Tag Archives: Breakfast in Bed

Breakfast in Bed: Tuscan Kale Scrambled Eggs

Post by Alison Hein.

After all the Thanksgiving foofaraw and pumpkin pie overdoses, I craved a somewhat lighter breakfast. Deep in my fridge, behind the neatly-stacked containers of leftover turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and candied yams, I came across a forgotten bag of Tuscan kale. Perfect!

I had homemade dipping oil on hand and remnants of a hearty, rustic bread round. Some finely-chopped shallot sautéed in the seasoned oil and a handful of grated parmesan would give my dish a Tuscan-inspired flavor. Score! The kale turned out delightfully spiced and crispy – the perfect foil for rich, fluffy eggs. Little bits of near-caramelized shallots and peppery heat from the oil perked it all up. I used my rustic bread, shovel-like, to scoop and gobble it all up. Maybe not as light as I would have liked, but green and compelling nonetheless.
If you want to try the Homemade Dipping Oil, mix it up a couple of days in advance to allow the flavors to meld. Then you’ll be ready to fry up some shallots and kale for a (maybe-not-so-light) Tuscan-inspired breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons seasoned olive oil or Homemade Dipping Oil (recipe below)
1 shallot
1 cup loosely packed fresh Tuscan kale (or other variety)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon milk or cream
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:
Heat seasoned olive oil in small, heavy pan over medium heat. Finely chop shallot and sauté in hot oil until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Wash, chop and dry kale. Place kale in pan and cook until cooked through and starting to crisp, stirring occasionally, about 6 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low. Break eggs into small bowl and whisk well with milk or cream. Add eggs to heated pan and allow to cook slowly and gently, folding over around kale. Stir and lift frequently with wooden spoon to avoid sticking. Toward the end of cooking, fold the parmesan cheese into the eggs, if you like. Season with salt and pepper.

Slide eggs out onto plate. Serve immediately, with a thick slice of rustic bread.

Makes 1 serving.

Homemade Dipping Oil
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (or mix of dried herbs such as basil, oregano and parsley)
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
Dash or 2 of cayenne
Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and store in airtight glass bottle. Shake before pouring, and add a drop of balsamic vinegar for dipping bread.

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Breakfast in Bed: Indian Pudding

Post by Alison Hein.

Here’s an oldie but goodie – just in time for Thanksgiving. If you’re from New England, this may be familiar, old-fashioned holiday fare for you. If not, read on.

The first known recipe for Indian pudding appeared in what is considered America’s first cookbook – Amelia Simmons’ “American Cookery,” published in 1796. Amelia kindly provided three variants: one very eggy version with raisins which required less baking time, one simple and sweet, and one to be boiled in cloth for 12 hours! I used her sweet and simple version for inspiration:

A Nice Indian Pudding
3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q. f. it will require two and half hours baking.

Typically fuzzy food history opines that this dish was based on traditional English pudding, which is either baked or boiled, sweet or savory, and usually bread-like and custardy. Fine flour was not so easy to come by in the New World, so our ever inventive forefathers replaced it with “Indian” maize, or cornmeal, obtained from Native Americans. Sweetened simply, usually with molasses, this new “pudding” must have been a rare treat back in the day. Rumor has it that colonists contributed this dish to some of our earliest Thanksgiving celebrations with Native Americans.

I baked my Indian pudding slowly at a low temperature, and found it to be an inviting blend of custard, corn bread, and pudding. A subtle treat, and an old-fashioned and familiar breakfast in bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ingredients
3 cups whole milk
4 ounces butter
1 cup corn meal
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
¼ cup maple syrup (or substitute molasses)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon mace
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°, and spray an 8×8-inch pan with cooking spray. Scald milk by heating in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, without stirring, until tiny ripples begin to form on the surface. Add butter and remove from heat. When butter is melted, slowly add corn meal, stirring rapidly to ensure no lumps form. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

Stir eggs into corn meal mixture. Add sugar, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon, ginger, mace and nutmeg and stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 2 to 2 ½ hours until pudding is set and a toothpick in center comes out clean.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Breakfast in Bed: Buttermilk Pancakes

Post by Alison Hein

Traditional buttermilk is liquid that remains after churning butter. (You can read about butter-making in a prior post.) It has a high lactic acid content that makes it tart and thick. When acidic buttermilk is mixed with baking powder it produces carbon dioxide, which facilitates rising and produces a light, airy dough in biscuits, breads and baked goods.

While I often create a “faux” buttermilk using regular milk and a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, the real deal has a unique character and flavor that produces classic, fluffy pancakes. These griddled delights have a pure, simple taste that doesn’t require a lot of adornment – you can start to nibble on them straight from the pan.

And if you think a quart of buttermilk is more than you want to buy just to make pancakes, try making homemade salad dressing. Ranch dressing is easy and fresh. Use about a cup of buttermilk, a touch of sour cream and mayonnaise, fresh chopped herbs, and a smidgen of garlic and mustard. Shake it all together. Now you’ve got a tastier product than store-bought, and your friends and family will be impressed with your creativity.

