Breakfast for Dinner Recipes: Baked Eggs with Cheddar Potatoes

// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Recipes: Breakfast, State of the Plate

Baked Eggs with Cheddar Potatoes

adapted from food network kitchens

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds red-skinned potatoes, diced (russets work as well )
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 large cloves garlic, minced (in the summer i use double the amount of green garlic from the farmers market)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 large eggs (farm fresh if possible)
1 cup extra-sharp farmhouse cheddar, shredded (about 4 ounces)

Hot Thai Chili Paste to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a large, well-seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally until tender and brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper, and remove from the heat.

Push the potatoes aside to make 4 evenly spaced shallow nests and break 2 eggs into each. Bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs and continue baking until it just melts, about 1 minute more. Serve immediately.

Breakfast for Dinner Recipes: Strawberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Recipes: Breakfast, State of the Plate

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Adapted from www.seriouseats.com

- makes about 20 servings, depending on molds and tins used-

Ingredients

Cake Layer:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (112g)
2/3 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of one lemon and one orange
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 large yolks

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 10 mini (2”X4”) loaf pans or one 13”X9” baking pan and line the bottoms with parchment (you may also use cupcake pans, lining 24 standard size molds with standard paper cupcake liners).

2. With an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar and zests until light and fluffy.

2. Add vanilla, followed by eggs – one at a time – beating well to incorporate between each addition.

3. Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder to evenly distribute. Add one third of this dry mixture to the butter-egg mixture and mix to incorporate.

4. Add one yolk, and mix to incorporate. Add half of remaining dry mixture, followed by remaining yolk, finishing with remaining dry mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Cream Cheese Layer:
10 ounces cream cheese
Finely grated zest of one lemon
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, well beaten, but not aerated

Procedure

1. Place cream cheese and lemon zest in a heat-proof mixing bowl set over simmering water. Stir every so often, until cheese becomes warm, smooth and liquid.

2. Remove mixing bowl from heat. Add sugar and vanilla extract well. (Do not whip or whisk, as incorporating air will make the cream cheese layer pasty and dry).

3. Add beaten egg and mix to incorporate.

Crumb Layer:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (112g)
1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
½ cup whole wheat flour (60g)
½ cup brown sugar (105g)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt

Procedure

1. Combine all ingredients and mix with your hands or a mixer until ingredients are evenly distributed and mixture falls in chunky crumbs.

Assembly:
1 recipe cake layer
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, diced
1 recipe cream cheese layer
1 recipe crumb layer

Procedure

1. Divide cake layer batter evenly among prepared pans.

2. Divide strawberries evenly among pans, spreading the berry pieces evenly over the surface of the cake batter and patting down gently.

3. Diving cream cheese layer batter evenly among pans (there should be enough to just cover the berries in each pan).

4. Sprinkle a healthy handful of crumbs over the cream cheese layer in each pan. Do not push down.

5. Bake coffee cakes for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the center cakes comes out clean (it may appear a bit damp, but should not have any batter clinging to it). Allow cakes to cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pans. Carefully loosen each cake with a paring knife and gently turn cakes out. Cool completely, crumb-side up on wire racks. Cakes keep about 3 days (though crumb topping will become less crunchy/crumbly after storage).

Breakfast for Dinner Recipes: Kick Ass Waffles

// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Recipes, Recipes: Breakfast, State of the Plate

Kick Ass Waffles (base recipe)

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

- makes three 9-inch square waffles -

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups lowfat buttermilk (cold)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Procedure

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center.

2. In another bowl beat egg yolks slightly. Stir in buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract.

3. Add egg yolk mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just till moistened (should be lumpy).

4. In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight up).

5. Gently fold egg whites into flour and egg yolk mixture, leaving a few fluffs of egg white, Do not overmix.

6. Spoon waffle batter into your waffle iron, making sure not to overfill it.

7. Serve with real maple syrup and unsalted butter.

State of the Plate: Breakfast for Dinner

// March 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // State of the Plate

Nothing Says lovin' Like Frittat From the Oven...

The Most Important meal of the day?

Joel Brown

(Article Taken from my “State of the Plate” column in the  03.31.09 edition of the DA.)

Growing up, when I was told that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, I can remember thinking that my mom was out of her mind and full of Honey Nut Cheerios.  How could cereal and toast be the most important part of the day?  Needless to say I still think that the whole “most important meal of the day” stuff is bull, but I have grown to calling breakfast one of my FAVORITE meals of the day. Hence, I bring up the subject of breakfast for dinner.

Breakfast for dinner is my favorite meal made at the PERFECT time of the day- the time when you can truly sit down and enjoy it slowly and in the company of the ones you love to hate and hate to love.   All kidding aside, I think that dinnertime is the perfect time for breakfast.  We used to once in a while get breakfast for dinner as a kid, but it was typically a non-verbal communication from my mom that something was wrong.  Someone had either had a REALLY bad day at the office, someone might have died, or one of the parents was just pissed at the world for some reason, and pancakes were easier than meatloaf and to this day I have never had hamburger helper, so that was not EVEN an option. My mother would probably disagree with me (sorry mommy) and she might be right, but I just remember it that way.  I also hold a grudge against you mom for not letting us eat dinner leftover for breakfast (pizza is a perfectly good morning meal, thank you very much).   Sorry, I did not mean to go off on a Jerry Springer-esque tangent on my mother.  I am not really angry with her; I just think it’s funny.

