Category Archives: breakfast

A Very Yellow Breakfast: Omelette and Cornbread

Posted by Dave in breakfast, gluten-free, vegetarian and tagged with , , , ,
A Sharp Cheddar and Kyopolou Omelette with Cornbread

A Sharp Cheddar and Kyopolou Omelette with Cornbread

Maybe it’s just the winter weather, but I was definitely in the mood for something bright for breakfast, and yellow is my favorite color, so I decided on cornbread and eggs. Actually, that’s about all I had left in the house… so more than one reason for this meal.

This is merely a two-egg omelette with sharp cheddar cheese and kyopolou. I simply used the prepared Trader Joe’s variety that they call “Red Pepper Spread,” but authentically from Bulgaria. On the side is cornbread, prepared round from Jiffy brand corn muffin mix. (I substituted greek yogurt diluted with a bit of water for milk in the cornbread, since, *surprise*, I was out of milk.)

A Sharp Cheddar and Kyopolou Omelette with Cornbread

A Sharp Cheddar and Kyopolou Omelette with Cornbread

The omelette was served with a sprinkle of dried oregano and it made for a cheery, basic breakfast… it’s practially sunshine on a plate and maybe great fuel for wintertime Coldplay. :)

Vegetable Frittata

Posted by Dave in breakfast, mediterranean, vegetarian and tagged with , , , ,
Vegetable frittata and romaine lettuce with oil and vinegar.

Vegetable frittata and romaine lettuce with oil and vinegar

I’m not a big fan of just eggs for breakfast – one is usually enough for me, and must be accompanied by more interesting textures. But, of course, eggs are inexpensive and nutritious, so I decided to try a frittata again. I had some fennel stalks around, and was curious to try them (since I love the flavor), after having used the milder fennel bulb for fennel au gratin at Christmastime and not wanting to merely discard the green stalks.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 – 2 T. canola oil
  • 3 small to medium red potatues, cut into small cubes
  • 1/3 fennel stalk, finely sliced
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 T. basil pesto
  • white button mushrooms, coarsely chopped
  • scallion, white portion cut finely, greens coarsely
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 4 whole eggs and 4 egg whites, whisked with milk
  • 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • swiss cheese, shredded

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425° F.
In an oven safe skillet, over medium low heat, sauté potato and fennel with salt and pepper until potato is somewhat tender. Add white portion of scallions and mushrooms, and lighly sauté. Stir pesto into vegetables and immediately pour egg mixture into skillet evenly over sautéed ingredients.  Cook for a few minutes, until egg mixture begins to set and top with tomatoes, shredded cheese, and scallion greens. Place skillet in oven for 7-15 minutes, until egg appears firm on top and is cooked through.

Vegetable frittata

Vegetable frittata

I served frittata wedges with chopped romaine lettuce and a dressing of simply olive oil and red wine vinegar. This one came out nicely, and the bit of fennel stalk worked nicely to flavor the potatoes.

Chicken and Egg Breakfast Nachos

Posted by Dave in breakfast, texmex and tagged with , , , ,
Chicken and Egg Breakfast Nachos with pasilla salsa and jalapenos.

Chicken and Egg Breakfast Nachos with pasilla salsa and jalapenos.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
It was the egg. (Dinosaurs, the ancestors of the chicken, and many other animals layed eggs.)

This morning, I got up late (as usual), saw this beautiful snowy scene outside, and perused two generous online invitations to brunch this morning.  Hmm, shower, dress, find the shovel, … drive the 4×4 to one of these restaurants or just sit my ass on the couch? Guess which one won.

DSC06857

My backyard with the first proper snowfall of the season

For this breakfast I boiled a couple fresh jalapenos, whipped up some scrambled eggs, stirred in some chipotle-seasoned pulled chicken; bell pepper and jalapeno strips (leftover from yesterday’s fajitas); and shredded cheddar.  Then I assembled the nachos on a plate with blue corn tortilla chips, topped with a pasilla salsa (the first I opened from the summertime canning) and a tender jalapeno.

Breakfast nachos on a wintery morning.

