Brunchy Joy

Ever have an ingredient that you love so much, you just want to use it every day til it runs out? Me, too. Especially when it comes to fresh produce; we had asparagus in our meals four nights in a row last week. This week, I picked up two 2-pound bags of Klamath Pearl baby potatoes on sale at the health food store, and now when I'm not eating them, I'm dreaming up recipes for them.

This morning I was in a brunchy sort of mood. This happens to me fairly often, but today is grey and chilly and the baby and I snoozed much of the morning away together. It was 1:30 before I got around to eating my first meal, but I saw no reason to miss breakfast just because I'd had a lazy morning. Okay, really, I just wanted eggs. And potatoes. And hollandaise sauce, which I'd only tried to make once before and was a spectacular failure at the time.

The thing that's so scary about hollandaise sauce, to me, is that there are about 813 billion ways of making it, and everyone claims theirs is the classic, perfect, awesomest method. Even the ingredients, which I thought were pretty much de rigeur, vary from recipe to recipe; some use vinegar, others lemon juice, some use both. Some use water, some don't. Some use cayenne, others use paprika. How is a hollandaise novice supposed to know which is the right path?

I've been missing out!

So this morning, I had a few friends over for brunch, and my friend Sara brought over a hash brown casserole that completely rocked my world. How have I missed the joy that is hash brown casserole for all these years? I feel deprived.

Thus, while I haven't made it yet, I feel compelled to share the recipe just in case there are others who also have not yet discovered this culinary phenomenon. (Judging by the number of hash brown casserole recipes already out there on the interwebs, I apparently am the last to know, but hey.)

This is a vegetarian version, obviously; Sara was incredibly thoughtful and made a portion for me without cheese, which rocked.

I'm hoping this is close to what Sara made, because she told me the ingredients and, like a fool, I didn't write them down til later. I'm also guessing at quantities based on the other recipes I found online.

Hash Brown Casserole

1 bag frozen hash browns (2 lbs, thawed)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 c sour cream (1 16 oz container)
1/2 to 1 c chopped onion
1 1/2 c vegetarian sausage
1 c cheddar cheese (optional for me...)
1-2 c crushed cornflakes
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients except the cornflakes together in a bowl. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Pour the mixture in, then top with the cornflakes. Bake for one hour. Try not to faint from happiness.

Note: I saw another recipe that included chopped fresh chives, which sounded like a good idea to me. I'd guess 2-4 T. I'd probably also throw some cayenne in there with the salt and pepper, because I pretty much put cayenne, salt & pepper in about 80% of the dishes I cook. But that's just me. : )

Breakfast hors d'oeuvres, anyone?

I threw a brunch party and was surprised, when creating the menu, at the lack of breakfast hors d'oeuvres out there. In addition to serving french toast fingers and silver dollar pancakes, I invented a couple bagel-based treats that were pretty easy & tasty. Next time, I want to experiment with mini quiches.

Smoked Salmon Breakfast Tapas

everything bagels
salmon cream cheese
smoked salmon
red onion, minced/food processed
capers
fresh dill, chopped
lemon juice

Toast an everything bagel, spread cream cheese on both sides, then assemble all the rest of the ingredients like a sandwich. I like to layer it by first putting the capers, red onion, & dill, then covering that with the smoked salmon and sprinkling the lemon juice on top of that. Cut into fourths with a serrated knife and serve.

Sweet Breakfast Tapas

plain bagels
honey nut cream cheese
dried cranberries
crushed walnuts
honey

Mix up your cranberries & walnuts together so you can just grab handfuls. Toast a plain bagel, spread the cream cheese on both halves, top one half with the cranberries & walnuts & drizzle a little honey on top. Top with the other bagel half & cut into fourths with a serrated knife.


(Silver Dollar) Pancakes

We also had silver dollar pancakes & french toast sticks. My french toast recipe's already on this blog, here, but here's a good pancake recipe, adapted from the mother of American cooking, Betty Crocker:

1 c flour
1 egg
1 tbs granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c half and half or milk
1/4 c water (once you've mixed it up, add more milk/water as needed to reach your preferred consistency - I like it, say, medium runny)

Get all the ingredients & your baking equipment out, starting with the egg so it can get closer to room temperature. Crack the egg in a small bowl and whisk it til it's light yellow & foamy. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and make a little well in the middle. Pour the egg into the well & whisk it up just til mixed. Add the milk & water & mix just til it's mostly smooth - you don't want to overmix.