I have, however, taken a completely different opinion about breakfast food consumption times and tend to make it more after 6:00 p.m. than not. Imagine dragging your ass home from school/work at 8:30 p.m. and being able to make a banana nut waffle (and not those damn Eggo cardboard waffles) with sweet and savory bacon in less than 10 minutes. Not to sound like an infomercial, but it’s possible!  I love to make homemade waffles (base recipe on my blog www.joelhblog.com) and package them in a Ziploc bag in pairs and then microwave them for about 45 seconds or so.   For the bacon I lay out about 6 strips (2 portions) of the porky goodness on a small cookie sheet, sprinkle it with a mix of ½ tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar and ½ tablespoons of freshly cracked black pepper and chuck it into the oven until crisp.  Voila, Dinner! Er… I mean, Breakfast DONE!  Breakfast foods are just naturally a very versatile genre of cuisine and the perfect canvas of improvisation for the newbie cook.

Frittatas are another easy and kick-ass fast dish. For ease of preparation you may want to pick up a small cast iron skillet, but this is not a must have.  When you come home, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, pop the skillet on the stove under a medium-high flame, add a dash of oil or fat (olive oil, peanut oil, butter, duck fat, etc.) to the vessel crank, it to High, and wait about two minutes.  While that is heating break 3 eggs into a bowl and whisk them with about ½ teaspoon of salt until fluffy.  Rummage through your cheese drawer and leftovers for something that you would like to throw in (my all time favorite is left over Indian Onion Chutney and Chicken Tikka skewers).  Add the eggs to the skillet and scramble them a little.  While the eggs are still wet, pop in your additives and whatnot, and throw that into your preheated oven for about 15 minutes (or until the egg is set).  Dinner’s Done!  For more recipes and break-dinner ideas visit my blog (www.joelhblog.com).  Happy eating kids!

State of the Plate: The Peepshow

// March 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // State of the Plate

Taken From my March 26, 2009 “State of the Plate” article.

Sweet, supple, melt-in-your mouth, palm-sized goodness that provides near guiltless pleasure: God love Peeps. I have not always been a fan of the timeless marshmallow concoction, but in recent years, I have become a frequent peeper. I have been doing a good deal of peeping.

for the sake of peeping and quite frankly need to stop using the word “peeping.”OK. Better now. Marshmallow Peeps have been a staple in the Easter baskets of the Brown family for a number of years (at least 20), and upon closer examination, Peeps have been feeding the Easter baskets of America for more than 50 years.Peeps were first created by the Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, Pa., (shout out to my Amish peeps) which made the pint-sized chicks one by one by squeezing homemade marshmallow through a pastry bag into the now-famous peep shape.The Rodda Company was purchased in 1953 by the Just Born candy company of Bethlehem, Pa., and by 1954, automated the peep manufacturing process and created a one-of-a-kind “Peep extruder”, which at that time was state-of-the-art. I have found out that there are two schools of Peep people. The people who love Peeps to pieces, and the people who hate Peeps like herpes. I am of the school of loving them to pieces. There is something about eating a Peep that is unlike any other confection experience.

The mix of wildly fun colors, and now flavors (try the chocolate mousse bunnies. Yum.) with the spongy, mallow-mouth feel, is a force to be reckoned with. They are the quintessential Easter treat. Within Peep-lovers, there are many ways to de-feather a peep. Some love them right out of their chick-crate, while others like to let them sit and get stale. Editor-in-Chief and red-headed peep-lover Shelly Davidov sometimes takes the Ozzy Osbourne approach to eating a Peep. She bites the head off the little bugger, spits it back out and then enjoys the remaining mallow-carcass. And why she is so violent and 1980s with her peeps?  “It’s because I see them and think ‘Wooooo. Cute, yummy Peep, then bite off the head and realize yuck,’” she said.To each her own, Shelly, to each her own.

I personally like to let them go a little stale, lick them like a baby kitten until my tongue feels as though it has been licking 300 grit sandpaper for an hour or so and then stuff a Peep into each cheek cavity and sit around looking like I belong in “a special room” at a “special place” where I wouldn’t be allowed to play with sharp objects.There also seems to be a large amount of “Peeple” who like to microwave their Peeps until they turn into a molten mess or blow up, whichever comes first. I even have a friend who loves to eat them frozen. Would that be considered a “Peep-sicle?” However twisted or exotic you choose to eat your peeps is up to you, but God knows there are a hell of a lot of ways to get them in your belly and, after all, there is no wrong way to eat a Peep. The world of Peep consumption has gone far beyond just eating them. There are people out there doing things with Peeps that you would not believe. There is even talk of Peeps being part of a plan to get us out of the current economic slump. Just kidding. Honestly though, everything from Peep art renditions of the Virgin Mary to Peep clothing and recipes are out there for your Peeping pleasure. Be sure to check out Peeps artist David Ottogalli’s work at http://www.peepsshow.com. There are even sugar-free Peeps out there for us who suffer from the diabetes mellitus. I have tried the sugar-free Peeps, and while tasty and quite chewy, they have, well, how should I say this? They have a side effect that rhymes with “mart.” I wonder what Wilford Brimley would have to say about that?

Happy Peeping kiddos!

Read the online version here