has 2 ingredients, roma tomatoes and 2 chubby jalapenos, and I'll just broil them for about 10 minutes until they're mushy, charred and juicy.

You know you wanna bite into one of these chunks!

I'll add the chorizo, the sauteed onions, and the fire-roasted Anaheims.

Mmm, mmm, mmm!

That's gonna heat for 1 more minute.

I like to make my sunny side up eggs in this tiny pan, I put it over very low heat.

I'll add just a drop or two of oil.

And salt.

I like to cover them so they cook with a little bit of steam, and I like to cook them until the whites are completely cooked but the yolks are very runny.

You may think this is burnt or too charred, but no, this is perfect!

Salt.

Come look how incredible this is!

Look at the tomatoes.

Mushy and sweet, and you want it chunky!

You can use your molcajete like I'm doing, but you can also use your blender or food processor.

So it looks like I have everything I need for an outrageous breakfast!

Ah, did you hear how crunchy that is?

Ooh, this is so perfect, look at this!

Mmm.

Mhmm!

You can see the big chunks of jalapeno and tomato?

I can do this, I can get a bite of everything into one.

Mmm.

Mmm, mmm!

Mhmm!

It's so delicious.

It has so much going on but it goes so well together.

First thing you taste is the salsita which is spicy and rustic and chunky, and then you have the super hearty pieces of meat.

My favorite part is the beginning and the end, because at the beginning you get the salsita and I love the egg, and then you're going through the meat and chorizo, but then at the end you eat that potato hash which is kind of a sweet base for the rest.

A crazy brunch, but an incredibly delicious one.

We have the orejitas, and then we have a very simple chocolate ganache, and what we have here is 4 ounces of bittersweet chopped chocolate, and I added 1/2 a cup of warm heavy cream, and once it dilutes you mix it up and have your chocolate ganache.

I have a beautiful orejita.

Ah, the crunch!

Mmm!

The outside is crisper, more brown, more crunchy, and as you move into the middle it gets more concentrated.

It's very light, bright and airy.

So you can have your orejitas like this, but you can also dip them in chocolate ganache.

You can have more fun and add some sprinkles, very lightly so they'll stick.

I do love chocolate.

Mmm!

This is something that you really want to make over the weekend because it's something that will fill you up for an entire day.

Between the steak and eggs combo over the potato hash, and this really delicious treat for the end, we have a winner.

>> Pati Narrates: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit PatiJinich.com, and connect!

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @PatiJinich.