Tag Archives: Breakfast in Bed
Breakfast in Bed: Hush Puppies
Post by Alison Hein.
Nearly 20 years ago, I took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. I was quite taken by the stately, historic homes, tucked sideways to the street and blanketed by lush, secret gardens. The marketplace was a plethora of sights, scents and sounds – local artisans weaving sweet grass baskets, aromas of intricate spice blends, and faint lingering chords of street musicians. But most of all, I was entranced by the deep-fried mini-cornmeal cakes playfully called hush puppies. And at every restaurant we visited, I was rewarded with a steaming basket of these little babies before even seeing a menu.
Last month, I returned to Charleston, and was disappointed with the evident lack of hush puppies. When I inquired where they had gone, I was reminded that Charleston is now THE food destination in the US, and weren’t hush puppies just a tad passé?
Upon returning home, I decided to make my house THE food destination for breakfast in bed, starting with a basketful of hot, crisped hush puppies and a side of homemade honey butter. Yumm.
Hush Puppies
Oil for frying (4 to 6 cups)
2 cups corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 large egg
Equipment
Deep-fry or candy thermometer
Preparation
Pour oil at least 2 inches deep into a small, heavy pan. Heat over medium heat to approximately 360°.
In a large bowl, combine corn meal, baking powder, sugar and salt, stirring to mix. Add milk, cider vinegar and egg and mix well. Batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter.
Use a teaspoon to measure batter. Carefully drop a teaspoon of batter into the hot oil for each hush puppy. Dip spoon into clean water after each hush puppy. This helps the batter to drop off the spoon easily. Cook about eight to ten hush puppies at a time, allowing oil to retain its temperature.
Fry the hush puppies until they have reached a deep golden brown color, about 2 to 3 minutes. They tend to flip over on their own, but give them a little push with a spoon if they don’t so they cook evenly. Remove hush puppies from pan and drain on paper towels. Serve hot with honey butter.
Honey Butter
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
Preparation
Add softened butter to small bowl. Stir in honey and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
NOTE: Monitor oil with candy thermometer to maintain stable temperature.
Makes about 4 dozen.
Breakfast in Bed: Irish Wheaten Bread
Post by Alison Hein.
Irish wheaten bread, or brown bread, is one of the most simple and satisfying loaves you can make. And eat, of course. As a soda bread that requires no yeast (thus no messy kneading or lengthy rising time), this recipe takes little more than the 45 minutes required for baking.
Wheaten bread is one component of the large and complicated traditional Irish breakfast, which also may include bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding, toast, fried tomato, sautéed mushrooms and baked beans! Maybe we’ll try that someday, but I prefer my wheaten bread all on its own. A thick slice of pure, earthy bread, lightly toasted and smeared with Irish butter, is enough breakfast for me.
The outer crust becomes thick and crusty in the hot oven, leaving the wheaten bread’s innards soft and tender – a lovely contrast and perfect first bite. With so few ingredients, the hearty wheat flavor shines through. Use stoneground organic wheat flour if you can find it. Then, try it out on your fussiest eaters. You may be surprised at how much they enjoy this simple, satisfying non-traditional Irish breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
3 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ cups milk (or use buttermilk instead of the milk and vinegar)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°. Pour whole wheat flour into a large bowl. Sift in unbleached white flour, salt and baking soda and stir to mix. Pour milk and vinegar into flour mixture and stir to make a soft dough. Mix just enough so that dough holds together – overmixing will cause the bread to become tough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board. Shape dough into one large mounded round and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cut a thin cross in the top of the loaf, just enough so the loaf opens a little on top while baking.
Place wheaten loaf in oven and bake for about 45 minutes. When done, the bread will have a hollow sound when lightly tapped. Remove bread from oven and cool, wrapped in a light tea towel, for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Makes 1 loaf of bread.
Breakfast in Bed: Brown Sugar Scones
Post by Alison Hein.
Last Friday I was at my sister’s house, waiting for a washer and dryer delivery. You know the drill, right? An automated message the night before provides a 4-hour delivery window. You completely rearrange your next-day schedule, report for duty at the appropriate time, then twiddle your thumbs for three to four hours. Finally, your truck arrives.
I’m wise to this schtick, so I scouted for something to occupy my wait time. I poked around in Janet’s cabinets, shelves, and refrigerator. In search of?: a project with simple ingredients and a short, hot bake time. My quick inventory yielded the perfect answer – scones!
After searching for cinnamon for 20 minutes, I decided not to use any. Instead, I upped the amount of dark brown sugar to infuse the scones with a deep, caramel sweetness. I like to pre-score my scones before baking, to make them easy to separate without crumbling. A sugar and egg wash crisps the tops, and leaves behind a textured, crystallized taste with each bite.
18 minutes later, I took the bubbling hot scones from the oven, smeared them with lightly salted butter, and with the last of my cooling coffee, I indulged. Still only one hour into my wait time…
Don’t worry, Jan. I only ate one scone. Plenty left for you and your family to have a sleepy Saturday morning and a sugary breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
2¼ cups flour
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup (one half stick) cold butter
¾ cup milk
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
2 eggs
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°. In large bowl, mix together flour, 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and cut into dry ingredients.
