Blog Archives
Mmm… breakfast burrito
It’s so hard to pick a favorite breakfast but these burritos are right up at the top. I use a couple of pans to do these, one large skillet to brown the tortilla and to hold the assembled burrito as it warms the cheeses to melting, and one to cook the scrambled eggs. I lay the tortilla in the oiled skillet and turn the heat on under it while scrambling the eggs in a smaller pan. Spread cheese onto the tortilla as it heats up, spoon the eggs onto the cheese, and lay strips of warmed pre-cooked meat on the eggs, today I used some deli sliced pork roast. When the bottom of the tortilla has browned a bit, roll the burrito right in the pan. You can tuck the ends in if you want to but that isn’t really necessary. Turn the heat down and cover if the cheeses need more time to melt. Remove the burrito to a cutting board and slice it in two, arrange on a plate and ladle on some salsa and slice fresh peppers for garnish. The cilantro on the plate today came from my own patio garden this morning. I hope to have fresh jalapenos from another container planting before too long.
A little Saturday morning breakfast pr0n.
For some reason, the folks over at the foodporn subreddit really went for this pic a few days ago.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Mmmmm, Bacon
photo by JeffreyW
Last week I opened up the ingredients to requests. I had two, bacon and mushrooms. We’ll start with bacon and I’ll serve up some mushroom recipes at a later date. JeffreyW tantalized us all with bacon cups (“ba-cups” he christened them!) and today seemed like a good reason to try them. He used bread in his first batch as the base, but suggested hash browns. I did half hash browns and half bread. Then I was able to cook up the remaining hash browns in bacon grease. Yum. The recipe that follows is for the bread bottoms. Not content with just bacon, he followed up with Prosciutto Cups.
Are you a bacon person? Ever tried bacon ice cream? What are some of your favorite bacon uses? Next week: Biscuits
JeffreyW’s Ba-Cups
- 6 thick slice bacon
- 6 eggs
- 3-6 slices of rye or other firm bread
- 2 oz shredded sharp cheddar (or cheese of choice)
- 2 tbsp of butter
skillet, 6-cup muffin tin (alternately you can use custard bowls)
Lightly butter each muffin cup. Cut a circle out of each slice of bread to fit in the bottom of the muffin cups (I was able to get 2 from each slice). Place in the buttered bottom of each muffin cup. Now you can either lightly fry the bacon and then arrange into the cups, or leave it raw (see JeffreyW’s notes below). Crack one egg into each cup, season with salt and pepper, top with shredded cheese. Bake at 375 degrees until bacon is fully cooked and egg whites are set, 20 to 25 minutes. Run a small knife around cups to loosen toasts. Serve immediately.
JeffreyW’s notes on bacon cups:
I like my bacon on the crisp side, and love runny yolks, so the next time I make these I will fry the bacon a bit before I assemble them. By the time the bacon in this set was edible, the eggs were cooked hard. A thin cut bacon could help, as well.
I cut some circles to fit the bottoms of the muffin tin out of rye bread. Any bread will work, and a fellow in a comment elsewhere mentioned using hash browns on the bottom as a possibility. I see merit in his suggestion.
I tried several cheeses on the tops, some shredded cheddar, a couple with parings of asiago, and one with a Greek cheese called Kasseri. I am happiest with the cheddar, although perhaps using grated cheeses will be the preferred method in the end. More experiments! Wonder if I can get a grant?
Breakfast Strata
I bought some brown mushrooms the other day and they weren’t getting any fresher so they needed to be cooked into something. What the heck is a breakfast strata? I didn’t have any idea there was such a thing until a Google search for “mushrooms + breakfast” landed me at this site. The recipe was a guide for me this morning.
No bread in the house! Ack! Wait… I do have some nan in the freezer.
With just a little trim it fit right into my little round casserole dish. I had a half stick of Andouille sausage left from my last gumbo so I diced that and cooked it with the mushrooms and a diced onion.
So, after drying nan loaves in a low oven for about a half hour one went into the bottom of the buttered casserole and was topped with half the mushroom sausage mixture and a half cup of shredded cheeses, then another layer the same way.
And then the half and half/egg mixture was poured in. I didn’t bother to open a bottle of white wine but I did beat in some dried parsley flakes.
I covered the dish with plastic wrap and set a small dish atop that weighted with a jar of mayo and set it into the fridge to let the nan soak up all the eggy goodness. Was telling myself how crafty I was when I went to get some cream for my coffee and saw that the custard was all over the shelf in the box. Ack! Ok, Ok, I should’ve held the mayo! [groan] Try the veal..
Anyway. I let it soak for an hour (more would be better) then added more cheese to the top and slid it into a 325 oven for just about an hour. Ta Da!
