Poppy Seed Waffle-Eggs Florentine with Parmesan Hollandaise June 16, 2008

Believe it or not I still have some poppy seed dishes left in me. Waffles have been on my mind lately from my feeble attempts to rethink the popular chicken and waffle. I made poppy seed belgian waffles and topped it with sauteed spinach and shallots, eggs mollet and parmesan hollandaise. Voila! A waffle version of eggs florentine. It happened by accident actually. First I thought of which vegetables to pair the waffle with. Then I thought real hard about the sauce and I could not come up with much but hollandaise. Parmesan hollandaise? Even better. Bacon lardons were also part of the mix but I made the dish vegetarian this time around for my vegetarian friends. Do include bacon lardons in yours!

Ooh look at that yolk oozing out. I loved the poppy seeds in the waffles too. They added a nice crunch of course and extra nuttiness. My friends loved the dish.

Happy Father’s Day! June 15, 2008

I made my dad waffles this morning - whole wheat Belgian waffles with dried blueberries in the batter with fresh farmer’s market organic strawberries and peach, cinnamon sugar and warm maple syrup.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!

Corned Beef Hash with Poached Egg March 29, 2008

I apologize for the awful photo. Sadly my camera of five years [Canon Powershot S50] broke last week. This is the camera I take all my blog pics with. It was working fine then the next minute it wasn’t. Of course I discovered this after I plated my corned beef hash. What a disappointment! But the Canon D30 was around and I tried to use that, very unsucessfully so. I just can’t seem to make it work.

So that’s why my corned beef hash doesn’t look too appetizing. Only if you saw it in person. And ate it in person. As I’ve mentioned before corned beef hash is one of my favorite dishes and since I had so much corned beef left over from St. Paddy’s Day I had to make my own batch of hash. I sauteed the beef in butter and added salt, pepper & scallion. I browned the potatoes in another pan so as not to crowd one pan and then plated them together. I topped that with my first poached egg ever. Just a slight pressure to the egg yielded a river of warm yolk over the meat and potatoes.

Next up after corned beef hash was corned beef melt. This got rave reviews although it was the simplest of the corned beef derived dishes. The components were white hamburger buns, sliced corned beef, strong English mustard, gruyere, salt and pepper. You’re probably wondering why hamburger buns but they were sitting in my freezer begging to be used.

Finally with the last bits of corned beef I made an omelet filling. That would be corned beef, red onion, scallion, peas, and sharp cheddar. I made that this morning and it was awesome. Hello, my name is Susan. I am a corned beef addict.

SF - Dottie’s Tru Blue Cafe March 17, 2008

When Boy and I woke up Friday morning after having the spectacular dinner at Manresa the night before (and also not very smartly stopping by a bar for a very strong glass of beer) we were in desperate need of a hearty breakfast. In a few hours we would be off to the popular tour at Anchor Brewing which ends in a very generous beer tasting so a full tummy was in order. Dottie’s was pretty much engraved in stone into our SF plans because we love this hole-in-the-wall quirky diner and the uber delicious comfort food. Last time we were there I had the one of the best breakfasts ever - grilled Louisiana hot link, home fries, scrambled eggs, and griddled cornbread.. Just thinking about it is making me hungry.

This time around Boy got the Louisiana hot link and I chose the chorizo scramble off their specials menu. My eggs were no doubt delicious but I was disappointed because it wasn’t really a chorizo scramble. The sausage was barely seasoned with any spices at all. Once I read “chorizo scramble” on the menu I had started really craving it. Delicious still but not a chorizo scramble. I had a few bites of the hot link though and that made me super happy.

The portion sizes at Dottie’s is huge and you can see from our plates. Well the delicious food and the free coffee did their job. Feeling refreshed, full and awake we went off into the city for a beerfull day.

Almost Egg White Omelet with Piquillo, Potato & Manchego January 6, 2008

Where ice cream is made there are leftover egg whites. Don’t throw them away! I thought perhaps I should make pavlova or something meringue-y but honestly there’s been too much sweets in my kitchen lately. So I went for something healthier - an almost egg white omelet. To about six whites I added one whole egg. I’m not a supporter of full egg white omelet. Ew. But one egg can make the hugest difference.