Combine milk, vinegar and one egg in separate small bowl. Mix well, then add all at once to dry ingredients, stirring until just mixed in.
Turn batter out onto lightly floured board. Divide into eight equal pieces and shape into balls. Press each ball into a flat round, and place scones on lightly greased cookie sheet. Cut crosses in the top of each scone, but do not cut all the way through.
Lightly beat remaining egg, and brush on top of scones. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar. Place in oven and bake for about 18 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm with butter.
Makes 8 scones.
Breakfast in Bed: Traditional Japanese Breakfast
Post by Alison Hein.
If you order breakfast in Japan, don’t expect to see any eggs, bacon or hash browns. Traditional asagohan consists of soup and rice, usually served with broiled fish, and flanked by multiple side dishes, such as vegetables, pickles and fruit.
When I kindly asked my good friend Chiharu (I said pretty please!) to make breakfast for me, she came up with the following amazing menu:
Chiharu’s Traditional Japanese Breakfast Menu
Salmon Teriyaki
Shaved Bermuda Onion with Bonito Flakes and Ponzu Sauce
Spicy Chinese Daikon and Refreshing Japanese Cucumber Pickles
Miso Soup
Rice
Seasoned Seaweed with Soy Sauce
Just-Picked Bermuda Strawberries
The showcase of this fabulous meal was Chiharu’s Broiled Salmon Teriyaki. As simple as it is succulent, Chiharu broils the fish until almost cooked through, then coats it with homemade teriyaki sauce for the final minute or so. “Don’t add the teriyaki sauce too soon,” she advises, “or the sauce will burn and ruin the fish.”
Chiharu deftly pulled the fish out from under the broiler, removed the skin, added a few lemon slices and topped it with a sprinkling of yuzu shichimi, or “seven spices.” Like an artist, she sauced, plated, arranged and served a dazzling, traditional breakfast. Maybe next time I’ll tell you about Chiharu’s dessert menu. J
Broiled Salmon Teriyaki
Ingredients
2 pieces thin-cut salmon filet with skin on, about ¼ to ⅓ of a pound each
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
Lemon slices, for garnish
Yuzu shichimi (optional – available in Asian specialty stores)
Preparation
Preheat broiler. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wash and dry salmon, and remove any remaining bones. Place salmon on foil, skin side down. Broil fish about 4 inches from heat for about 5 to 7 minutes until almost cooked. Remove salmon from broiler and pour teriyaki sauce evenly over the filets. Return to broiler and cook for another minute or so until fish is cooked through. Transfer salmon to plates, removing skin if you like, and garnish with lemon slices. Sprinkle with yuzu shichimi.
Makes 2 servings.
Chiharu’s Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup sake
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
2 tablespoons sugar
Preparation
Add all ingredients to a heavy saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until sauce is thickened and has a glassy look. Cool, transfer to bottle and store in a cool, dry place.
Makes about 2 cups.
Breakfast in Bed: Twice-Baked Breakfast Potatoes
Post by Alison Hein.
Grave oversight! There are no potato recipes on this blog. Crispy, salty, buttery potatoes are the foundation of the perfect breakfast. Only my waistline prevents me from potato-gorging on a daily basis. 😉
Maybe twice-baked potatoes were your favorite childhood Thanksgiving treat, or perhaps later you preferred “loaded skins,” smothered with sour cream, bacon and cheddar cheese and backed with an icy cold beer. Historically, people love to stuff (and eat) potatoes. In 1876, Estelle Woods Wilcox recommended topping “Potatoes in Jackets” with breadcrumbs and cheese. Filling choices are wide open and limited only by one’s imagination.
So, crack an egg into the pillowy center of your stuffed potatoes. Add smoky paprika and bake them nice and hot. Strew with fresh chopped chives for some green crunch and a bit of sharpness. Grab your fork and let the yolk of the egg mix with the buttery, salty, smoky potatoes for a twice-baked breakfast in bed that’s worthy of gorging.
Ingredients
1 Russet potato
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk or cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ teaspoon paprika
2 eggs
Fresh chopped chives
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°. Scrub potato thoroughly to remove all dirt from skin. Allow to dry fully. Using a sharp-tined fork, pierce several holes in the potato to allow to cook evenly. Coat potato with olive oil and sea salt. Wrap in aluminum foil, and bake until cooked through but firm, about one hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool. This step can be done the day before.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350°. Slice potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides of potato halves, leaving enough potato intact to support the skin. Place scooped potato in bowl. Add butter, milk, salt and pepper and mash or beat until smooth but still somewhat thick. Place a portion of the mashed potato back into the scooped–out skin. Make a raised border around the potato edges with the remainder of the mashed potato, leaving a hollow in the potato large enough for the egg. Sprinkle with paprika, retaining some to use later. Place stuffed potatoes into a baking dish. Crack eggs one at a time into a separate small dish, then slide gently into the mashed-potato hollow. Bake at 350° until egg white is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle with remaining paprika, garnish with chives and serve immediately.
Makes 2 servings.
