Tag Archives: family

Breakfast in Bed – Blue Plate Special

Blue Plate Special 9

Post by Alison Hein.

You know how they say that desperation, starvation, uh necessity, is the mother of invention? Case in point – after returning from vacation, I found that our cupboards (and fridge) were bare. Hungry, yet not wanting to shop yet, I decided to create my very own Blue Plate Special.

Blue Plate Special 1

To me, this means a meal scrounged from scraps and served on a blue plate. J Wikipedia, however, describes a Blue Plate Special as “a term used in the United States by restaurants, diners and cafes. It refers to a specially low-priced meal, usually changing daily. The term was very common from the 1920s through the 1950s, but it is a vanishing tradition.”

So I foraged and found some stale (but not moldy) Ciabatta rolls, then sliced off the ends to make two lovely slices of thick, hearty bread, just right for toasting. Now, what to put on it? As luck would have it, I located an egg, and some pungent sharp cheddar. I decided to cook the egg over easy, and melt a bit of the strong cheese on top. Yet my sandwich was still missing something (a thick slice of bacon or salty ham would have worked wonders, but to no avail). I settled for a satisfying squirt of sweet mayonnaise. Surprising and tangy, my Blue Plate Special turned out to be a very repeatable breakfast in bed that’s here to stay.

Blue Plate Special 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
2 slices Ciabatta bread (or other hearty style bread)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon (or 1 thin slice) sharp cheddar cheese
Mayonnaise, to taste
Fresh lettuce and tomatoes, for garnish

Preparation

Melt butter in heavy frying pan over medium heat. Add Ciabatta bread and toast until rich and golden on both sides, flipping once. Remove from heat.

Blue Plate Special 6

At the same time, heat oil over medium heat in small frying pan. Crack egg into pan. Reduce heat to medium low. Season egg with salt and pepper and fry on one side until cooked on the bottom but still soft on top. Gently flip the egg (over easy) and place the cheddar cheese on top. Cover with tight fitting lid and turn off heat. Allow to sit for a minute or two until cooked to your preference. Put a little mayonnaise on each of the toasted bread slices. Place egg one slice of toast and cover with the other to make a sandwich. Serve immediately with a little fresh lettuce and tomatoes on the side, if you like.

Makes one breakfast sandwich.

Blue Plate Special 10

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Breakfast in Bed –Blueberry Cream Crêpes

Post by Alison Hein.

Summer is flying by, and I can’t believe I haven’t shared any blueberry recipes this season. Well, we’re about to rectify that with these berry-rich creamy crêpes. The blueberry crop was lush and bountiful this year, and if you look around, you should still be able to find perfectly ripe, tangy-skinned, sweet-fleshed berries.

Thin, lightly sweetened crêpes are filled with a creamy blueberry spread, then rolled and topped with thick, zesty blueberry sauce. First, make the sauce with fresh fruit, simmering the berries stovetop until they burst and meld. Next, prepare the sweet, blended berry and cream cheese filling (also great for spreading on bagels). Finally, make the thin pancakes and assemble the final dish. Add a sprig of mint, if you like, for garnish. Voila! The berry best kind of breakfast in bed. 🙂

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups (1 dry pint) blueberries
½ cup water
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add blueberries, water, sugar and vanilla to small, heavy pot. Place on stove over high heat and bring to boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, until blueberries are soft and popped open, and syrup is thickened. Set aside and allow to cool. Syrup will continue to thicken while cooling, so adjust cooking time to your preference.

Makes about 1 ½ cups of syrup.

Filling

¼ cup blueberries
6 ounces whipped cream cheese
4 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

Puree blueberries in blender. Mix in cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon until smooth. Set aside until ready to assemble crêpes.

Crêpes

1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 – 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation

In large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Whisk egg into milk, then whisk milk mixture into flour mixture until batter is thick and smooth. Let batter rest a few minutes before cooking.

Heat about 1 teaspoon oil in a heavy 6-inch pan over medium heat. When hot, but not smoking, add ¼ cupful of batter to pan, swirling to cover bottom. Cook crêpe 1 to 2 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned, flipping once. Keep warm while cooking remaining crêpes, monitoring heat and adding oil as necessary.

To assemble, place crêpes on serving plates. Spread each crêpe with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling. Roll up, and top with Blueberry Sauce. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 to 7 crêpes.

 

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Breakfast in Bed – Peach Peach Baby

Post by Alison Hein.

It’s summertime! And peaches are in peak season. Head out to western New Jersey and its numerous u-pick farms, their hefty fruit trees laden with lush, pink-skinned, fragrant peaches. Flavors of fresh-from-the-tree fruit are sprightly and intense. I picked some recently, and after satisfying my craving for raw peaches (by, er, eating about four of them), I decided to lightly caramelize a couple of them and add them to a giant, baked crepe-like pancake, sometimes called a Dutch Baby.