For the filling I sauteed diced potato with jarred piquillo peppers. Yum, those peppers are so smoky and tasty. To keep on with the Spanish theme I added manchego. I sprinkled the finished omelet with sliced scallions for some freshness. This served as a delicious, substantial and healthy breakfast for two people.

German Apple Pancake January 3, 2008

Since I had leftover phyllo dough sitting around in my fridge I thought I’d give apple streudel a try. That didn’t turn out so well since I couldn’t separate the phyllo into individual sheets without ripping like crazy. I kept a damp tower over it to keep it from drying out but it didn’t really matter. These phyllo sheets were trouble from the beginning. The streudels didn’t turn out as crispy as they were supposed to and had to be eaten immediately before it softened.

However I had a big bowl of streudel filling left - sliced rome and granny smith apples, calvados plumped black currants, chopped pecans, sugar and cinnamon. I suddenly remembered seeing an German Apple Pancake recipe.

I made just the batter portion of the recipe since I had the apple part covered. I sauteed my struedel filling until the apples were slightly cooked then poured the batter over and let it set. Following the directions I broiled the pancake in the oven and let it cook through to the middle. It would probably be wise to finish cooking it by baking and then broiling for a short time depending on the strength of your broiler. I served it with whipped cream with a touch of creme fraiche. The apple pancakes filled the kitchen with such a delicious warm aroma. This made for a great breakfast.

Pollo a la Brasa Inspired Breakfast December 23, 2007

Saturday was such a nice relaxing day. I was pretty much a couch potato, falling in and out of sleep, watching tv now and then. But evening came around and I needed something to fill my yummy. Being lazy all day can be quite energy expending you know. Boy picked up a garlicky Peruvian rotisserie chicken from Pollo a la Brasa along with some sides including fries, rice, and delicious black beans. Phew we filled ourselves up good and moved onto watching a few movies.

The next morning I woke up thinking how great it would be to make hash with the leftover chicken. I love hash. Although hash can technically be made with any bunch of chopped ingredients it usually has potato. But I could not find a single potato in the whole kitchen! Hrmph. But I wasn’t too defeated. I got to work on my chicken-inspired breakfast.

Since I couldn’t make a potato-full hash, I gave up on the idea of chopping everything and instead went for a chunky slices and strips of chicken. I sauteed sliced red pepper and red onion in olive oil. Meanwhile I shredded the leftover chicken and threw them into the pan along with any chicken juice that accompanied. The marinade on the chicken was already so flavorful already I didn’t need to add anything to the pan except for some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt. When those finished heating through I transferred it to a plate and cooked a big bowl of whisked eggs in there, picking up some of the juicy flavor left in the pan. I topped the fluffy eggs with slices of pepper jack and served it up with the chicken pepper saute, leftover black beans, chopped cilantro and scallion, and whole wheat toast.

I absolutely love the Peruvian green hot sauce called aji. I used plenty of that along with Valentina hot sauce. The chicken and the omelet made a damn good breakfast. Breakfast of champions.

Fig Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes September 27, 2007

It’s a new season. Perhaps it’s time to clean out the pantry of the lingering items. Amongst the guilty is a bag of buckwheat pancake/waffle mix that’s been sitting in my freezer. Blueberry pancakes were to take center stage but it’s fig season so I obliged.

When I took out the bag my eyes read “buckwheat pancake/waffle mix” but my head read “buckwheat flour”. So I accidently added more flour and baking powder to the already floured and baking powdered mix. The pancakes however were a success. More so than when I followed the recipe on the back of the bag the first time around. Fluffy, hearty, and sweet from the little bites of fig. Perhaps it was the buttermilk. Perhaps it was the fresh figs. Whatever it was it worked and made a delicious breakfast. I ate mine folded up, sans maple syrup, feeding my tummy while driving to work.

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Fig Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes

1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
tiny pinch of salt
10 diced figs

Whisk dry. Add wet. Fold in figs. Cook over medium heat in a non-stick pan. Easy peasy.