For silver dollar pancakes, use a quarter-cup measure and a light hand; it's really more like an eighth of a cup per pancake. I like to make pancakes on a cast iron griddle over medium heat.

Cowboy Eggs

Every family seems to call this recipe a different name, but in ours, it's cowboy eggs. The name comes from my grandma. It is one of my favorite breakfast recipes. Using a nice big slice of bread is key to making this especially good.

Cowboy Eggs

2-3 T butter
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
garlic powder
black pepper
salt

Turn a glass over and use it to cut a hole in the middle of the slices of bread. Put a heavy frying pan (cast iron, if you have it) on the stove over medium heat. Melt 1 T of the butter in the pan. Use pats from the rest of the butter to dot one side of the bread slices, also buttering the cut-out round. Place the bread in the pan, butter side down, and crack the egg into the hole in the bread. Season the egg to taste. You may need to reduce the heat slightly. Butter the other side of the bread. Place the cut-out toast in the frying pan and butter its other side.

Flip the cowboy egg when the white is almost set, flipping the cut-out round as well. Only cook the egg on its other side for a couple minutes, if you like a runny yolk, which is great to sop up with the cut-out toast. Serve immediately.

Mmm, potatoes...

Breakfast food is such a delightful type of cuisine. One of the essentials, of course, is potatoes. Potatoes make an excellent base for a veggie breakfast burrito (using this recipe, in fact, with some scrambled eggs and a little salsa or pico de gallo), or you can cut right to the chase with some hash browns or homefries. I don't usually feel like grating up potatoes first thing in the morning, so I go with homefries instead.

Now, homefries are like snowflakes: no two people make theirs quite the same. I like mine with a little kick to them, and made in a cast-iron skillet. Pepper aficionados could add diced red and green bell peppers or even a jalepeno. Serve with plenty of salt, pepper and ketchup. Mmm...

Homefries
serves 2 generously, 3-4 as a smaller side

2 T canola or vegetable oil, or butter
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
4-5 medium potatoes, diced

cayenne
crushed red pepper
fresh ground black pepper
fresh ground sea salt
oregano
rosemary

Heat the oil/butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion about 3-5 minutes, until onions are turning pearlescent. Add the potatoes and stir to coat.

Spice according to taste; I use ~ 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. cayenne, ~ 1 tsp. red pepper, ~ 1/4 tsp. black pepper, ~ 1/2 tsp. salt, ~ 1/2 tsp. oregano and ~ 1/4 tsp. rosemary. Mix up thoroughly with the potatoes to evenly spice.

Fry, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are done, about 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Let's Hear It For Down Home Cookin'

On a recent trip to Dallas, I had the best oyster po'boy of my life. And considering that we spend time every year on the Outer Banks of NC, that's really saying something. It was just the right amount of oysters, the breading was tasty but didn't try too hard, and they had a sort of spicy French dressing on it. Yum. Dallas has some great restaurants, to be sure. My foodie friend Pam asked me how my trip was (I was at a conference) and I ecstatically described every meal.

There's still plenty of down home cooking available to vegetarians, especially those of us steeped in North Carolina tradition. Breakfast, of course, is an all-essential meal when you're talking good home cookin'. I'm still trying to perfect my recipe for pancakes, but will definitely post my recipe for angel biscuits soon. They're fluffy and buttery, just like a good biscuit should be. (Actually, our hotel in Dallas had great biscuits on the continental breakfast buffet.) In the meantime, since I have to look up those recipes and I remember the following one, here's a never-fail, super-easy recipe for French toast.

French toast was actually the first thing I ever learned how to cook, with my mom on weekend mornings. This recipe is adapted from the one she taught me, to include less lactose - and more powdered sugar!

Ann's Favorite French Toast
serves 2

2-4 slices bread per person
1 egg (buy free-range and organic!)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar (~1/3 cup)
2 T butter

Start 1 T butter in a skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Stir the egg with a fork, in a bowl wide enough to hold the bread (flattish works best). Add the cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla and stir until thoroughly mixed. Soak both sides of the bread in the mixture for several seconds, then place on the skillet. Cook until golden brown and smelling delicious. Repeat with each slice of bread; cut toast in half, arrange on the plates and sift powdered sugar to your preference over the slices. Fresh strawberries are great on the side; and of course butter and maple syrup as desired.