Breakfast nachos on a wintery morning.

A pleasant, if not lonely, breakfast on this beautiful wintery morning.
I even eased into the season with some holiday music.

I hope my friends fared as well with their brunches.

Summertime Bounty Breakfast

Posted by Dave in breakfast, potatoes, vegetarian and tagged with , ,

A breakfast of summertime bounty

I’ve been away from blogging for a bit but have just wrapped up weeks of work (on this year-long project) that culminated in a research paper manuscript submission last night; now I’m looking forward to time for friends… and for breakfast, and perhaps the two combined.

Here’s my morning’s breakfast of summertime bounty with ingredients from the farmer’s market and some lovely friends:  scrambled egg and skillet potatoes with avocado and mesclun of arugula and other salad greens home-grown on my front porch, thanks to a lovely person that trusts me to babysit them.

The skillet potatoes are sliced red potato from the market, pan-fried in canola until tender, seasoned red pepper flakes, oregano, fennel seed, salt, and pepper and with shallots and garlic from a generous friend’s garden.

The scrambled egg is prepared with crisp corn tortilla strips and red pepper spread. Unfortunately, I did not know the chicken. :)

A breakfast of summertime bounty

Happy summertime eating with your fresh ingredients and friends!

Open-Faced Poached Egg and Hummus Quesadilla

Posted by Dave in breakfast, mediterranean, texmex, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Open-Faced Quesadilla with Poached Egg and Hummus

Here’s a colorful quick breakfast (and, for me, lunch) idea: poached eggs atop hummus on a open-faced quesadilla of flour tortilla with sharp cheddar cheese, tomato salsa, fresh scallion and habanero pepper.

This is simply a melenge of favorite ingredients that I almost always have on hand.

Poached Egg and Hummus Quesadilla

Oh, on an urelated note, Happy Canada Day! :)
Here some interesting Canadian craft beers for the occasion:

Scrambled Egg with Tortilla Strips and Portabella Mushroom

Posted by Dave in breakfast, texmex, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Scrambled Egg with Tortilla Strips and Portabella Mushroom

Here’s a typical sort of quick breakfast that I make… especially since plain scrambled egg is *boring*.

First, cut one or two corn tortillas into strips (maximum length about half the diameter of the tortilla) and crisp these in olive oil in a pan, then remove from heat.  Saute sliced baby bella mushroom, perhaps with some garlic, salt and pepper, and place those aside as well.  Prepare one or two scrambled eggs as you like; here I mixed in about 1 T. of kyopoolu sauce; I’ve mentioned this red pepper, eggplant, and garlic-based sauce in a number of earlier posts.  Lastly, mix the ingredients together and top with cheese if you like:
A great way to add taste and texture to boring old scrambled egg!

I learned to add crisp corn tortilla strips to scrambled egg from my Mexican sister-in-law. :-)

Avocado & Shrimp Quesadilla

Posted by Dave in breakfast, shellfish, texmex and tagged with , , , , ,

Avocado & Shrimp Quesadilla with Coconut Lime-Peanut Sauce

The Shrimp Week posts continue!

With some left-over grilled shrimp and dipping sauce, I made this delicious quesadilla for a quick breakfast.

It is simply hummus, cooked shrimp cut to bite-sized pieces, ripe avocado, and a coconut milk-based Peanut-Lime Dipping Sauce warmed open-faced in a pan over medium heat until the tortilla reaches the desired crispness.
I wait to add the avocado at the end, since I prefer it unwarmed.

As it happens, hummus is commonly eaten for breakfast in its countries of origin.

Avocado & Shrimp Quesadilla with Coconut Peanut-Lime Sauce

Hmm, now that I think of it, since I substituted hummus for cheese, I guess it’s not a proper quesadilla.  How do I get away with this stuff?  Yay for fusion cooking!

I’ve been making quesadillas since I was a child, having been introduced to them by my California cousin.

