Tag Archives: Recipes
Breakfast in Bed – Corn Bread with Honey Butter
Post by Alison Hein.
I have been remiss. I’ve shared with you my recipes for Toasted Maple Corn Muffins and for Corn Bread Hot Browns. Even Fried Cornmeal Mush! But somehow in all this corn madness, I’ve neglected to provide my favorite recipe for simple Corn Bread.
This sturdy but crumbly quick bread can be whipped up inside 30 minutes. It’s nearly as easy as a boxed mix, and much more delicious. I like to break up the sugar content with a little honey, with its old-fashioned sweetness, texture and depth. Then, I like to reprise that flavor with some homemade, spreadable Honey Butter. There’s nothing like a gooey glob of it melting into some oven-hot corn bread.
For best results, use a pure, stone-ground corn meal. I sometimes buy it from a local living history farm, where they grind organic corn into meal in a 300-year old working gristmill. The rich, coarse meal, ground fresh, makes the perfect base for a batch of bread.
My husband always enjoys a basket of fresh corn bread beside a bowl of spicy chili, and I often make some to go with dinner, when I’ve forgotten to buy bread or rolls. But best of all, I like to cut a thick yellow square of bread in half, toast it to a crumbly gold, slather it with honey-sweet butter, and enjoy a crazy, corny breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
Corn Bread
1½ cups corn meal
¾ cup white flour
⅓ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
¼ cup corn oil
⅓ cup honey
Honey Butter
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In separate bowl, mix together milk and eggs. Stir milk mixture into dry ingredients. Add corn oil and honey, mixing in well.
Spoon into greased 8×8-inch pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown, or until toothpick in center comes out clean. You can also use 2 cast iron mini-corn molds, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
To make Honey Butter, add softened butter to small bowl. Stir in honey and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Breakfast in Bed – Huevos Mexicanos
Post by Alison Hein.
We were preparing for our last outdoor party of the season. I always like to have at least one hearty vegetarian dish. This time, I was making Baked Vegetable Enchiladas – pure corn tortillas filled with a medley of vegetables and cheese and baked in a spicy tomato sauce. As I was mixing up the filling, I thought, why not save some of this for a spicy, Latin-style egg bake?
So, out came my cute little mini-cast iron pots (easy to buy from Lodge or use other small baking dishes). To my mixture of cumin-spiced black beans, spinach, corn and green onion, I added a little Monterey Jack cheese and a few eggs. I poured the concoction into the pots and covered them with a crumbling of Mexican queso fresco (you can substitute any kind of semi-firm cheese). Then I popped them in the oven and made a cilantro-lime sour cream sauce as a topping.
A quick thirty minutes later, we were enjoying a vegetarian, Mexican-style breakfast in bed.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon black beans
1 tablespoon chopped spinach
1 tablespoon corn kernels
1 tablespoon sliced green onion
1 tablespoon Monterey Jack cheese
1 teaspoon cumin
4 eggs
2 tablespoons queso fresco, crumbled
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
¼ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, plus 2 sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon lime juice
Equipment
2 mini-cast iron pots (or substitute any ½-pint baking dishes, such as ramekins)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Add black beans, spinach, corn kernels, Monterey Jack cheese, and cumin to a large mixing bowl and stir together. Crack eggs into medium bowl and whisk until thick and smooth. Add to vegetable / cheese mixture and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover tops with crumbled queso fresco.
Lightly oil mini-cast iron pots (½-pint baking dishes). Pour egg mixture evenly into each pot. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes, until eggs are cooked through and puffed up.
While eggs bake, make sour cream cilantro sauce. Add sour cream, cilantro and lime juice to a small bowl and mix well.
To serve, remove eggs from oven. Place an equal amount of sour cream cilantro sauce on each and garnish with a sprig of cilantro. Serve immediately with hot sauce on the side.
NOTE: If you would like a spicier, non-vegetarian version, add a little chopped chorizo to the mix before baking.
Makes 2 servings.
Breakfast in Bed – Blue Plate Special
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.
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.
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.
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.
Breakfast in Bed – Debra’s Seafood Quiche
Post by Alison Hein.
It’s a great pleasure to visit with dear friends you haven’t seen in ages. It’s an even greater pleasure when you get them to make breakfast for you. Debra and her husband Barry spend part of their year in Washington state, in a quaint cabin perched on scenic Loon Lake. They have lovingly furnished their lakeside aerie with retro pieces rummaged in garage sales, estate sales and auctions. Enter, and be transported back to the 1940s.
Debra and I used to work together (uh, a long time ago). She was my boss and my mentor. She taught me everything I needed to know about my job, and then she taught me a few things about cooking. I still make her homemade candies during the holidays, not to mention Barry’s sinful Irish Cream.
My mouth watered at the thought of diving into one of Deb’s heavenly quiches. She makes many delicious kinds, but this seafood quiche was purely divine. Debra seasoned and poached the shrimp before baking, and added a lot of sharp cheddar cheese to the egg mixture (Deb recommends Oregon Tillamook if you can find it). The extra sprinkle of parmegiano reggiano added to the top adds a soft crispiness, lovely to poke through as you swoop your fork down and pop up the choice inner filling, rich and gumbo-like in flavor.
Debra pulled out an old crockery bowl, whisked the eggs with her grandma’s hand beater, and poured the mix into an old pie pan. 45 minutes later she grabbed a set of crocheted potholders and pulled a fragrant, mile-high quiche out of the oven. She placed the steaming dish on the antique kitchen table along with some homey nut bread and a melon ball salad. I looked around the funky, antique kitchen and thought – what a great place for spending time with lifelong friends. What a great place for enjoying a heavenly, timeless breakfast in bed!
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves (about ¾ cup), finely chopped
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
½ pound cocktail shrimp, shelled, deveined, and poached until cooked through
½ pound fresh crabmeat
1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
2 cups cheddar cheese
7 eggs
¼ cup half & half
Dash of nutmeg (optional)
¼ cup grated parmegiano reggiano cheese
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Place pie crust into glass or ceramic pie dish. Set aside.
Melt butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in shrimp and crab. Cool slightly, then add to prepared pie crust. Spread cheddar cheese evenly on top of seafood mixture.
Break eggs into large bowl. Add half & half and nutmeg. Whisk until frothy, about 2 minutes. Carefully pour egg mixture on top of seafood and cheese, filling to the top so that just the pie crust rim remains visible. Sprinkle grated parmegiano reggiano cheese on top.
Place quiche on cookie sheet and then in oven. Bake for around 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, and quiche is puffed up and golden. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve hot, with fresh fruit or a salad on the side.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
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.