But I got sidetracked from our pancakes. Just take my word for it. Buttermilk is the new / old product of the day. Pick some up and start cooking. Start with these Buttermilk Pancakes for a classic, fluffy breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
4 ounces (one half stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus additional for cooking

Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Gradually whisk in buttermilk, then the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Slowly add melted butter to batter. The batter should be thick, smooth and creamy.

Place a pan or griddle on the stove over medium to medium high heat. Melt a small amount of butter in the pan for the first pancake. Ladle batter into pan and cook until small bubbles appear throughout pancake, about 1 minute. Flip once with spatula and continue cooking until golden brown, another minute or so. Serve hot with real maple syrup.

Makes 8 to 10 4-inch pancakes.

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Breakfast in Bed – Brown Butter Eggs

Post by Alison Hein.

Brown butter is a delicious and decadent way to dress up a dish. I love it on top of butternut squash ravioli, with some toasted fresh sage tossed in. And one of my very favorite dishes growing up was, believe it or not, cauliflower. My mother would cook the cauliflower, then melt up a big wad of butter and keep it on the heat until it turned a rich, bubbling brown. The final step was to add plain breadcrumbs, and stir them around until they reached the same lovely brown color, and the deep, nutty flavor of the butter. Then she spooned the breadcrumbs over the cauliflower to make a superb side dish.

Well, how about applying that same principle to eggs? It’s best to cook them simply – boiled, poached, or baked – and then let the nut-brown butter add all the depth and flavor. In this recipe, a drop of butter and dash of breadcrumbs has been added to the bottom of the baking dish for a heartier feel.

I recently learned that adding vinegar while heating the butter helps it to brown deeply and evenly. No need to butter your toast rounds – simply dip them right through the buttery layer deep into the heart of the eggs for a delicious and decadent breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
4 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
4 slices of sourdough bread
1 teaspoon fresh curly parsley, chopped

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°. Melt one tablespoon of butter and pour equal amounts into two small ramekins. Pour an even layer of breadcrumbs on top of melted butter in each ramekin. In a separate small bowl, carefully break eggs one at a time. Make sure the yolks are intact, then pour the eggs one by one into the ramekins, two eggs in each. Season with salt and pepper.

Place ramekins in a baking dish which has been filled with about 1 inch of warm water. Place baking dish in oven, and bake about 20 to 25 minutes until egg whites are firm.

Toward the end of baking, cut the sourdough bread into four rounds and toast until golden brown. Melt the remaining butter in a small pan over medium heat. Continue to cook for a minute or two until the butter starts to bubble. Stir in vinegar and continue to cook for another minute or so.

Pour brown butter equally over each of the two baked egg ramekins, and top each with half of the chopped parsley. Serve hot with toast rounds.

Makes 2 servings.

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Breakfast in Bed: Dutch Apple Babies


Post by Alison Hein.

You may recall from my last post about Mulled Cider that I recently bought, uh, a few apples. I couldn’t fathom how to use them all. Then I remembered a wonderful recipe my friend Tricia gave me years ago for Dutch Baby Pancakes. Tricia’s version doesn’t call for apples, but this oven-baked gem resiliently allows for lots of fiddling – varied fruits, for starters.

I prepared the apples pie-like, sweetening them with sugar, spicing with cinnamon, and sautéing in butter. Before popping my Dutch Baby in a hot oven, I spread the lightly caramelized apples in the bottom of the frying pan, then poured the crêpe-like batter on top.

Twenty minutes later I pulled my giant baby out of the oven, all puffed up, golden brown and ready to eat. Don’t forget to use potholders and handle the fiery-hot pan with care. The pancake will fall after a minute or two, but don’t fret – there is no change to the scrumptious layers that await. Be sure that with each bite you fork up a bit of buttery crisp bottom, soft eggy middle, and sugary sweet top. Oh, and don’t forget to snag a few apple slices, too, for a wonderful, oven-baked breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 large apples
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter
3 eggs
¾ cup milk
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon salt

Preparation
Place a 12–inch diameter cast iron frying pan, or other oven-proof pan, in oven and preheat to 425°.

Peel, core and slice apples. Place apple slices in a large bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon until evenly mixed. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan, add apples and sauté until soft and lightly caramelized, about 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside.

Crack eggs and add to a blender or food processor. Mix until thickened and frothy, about 1 minute. Turn blender or food processor to low speed. With blender or food processor running, gradually pour in milk until mixed, then gradually add flour and salt until well mixed.

Remove heated frying pan from oven. Add remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. When melted, spread apple slices evenly across bottom of pan. Pour blended batter over apples and return to the oven. Bake pancake until puffy and well-browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle top with remaining sugar and serve immediately.

Makes 1 large Dutch Apple Baby; or 2 to 4 servings.

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