Joy of Cooking Pancakes

I'm not that big on sweet breakfasts, but every once in a while I neeeeeeed some pancakes or waffles with maple syrup as soon as I wake up. I pretty much always use the joy of cooking recipe for pancakes and beat the egg whites separately before folding them in for a lighter batter. Cooked in butter and then topped with maple syrup. 

Fried Eggs on Buttered Toast with a Zingy Lettuce, Tomato and Radicchio Salad

I like my eggs fried in olive oil and super crispy around the edges. I think sunny side up eggs are lame, but they sure do look prettier in pictures.

Fried Egg with Pickled Onion + Homemade Mayonnaise + Manchego + Arugula on Toast

Sorry I haven't updated in a while... I've been working like crazy and haven't really had much time to myself over the past three weeks. I've been working in the kitchen at a restaurant called Rustic Canyon and I'm very happy to say that so far it's been a blast!

Anyways, this was actually my first breakfast home the morning after I got back from my euro trip and Barcelona was still fresh in my mind so I had to incorporate in some manchego cheese!

I started by quick pickling some thinly sliced baby onions with water, vinegar, salt and thyme. I basically let the mixture come to a boil and then turned it off and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Here's what the onions looked like at the end:


I made a quick mayonnaise with an egg yolk, mustard, vinegar, salt and olive oil.


Arugula fresh from my dad's garden:


Frying eggs:


Manchego and mayonnaise on a thick piece of whole grain toast:

Arugula on top:

Finally, the egg and shallots:


It was deliciously creamy from the egg, mayonnaise and cheese, spicy from the arugula and tangy from the onions! Yum yum yuuum.


Tomorrow is the fourth of July and my dad invited over about a million people so we're gonna make fish tacos with coleslaw and pickled onions, some corn on the cob and an apricot/possibly caramel bread pudding for dessert.

Fried Eggs + Shallot-Thyme-Chili Crispy Potatoes

If you ask me, eggs couldn't be happier than when they're sitting beside shallot, thyme and chili. For that reason, I've made about a million variations on breakfast using these few ingredients (example 1, example 2). As much as I do love a couple of scrambled eggs cooked with caramelized shallots and spicy chilis, I chose to jumble up the equation yet again yesterday morning.

Fried is my number one favorite way to cook eggs. I like them cooked on super high heat in olive oil until the edges get crispy, over-medium in the center and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Nothing could be better. Except for maybe the eggs with a side of crispy potatoes that have been smothered in my favorite egg accompaniments.

To begin, I par-boiled the potatoes in some salted water until they were about 10 minutes away from being perfectly cooked. I drained the potatoes and sliced them in half lengthwise. In a big frying pan that could fit the halved potatoes in one layer, I briefly fried a smashed clove of garlic and a few sprigs of thyme in some butter and olive oil. After the oil had become fragrant from the garlic and thyme, I spread out the potatoes in the pan with the cut side facing down. This next step is an important one - don't touch the potatoes for about 5 minutes so they can start building a golden crust. Around 5 minutes into the cooking, I added in a sliced shallot and some sliced chili (as much as you think you can handle!). Season with salt. Flip the potatoes so they can get a little crispy all over. In the last few minutes of cooking, throw in a little more butter and sprinkle in some extra fresh thyme leaves.

On the side, I made the same radish and arugula salad as my last post. It was so delicious with a big bite of the potatoes and egg.

Breakfast/Lunch In Paris

Greetings from Paris!! After 5 days in here, Lucas and I still hadn't had a chance to get to one of the farmer's markets, so this morning, we took a little walk over to the Marché des Enfants Rouge around the corner from where we're staying to gather some ingredients for a breakfast/lunch at home. We bought some baguette, a soft and very stinky cheese whose name I cannot remember, a perfect cantaloupe and some fennel, sucrine and lemon for a little salad.

Sucrine lettuce is one of my favorite things in the world. It's essentially baby lettuce heads but it has a perfectly sweet and slightly bitter taste to it. I love it served with oeuf mayonnaise (boiled eggs with fresh mayonnaise). Unfortunately, I've never been able to find sucrine back home so I try to eat it as much as I can while I'm visiting here.

So for the salad, I quartered up a few sucrines, sliced up a head of baby fennel and dressed them with lemon, olive oil and salt. This was a really simple, but still a completely perfect meal. yuuummm. We're heading to Amsterdam tomorrow and planning on doing a lot of cooking there so stay tuned for more updates in the next few days!

Scrambled Eggs with Shallots, Chili and Chives +Toast

This is a very delicious and easy breakfast to make. The recipe is for 2 people.

Ingredients:

- 1 small/medium shallot, diced
- 1 small red or green chili (serrano, jalepeno, whatever you want) seeded and diced
- About 1/4 cup of chopped chives
- 5 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons of cream
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Olive oil + butter for cooking

In about a tablespoon of butter and a bit of olive oil, sautée the diced shallot and chili over medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream and chives and season with salt and pepper. Once the chili and shallot have cooked for about 4-5 minutes,turn the heat very low and pour in the egg mixture. Stir frequently-ish until the eggs are done. Serve with buttered toast!

Sweet Cream Buscuits with Butter and Blackberry Compote

It's 11am and I've already made and eaten these delicious biscuits! I was browsing Tastespotting a few days ago and came across this recipe for sweet cream biscuits. So, this morning I woke up with a hankering for a biscuit and started making them as soon as I got out of bed. They literally took 5 minutes to prepare! While they were baking in the oven, I realized that my raspberry jam was moldy so I quickly made up a little compote with some blackberries that I luckily had in the fridge. For the compote, I simply combined some sugar and water in a pan and added in a few handfuls of mashed up blackberries. I squeezed in some lemon and finally spooned it over the biscuits.

Smoked Salmon Breakfast #2

Rosemary bread toasted with cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomato and onion = Nice Florida morning breakfast!

Lucas Special

Lucas thinks he invented this by himself, but I swear I helped! He makes it a lot back home but on Thursday afternoon we decided to pick up some smoked salmon at Russ and Daughters for a nice Friday morning breakfast before class.

Toast a slice of bread, spread on mostly honey mustard and a tiny bit of spicy dijon. Next, spread on avocado, lay a few leaves of lettuce down and top with the salmon. Drizzle over olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. I also like lots of pepper on it.

Another similar sandwich that I like to make is cream cheese, dijon, smoked salmon, lettuce and really thinly sliced lemon (including rind). SO GOOD.

Frittata

With potato, onion, garlic, a jalepeno and cherry tomatoes. Plus lots of butter and olive oil.

I love making frittatas for breakfast - they're so quick and easy to prepare and you can literally throw anything you have lying around in the fridge in them.

Medium Boiled Eggs on Buttered Toast

I like my eggs covered in black pepper.