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Tag Archives: Breakfast and Brunch
I love soft boiled eggs, cooked just right, with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper and a chunk of warm crusty baguette – it is a simple breakfast that is so satisfying. I overdosed as a kid on soft boiled eggs, when I got sick once and the doctor said to eat them and chicken soup,everyday and that it would cure me. It worked but I never really looked at a soft boiled egg the same, until my first trip to Germany. Every inn I stayed at offered perfect soft boiled eggs, bread, cheese, yogurt and ultra creamy coffee – very fond memories.
As a regular reader you know how Lenny loves EGGS – any old way. I knew when I saw this particular recipe in an issue of Donna Hay, that he would love the soft boiled egg garnished pasta dish. I knew, I would probably skip the soft boiled egg on my pasta – some things are meant to stay in my breakfast category – but that the roasted garlic and cheese would make up for it. I did change up the recipe a bit to give it a Chez Us signature … think olive oil, extra cheese and spring time fresh English peas. As Donna would say, this dish was “Simple Made Simple” and ever so delicious!
Recipe: Soft Boiled Egg
1 egg
water
Bring water to boil in a saucepan. Low heat to simmer, slowly and carefully add the egg. Let the egg gently simmer for 3 – 5 minutes, depending on how soft you like your soft cooked egg. I like it on the runny side for dipping the bread, so I cook it 4 minutes. Remove from the water, and run it under cold water, just long enough so you can hold it. Crack the egg in half. Serve in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle with salt and cracked pepper. Eat.
Recipe: Roasted Garlic Pasta with Peas and Egg
*serves 4
1/2 head garlic
1 egg
1/2 pound angel hair pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
1/2 cup fresh english peas
sea salt
cracked black pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Wrap garlic in foil and roast for 15 – 30 minutes or until soft, tender and slightly golden. Squeeze garlic from skins and mash with a fork. Cover to keep warm and set aside.
Cook the eggs following the above directions. Drain and set aside to cool slightly before peeling.
Cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain well and return to the pan. Add the olive oil and toss. Then add the cream, 1/2 of the parmesan, garlic, salt and peas and toss to coat. Divide between serving plates, halve the eggs and place on top to serve. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Serve. Eat.
I love baking Hot Cross Buns, it is sort of my thing, that I do on Easter. I like them because they are not heavy and they are only slightly sweet. This year, I should have followed tradition and baked our buns on Friday as we had some mishap. I waited until Saturday afternoon, to whip up this batch of buns. They are basically pretty easy to make. A simple yeast dough that is normally flavored with lemon zest and raisins. I used blood orange zest and cardamon this time. As well I used currants. This was a great choice. The dough was slightly sweet, fresh and a little spicy.
I was pressed for time and after the first rising, I decided to let them rise overnight for the final one. This morning they were all smooched together and had lost that cute little bun shape. Normally before baking you are suppose to cut a cross into the buns and fill with a filling of flour, sugar and milk. I don’t bake the cross into the buns. I just egg wash them before baking and then add the cross after they have cooled. Regardless of the failure with rising, this recipe is usually fail proof, this is the first year, that they went from being cute little buns to squares. They still tasted great!
Recipe: Hot Cross Buns
1 envelope (1/4-ounce) dry yeast
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1 stick of butter, melted
1 egg
1 tablespoon blood orange zest
1/2 cup currants
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Combine the yeast, sugar and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the butter, egg and currants. Mix for 1 minute. Add the salt, cardamom and flour. Beat on low speed until all of the flour is incorporated, about 1 minute. Then, beat at medium speed until the mixture forms a ball, leaves the sides of the bowl, and climbs up the dough hook. Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set-aside in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl and invert it onto a lightly floured surface. Pinch off 12 equal sizes of dough and roll each into a smooth round ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the rolls on the baking about /2-inch apart. With a pastry brush, brush the beaten egg evenly over the bread. Cover with plastic wrap and set-aside in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake until lightly brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a rack. In a mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and cream, mix until smooth. Ice each bun with the frosting in the shape of a cross. Serve warm.
Scrambled eggs are something that we eat often on weekends. Either plain or with an assortment of fillings: mushrooms, spinach, cheeses, tomatoes. The choices are really limitless. As well it could be a scramble or an omelet. When we opt for the dinner scrambled egg, it is usually in the form of a frittata or a torta, again, you really can add anything from the basic potatoes to chorizo, to really spice it up.
I think the key to the perfect scrambled egg is the right seasoning and being cooked to the point of not brown or golden but also not runny. We have been trying out some different techniques and finally came up with our favorite scrambled eggs or as Maggie, likes to call them “butter eggs”. Below we have included the instructions for the perfect scrambled egg and a simple torta, which will make a nice light dinner when served with a simple salad.
Recipe: Scrambled Egg
*serves 1
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter, divided in half
2 teaspoons milk or cream
kosher salt, a pinch
fresh ground pepper, a pinch
Put half of the butter in a frying pan over low heat. Melt the butter. The remainder of the butter cut into small pieces. While the butter is melting, whisk the egg with the milk, and the remainder of the butter. Whisk until the egg and milk is incorporated. The butter will be chunks. Pour into the frying pan and stir with a fork until cooked through, not browned, still moist and not runny. Season with salt and pepper.
Recipe: Torta
*serves 2
3 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon butter, diced into small pieces
2 tablespoon olive oil
5 eggs
kosher salt, a pinch
fresh ground pepper, a pinch
Heat oven to 350. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. While potatoes are cooking, cook the onions with the olive oil, in an oven proof skillet, until they are soft and slightly browned. Whisk the eggs with the salt, pepper until blended. Gently stir in the butter and potatoes. Add the egg potato mixture to the skillet, turn the heat to low, and gently cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to blend. Place the skillet into the oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, until puffed and golden. Remove from the heat and let set for a couple minutes before slicing. Serve. Eat
The perfect way to start the morning with us, is with a creamy cup of fresh espresso using the finest Italian roasted beans.