All in all, this I will rate as a success. Next time I will have some better bread and I’ll take the time to let the dish soak, maybe overnight in the fridge.
Thursday Night Recipe Exchange: Spinach Recipes
Recipe Exchange cross-posted at Balloon-Juice.
I thought last week went really well. Thanks for playing along. This week we delve into spinach recipes. I used to hate spinach. This is probably because I am a child of the 70′s and the only spinach I ever saw was canned or frozen, with the consistency of slime. As an adult I discovered fresh, baby spinach and I never looked back. One of my favorite spinach recipes is Spinach Lasagna.
JeffreyW's stuffed manicotti with spinach
To get us started:
Spinach Lasagna
This is one of my most requested recipes. Every time I make it, someone wants the recipe. Since the prep time is long, I usually only break it out for special occasions. It freezes well, so you can make a double batch and freeze two 8×8 pans of uncooked lasagna for two more meals. Thaw the night before (in the refrigerator) and cook until heated through, about 45 minutes to an hour. This recipe is great vegetarian, or you can add ground beef and sausage if desired.
This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and another hour to cook. It easily serves 6 – 8
Sauce:
- 3-15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 2-6 oz cans tomato paste
- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp oregano, crushed
- 3 tsp basil, crushed
- 3 tsp crushed garlic
- 1 medium carrot, peeled & finely grated
- pinch of sugar (reduces acidity of the tomatoes)
- Optional: ½ lb ground beef and ½ spicy Italian sausage, browned
Saucepan
Add all ingredients to saucepan on medium-high, stirring constantly until it begins to boil lightly. Turn to low and let simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Lasagna:
- 1 pkg lasagna noodles (16 oz), cooked and placed in cool water until layering*
- 16 oz ricotta cheese
- 8 oz fresh baby spinach, washed and dried and chopped
- 1 egg
- 12 oz sliced mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup parmesan cheese
13×9 baking dish (I prefer glass), lightly oiled
To prepare: Mix ricotta, spinach and egg until well blended. Ladle a layer of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover in a single layer of noodles. Ladle sauce over noodles. Spoon ½ of the ricotta mixture evenly (if you place large dollops evenly like putting cookie dough on a baking sheet, fairly close together, it will spread as it cooks, no need to smooth it). Layer 1/3 of the mozzarella over the ricotta. Repeat: noodles, sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, noodles. On top of the last layer of noodles, add remaining sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered – I like to place the baking dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills as it bubbles. Place knife through the center, if it comes out heated through, remove and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving. If it needs more cooking time, you can cover with foil to keep the cheese from burning and cook 10 more minutes. Let stand uncovered before serving.
*if you’d like to make your own noodles, here is the recipe I use:
Lasagna Noodles
When I do make the pasta, I make three, pan-sized noodles, rolled very, very thin. I place them uncooked in the dish, so they absorbed much of the sauce. I usually make a bit extra sauce to serve on the side with the lasagna.
- 3 cups unbleached flour
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
In a large bowl, add flour. Make a well in the center and add egg yolks, eggs and salt. Mix well with a fork. Mix in water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a well floured board or pastry sheet. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll one ball out as thin as possible (I use a marble rolling pin, you can also use a pasta machine). Make sure to cover remaining balls with a damp towel until ready to use. Cut to fit pan. Repeat with remaining dough until you have 3 pan sized noodles. DO NOT COOK homemade noodles before putting lasagna together. Follow directions above for putting lasagna together.
Next Week: Favorite Super Bowl Food
Southwestern Quiche
Since I was talking about whisks, thought it would be nice to come up with a recipe that gives the whisk a workout. I thought a southwestern style quiche made with a tortilla crust sounded really tasty and fit the bill. It’s based on a Cook’s Country recipe and called for pre-cooked chicken – I thought that sounded a little blah, so I substituted Queso Blanco. I’ve also seen similar recipes with canned corn and diced tomatoes, too. I think you can safely add what you like and make it your own. This is on my weekend list to prepare so there may be photos later.
Photo by Pleclare
Southwestern Quiche
- 10-inch flour tortilla (burrito size)*
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, drained and chopped
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 oz queso blanco (fresco), cut into small cubes
- salt and pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- sour cream (opt garnish)
- salsa (opt garnish)
- black olives (opt garnish)
quiche or pie pan, large bowl
Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Press tortilla into a lightly oiled pie plate or quiche dish. Toss 1 cup of cheddar cheese, queso, cilantro, jalapenos, salt and pepper in large bowl until well combined. Spread over tortilla. Whisk together eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper until smooth. Pour over filling mixture and then sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese over the top. Bake until it is golden brown – about 20 minutes – remove and let cool for about 5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve with garnishes.
TaMara
jeffreyww
LFern7
indylib