While I was fiddling around in the kitchen, my new recipe somehow got mixed up with the Vanilla Ice rap song Ice, Ice, Baby (yes, there may be something wrong with me), and somehow new lyrics were born for my Peach Baby (definitely nothing wrong with that):

Peach, Peach, Baby

Peach, Peach, Baby

All right stop, and head to the kitchen

Peaches are ripe – here’s a brand new invention

Inspiration grabs ahold of me tightly

Flow like batter, sweetly and lightly

Will it ever stop? Yo, I hope not

Those Peach Babies really hit the spot.
I hope Vanilla Ice doesn’t mind me borrowing the rhythm of his iconic classic, and I hope you enjoy a peachy, rhythmic breakfast in bed. Don’t forget to rap along. 😉

Ingredients

2 large peaches
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 peaches by cutting a small “x” in the bottom of the fruit. Carefully drop the peaches into boiling water and blanch for up to one minute. Remove peaches from pot and immerse in ice water. Peel off peach skin starting at the “x’. Slice peach by cutting lengthwise to the pit, and pulling slices away from pit. Place peach 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 peaches 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. Gradually add flour and salt until well mixed.

Remove heated frying pan from oven. Add remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. When melted, spread peach slices evenly across bottom of pan. Pour blended batter over peaches 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 Peach Baby; or 2 to 4 servings.

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Breakfast in Bed – Mom’s Deviled Eggs

Post by: Alison Hein.

You can’t eat deviled eggs for breakfast? Wow. Someone should have told me that a long time ago. Mom taught me to make these when I was just knee-high to a grasshopper (that’s a saying, right?), and they’re still one of my absolute summertime favorites.

We’ve made deviled eggs before on this blog. Not Mom’s cozy comfort food, but the more sophisticated Ebbitt Room Deviled Eggs (http://www.charlesprogers.com/blogs/archives/6243). Mom knew what she was about long before “five ingredient” dishes came around, and kept it really easy adding only mustard (she preferred Gulden’s), mayo and paprika. “Deviling” in the kitchen refers to the addition of a hot or spicy ingredient, in this case, mustard. The term first appeared in print in 1786, the association made between condiments like mustard or cayenne pepper and the fires of Hades.

While Mom’s eggs called for only a couple of simple staples (and really aren’t all that fiery), I learned on Wikipedia that people around the world commonly use the following ingredients in their deviled eggs: tartar sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pickles, relish, vinegar, olives, pimentos, onion, caviar, cream, capers and sour cream. They may use spices like chipotle, turmeric, poppy seed, thyme, and cilantro, and toppings including caviar, anchovies, bacon, shrimp and herring!

French people use pepper and parsley; Germans prefer anchovies, cheese and capers; and Hungarians add milk-soaked bread, parsley and sour cream, then bake them and serve them with a side of French fries! (Look for these exciting recipes here in the future!)

So, it’s summertime. People around the globe are making crazy eggs. And I’m grabbing a cup of coffee, one of Mom’s chilled eggs, and partaking in the devil of a breakfast in bed.

Ingredients

8 eggs
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons paprika

Preparation

Place eggs in a small heavy saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil on high heat and continue to cook eggs for 10 minutes, until hard-boiled. Cool and peel.

Carefully slice eggs in half lengthwise. Remove cooked yolks and add to small bowl, setting whites aside. Mash the yolks finely with the back of a fork (or use a fine-mesh sieve for a very smooth filling). Stir in mayonnaise and mustard until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon or pipe filling into reserved whites, mounding yolk mixture in each half-egg. Sprinkle generously with paprika. Place in refrigerator and chill until ready to serve.

Makes 16 deviled eggs.

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Breakfast in Bed – Home Fries

Post by Alison Hein.

You like potatoes, and I like po-tah-toes….

Thus sang Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the ubiquitous 1937 film Shall We Dance; music and lyrics to the song Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off by none other than the amazing George and Ira Gershwin. I know this one from a very early age – my grandmother liked to belt it out while puttering around in her tiny kitchen. Aha! People can be different but still be in love.

You say Hash Browns and I say Home Fries…

What’s the difference? Basic tenet states that hash browns are grated and cooked in their raw state, while home fries are pre-boiled, chopped and then fried. Either type can be dressed up with onions, peppers, garlic, meats or spices.

In my simple version, I bake a few hearty Russets in the evening, and enjoy a salty, buttery baked potato with a big glob of sour cream for dinner. Then, in the morning, I slice and fry one of the extras, skin and all, and enjoy a side of salty, crispy-skinned home fries, rich with smoky paprika, with my favorite breakfast eggs.

Moral of the story? Potato or po-tah-toe, hash browns or home fries – a breakfast in bed to make you fall in love.

Note: Watch Fred and Ginger sing (and tap dance on roller skates!) and you’re sure to fall in love too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ3fjQa5Hls

Home Fries

1 Sea Salt Baked Potato (see recipe below)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Chop potato (leaving skin on) into bite-sized pieces or thin slices. Heat olive oil over medium heat in heavy frying pan. Add potatoes. Sprinkle generously with paprika, and stir to coat potato pieces. Season with salt and pepper.

Continue to cook potatoes over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring and flipping occasionally, until golden brown or crisped to your liking. Serve hot alongside your favorite breakfast eggs.

Makes 2 servings.

Sea Salt Baked Potatoes

2 large baking potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon large grain sea salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Scrub potatoes well to remove all dirt from skins. Allow the potatoes to dry, then pierce each one 5 or 6 times with a fork. Mix olive oil and sea salt together and slather over potatoes to cover completely.

Place potatoes in a baking dish and bake, turning occasionally, until outer skin is golden brown and the center of the potato is tender when tested with a fork, about one hour. Serve hot with butter and sour cream on the side.

Makes 2 servings.

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