I normally only write about what we had for dinner. But ….. we have been working like crazy this week, which means late night, which equals no cooking time. We have some many good things planned for the weekend – can we really eat that much??!!
Anyhow, I did manage to squeeze in a little breakfast time today and it was so delightful that I wanted to share it with everyone.
Good Morning and have a great day!
A few months ago I made a Tuesdays with Dorie Banana Bread, while it was very good, it was not as good as my friend Evelyn’s banana bread. I have received a few requests for this recipe so I decided now was the time to share the secret! The addition of cream cheese and sour cream make this bread ultra moist. The chocolate chips, well, you just cannot go wrong with chocolate! This bread makes a wonderful weekend breakfast when served with coffee and fruit. As well it is great as a light dessert or snack.
Recipe: Ultimate Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup butter
3 oz. cream cheese
1 cup brown sugar
2 ripe bananas
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I like to use bittersweet chocolate chips if you can find them)
Heat oven to 350. Lightly grease a loaf pan and dust with flour.
Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the bananas, egg and sour cream and mix until smooth. Add dry ingredients. Stir in chips. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60 – 75 minutes, until golden and not doughy in the middle.
Okay this post is very late. I have to apologize to the hostess of this event, Christy over at Balance Food, sorry Christy!
I picked the Superfood Blueberries for our last weeks challenge food and the course was breakfast – I know I know, not very creative!!! I had all intentions of making some crazy blueberry waffles for breakfast or steel cut oats slowly cooked and then loaded up with brown sugar and blueberries or these outrageous blueberry muffins. Then I woke up on Saturdy, started the espresso machine, went to the fridge to grab the milk and the blueberries and they were GONE!! Someone no names being named ate the entire basket of them. We were on to plan B, go out to breakfast with friend from out of town and order something with blueberries – the place we went to did not have any fresh blueberries! So here I am apologizing to our hostess for not only being late on this post but also for being lame with my blueberry breakfast! (I did run 3 times). Now to the round-up …
 Trish over at Gluten Free in SLC made a sweet little breakfast treat, a Dutch Baby with Blueberry compote. A Dutch Baby is a large eggy pancake that is baked in the oven. Trish went the extra mile and made it gluten free. She made a beautiful blueberry compote which was flavored with orange juice and zest. Even though she felt her attempt at making a blueberry breakfast treat was a bust, I thought it sounded tasty and looked very good! She has the recipe on her site as well.
Christy over at Balance Food made Blueberry Breakfast Mini Pies. They are adorable. The crust is a granola based crust of oats and brown sugar which she shaped in muffin tins. After they were cooled she filled them with Browns Cream Top Yogurt (which by the way is our favorite) and topped them with a blueberry topping – YUM! Christy has a recipe as well.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this challenge, it was really fun and you all did a GREAT job! Thank you to Christy for asking me to co-host this with you, I had a lot of fun (even though I suddenly got so swamped I am really glad I did it) and really enjoyed it! This is a great event and really helps you jump start your healthy eating habits – I look forward to doing it again next year!
I was not sure what Shrove Tuesday was except it had to do with the catholic church and pancakes. Did a bit of research and found out it is the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of the christian season of fasting and prayer, also known as Lent.
I don’t think I have ever celebrated Shrove Tuesday. In fact, I am pretty sure I never have. I did a little research to find out why this was never something that was celebrated in our homes, after all, we are both catholic. I found out the reason, it is primarily celebrated in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia.
Once I started seeing beautiful plates of pancakes and crepes popping up last night I decided that our dinner tonight would be just that and that we would kick off this lent season.
I decided to go with crepes as they are a bit lighter. I was going to use Barbara’s recipe over at Winos and Foodies, but it was suppose to sit for 2 hours and I did not have that much time. So I used the the Mark Bittman recipe from my new cookbook and loved it as it was incredibly easy and tasty. Barbara sprinkled sugar on her crepes and that reminded me of how my grandmother use to let us eat ours, so I lightly sprinkled some vanilla sugar over the top and then zest from a blood orange. Lenny looked at me like I have three heads when I brought dinner out but guess what he never said more then 10 words and kept eating! I knew they would be a great new change and maybe we will kick off lent properly now!
By the way be sure to check out our latest podcast. We meant to get it out there at the beginning of the week but got a bit busy. It is funny and light-hearted and gives you a peak into what is cooking over here this week!
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The super-food this week with be the Blueberries and you need to use it in breakfast. Yes, boring, I am sure. I had all intentions of picking something crazy for the breakfast category but have not had anytime to really do my research. So … we are ending this challenge on the norm!
It is believed that consumption of ellagic acid, an antioxidant found in blueberries may reduce a person’s risk of cancer by blocking the metabolic pathways that can promote cancer. Laboratory research has found that ellagic acid may actually slow the growth of some cancerous tumors. Blueberries are very good for you!! Not only are they great with breakfast but we love to have them around for snacking!
I also have to admit … I did not get to my challenge for last week. It is sitting in my fridge and I will make it this week. The good news, I ran 4 days in a row and it felt great! Check out the GREAT roundup that Christy posted – everyone did a great job!
Rules for the challenge
Post your entries some time this week on your blog, and send me an email at denise@chezus.com with the link to your post and a picture. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Entries are due Saturday evening before midnight (PST). Have fun!
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