Here’s a quesadilla-making tip: while I didn’t do it here, when warming the quesadilla in the pan, spread the ingredients, especially the cheese, over the whole tortilla, not just one half.  The cheese melts faster, and the other ingredients warm faster, so you’re less likely to over-brown your tortilla… and the melted cheese acts as an adhesive so you can still fold it over without having the ingredients falling off the “top” half.

Here’s the recipe for the sauce:

Chorizo & Chips Huevos Rancheros

Posted by Dave in breakfast, potatoes, texmex and tagged with , , ,

Chorizo & Chips Huevos Rancheros

I’m not a “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” kinda guy. I don’t often eat breakfast, owing to the fact that I start the day later than most of you. :)
But, if I’m not going to have lunch, a big breakfast is in order.

Here’s one of my huevos rancheros variations.
(Triple-Decker Huevos Rancheros is my pièce de résistance.)

This morning, to serve just myself, I fried 3 sliced multi-colored small potatoes in canola oil, seasoned with salt & pepper and minced garlic at the end, so as not to burn the garlic.
Making potato chips in a pan is a bit tedious, but a texture somewhat crisp is achievable; use a big pan on medium to medium-high heat, and arrange the potato slices so that they don’t overlap much, and flip them periodically. A very thin, metal spatula works well.

A mild, mexican (uncooked) chorizo.

Meanwhile, I fried 3-4 oz. mild mexican chorizo, crumbling it as it browned. While both the chips and chorizo drained on paper towel to soak excess oil, I scrambled 2 eggs in the chorizo pan, and stirred in a bit of sour cream and chives when the eggs were done.  Adding a cream or sauce to scrambled egg, just when done, lowers its temperature immediately to help prevent overcooking.

I served it topped with hot sauce and chopped chive.
How is it?  It’s hard to beat potatoes, eggs, and sausage for breakfast… or lunch. :)

Huevos Rancheros with Mild Chorizo & Garlic Potato Chips

P.S. If breakfast were a country, this would be its flag:

Flag of the Republic of Breakfast

Egg Foo Young

Posted by Dave in asian, breakfast, vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Egg Foo Young

Here’s a simple Chinese classic for breakfast, or anytime, and a welcome alternative to an omelet or the same old scrambled egg.

Egg foo young always reminds me of my father, long passed-away.
When I was a child, my parents weren’t adventurous with food, but once in a while we’d get take-out Chinese food and I recall them always getting a box with egg foo young in gravy.  My dad didn’t believe in delivery, so it was always a treat to ride with him to pick up the food.  (This was probably also a welcome respite for my mom waiting at home.)  My dad had developed a rapport with the restaurant owner, and they would joke and laugh.  This often resulted in something extra for free and I was intrigued by their friendship and tiny bit of human color and cultural diversity in the midst of our whiter-than-white part of the midwest.

Anyway, I never order egg foo young when I’m eating out now, so it’s possible that I haven’t had it in decades – until this afternoon.

For this dish I made two servings of the following ingredients: eggs (4, beaten, with a touch of salt and pepper), whole bean sprouts, finely chopped scallion, chopped baby bella mushroom, and finely shredded napa cabbage.

Mix those ingredients in a bowl, measure out a half cup per patty, and poor slowly into a generous amount of hot canola oil, between 1/8″ and 1/4″ deep, in a fry pan over medium-high heat.  Immediately use a fork to pull the egg at the edges toward the center, so that the patty doesn’t spread too thin.  Cook perhaps 2 minutes, then carefully flip the patty over and cook the other side likewise, until the egg and ingredients are cooked in the center.  Remove patties and drain on paper towels.  I made 2 patties at a time, for a total of 4 patties.

Meanwhile, prepare a sauce or gravy in a separate pan;  combine a stock (1/2 cup, e.g., from water and chicken bouillon granules), brown sugar (1 t.), soy sauce (~1 T.) hoisin sauce (~1 T.).   Heat this mixture, stirring to dissolve ingredients, then add corn starch slurry; to thicken sauce, heat just to a boil while stirring then remove from heat.

I served each patty atop a bed of pea shoots, then topped it with sauce and scallion greens.

Leftovers?  No problem – make a St. Paul Sandwich!

Here are some recipes I consulted: