Holiday Breakfast Endeavours: Variations of French Toast

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend (for those of you who had it). The mornings were nice as the sun was coming up and to have the opportunity to make some breakfast, go out on the balcony, and relax.

First attempt: The first attempt at french toast i went with a caramelized pear combination which I then added crished macadamis nuts too. It was quite tasty and had the flavors reminiscent of a monkey-bread. It was also topped with blueberries.

Second attempt: The second day, I went with more of an apple-berry flavor combination. I diced up apples into small pieces, put into a small saucepan, and then i added blackberry port. This was then thickened with a little corn starch to make more of a syrup as it was heating it.

Both came with the side of homemade bacon which can be seen here.

Enjoy.

Weekend Breakfast: A Simple Omelet

The one thing I am starting to like more and more about the weekends (especially with the weather getting warmer) is just having the time to sit back, relax, and enjoy breakfast. During the week and working in the lab, I do go in a little on the early side- though I like the tradeoff as I get out early to enjoy the afternoon and evening hours, but in turn I miss being able to sit and enjoy a good breakfast.

It has been a while since I just made a breakfast with eggs being the main ingredient (there has been a lot of pancakes, french toast, etc. lately) so we went with omelets this past weekend.

My Simple Omelet (fed 2 of us with some leftovers for a 1 person quick breakfast):

6 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup diced up spinach leaves

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup grated Cheddar (I used an aged sharp cheddar)

I took all these ingredients, mixed in a large glass bowl and put on the side for the time being (as they only take a few short minutes to cook).

Bacon is bacon- no real special way of cooking, just in  a pan and cook to desired liking (I’m a crispy guy and the wife prefers it a little fatty).

Ahh, apricots (now in season). So I used my paring knife, cut the fruit circular around the pit and popped off the two halves. In the small “crater” I put in a small but of butter and sprinkled a little brown sugar. These were then put on the baking sheet and put in the oven at 385 for about 20-25 minutes.

When those were close to the end, just poured the omelet mixture into a pan and cook til done. I then placed this over some bok choy I sauteed after the bacon.

Enjoy.

What I’ll be looking forward to tomorrow…Weekend Breakfast

 

Well with the weekend almost here, I can almost taste what awesome breakfast I can cook and enjoy out on the balcony. This one here is last weeks French Toast with a fresh mixed berry sauce and a side of bacon. Thinking of doing some type of omelette for this week. hmm….

Springtime Breakfast

It’s that time of year again…Springtime.

Now that is warm and sunny in the earlier part of the morning, the weekends when we don’t have to hustle and bustle we can take some time and just relax.

This past weekend that included making some homemade banana-almond-chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon.

Can’t forget the caramel cappuccino for me and the hot chocolate for the wife.

 

Apple Macadamia Pancakes

After the past week of seeing numerous posts about pancakes, I figured with some free time on the weekend I’d have to get in on the action. With what I had lying around the kitchen I came up with some Apple Macadamia pancakes (topped with some powdered sugar).

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1 cup all  purpose flour

1/2 cup all wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoon sugar

1 apple, peeled and diced

1/3 cup macadamia, small pieces (I used mortar and pestle)

2 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon all spice

In a small bowl i threw in the diced apple, macadamia nuts, honey, cinnamon, and allspice and mixed well.

In a separate bowl I started by pouring in the milk. I then added in both flours and mixed lightly. I then proceeded to add in the sugar, baking powder, and olive oil, and mixed thoroughly. To finish off the batter I added in the apple-macadamia combination, mixed thoroughly and let sit for a few minutes.

While it was resting, I turned on 2 burners (my griddle covers one side of the range) and added some butter. Once heated, I then poured in some batter (just over a third of a cup per pancake) let cook slightly until bottom was solid and flipped to cook the other side. Upon completion I threw on some powdered sugar.

Enjoy.

 

Brunch for Dinner

After the way the past few days have gone (Time with friends down in Atlantic City with it being restaurant week) by the time tonight came around I was in no mood for another big and heavy meal. So instead, I kept it simple with more of a brunch theme behind it: “Eggs in a basket” with some shaved smoked gouda, sauteed asparagus, and some bacon.

Simple enough, Eggs in a basket is really just eggs put inside a hole in toast. In most cases I’ve encountered, it is typically fried toast (somewhat like making grilled cheese) however I did more of a baked version instead of frying. I took two slices of toast and cut round circles in them and stacked them. I then cracked two eggs, placed inside and put the dish in the oven.

While that was cooking I started to cook the bacon. Halfway through, I added in some asparagus spears and some cracked pepper.

A minute or two before the eggs were cooked to my liking (I did not want the yolks to be too coked- slightly runny) I tossed the shaved smoked gouda on top to let it melt. I then took out of the oven, threw on the asparagus and added the side of bacon.

Enjoy.

Weekend Mornings…A Time to Relax and Make Some Good Breakfast

After working all week, it is nice waking up knowing you can just lounge around for a bit and relax. Another nice perk is having that little bit of extra time and creating a nice meal to start off the day.

I went with a bit of a change on a classic dish. I started off by dicing up 1 and a half Granny Smith apples, tossed them in a saucepan with some butter and some spices and heated them until they became soft and more of a sauce type texture. I then turned the heat off and added in the ricotta and mixed well and let sit to cool and gain some structure.

I then made my french toast on the stove top but did not cook fully as you would under normal conditions. I then put 1 layer of slices in a sheet tray scooped on some of the filling and placed another piece of toast on top. I then baked in the oven at 375 for about 10-15 minutes.

I then plated the french toast and topped with a cinnamon-powdered sugar mixture and placed some black berries on the side.

Enjoy.

A quick post…some Pain au Chocolat

The weekend is upon us and I hope everyone has a wonderful one- whether you are out and about or staying in, relaxing, and taking some time to recharge. Just wanted to share some pain au chocolat I had made not too long ago and soon to be making some more again.

A Variety of Breakfast Options

This post will encompass some various breakfast items I have done over the past few months. Some are simplistic and flavorful and others require a little more work (are well worth it).

The first one is my attempt at the croissant. I am sure there are plenty of simplistic and easy versions of making such a breakfast pastry, however from previous experiences in NYC I had to go right to the source and used the recipe from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.

Not having a strong baking background I am unsure as to some of the timing aspects, i.e. having to do “turns” every so often, but it is rather awesome when you roll them out put em in the oven and that first bite- crisp, flaky, all the layers that were created. In this particular instance however, I went all out like the version I had in the city and made a nice almond cream filling and added some jam. I then topped with some honey and almond pieces and then baked in the oven.

This next breakfast is somewhat more common to make on a nice morning. Combination of an omelet- in this case I kept it simple with shallot, bacon, and cheddar along with a nice roasted pear (brown sugar and a berry brandy) comes together as a quick yet flavorful meal.

A nice fulfilling meal doesn’t get too much easier than this. A nice toasted bagel, topped with a poached egg and some sauteed Chanterelles.

Enjoy.

Been moving…Here’s some food

To everyone who follows my blog I would like to thank you and to apologize for a short period away. I was in the moving process earlier in the month which took a fair amount of time and effort and am now settled in between the forests and farms in Southern New Jersey. With a nice large and updated kitchen I can now get back to one of my favorite hobbies.

This past weekend, I had a few friends come down and stay for the weekend- sort of a house/ apartment warming type of deal and to just hang out. Along the way a few of the things I had made over the weekend were as follows (nice fall themed):

This was the main dish. I had made roasted pheasant in my 5 quart Le Creuset. I had done them in a combination of apple cider, shallots, fennel, tarragon, salt, pepper and topped with thinly sliced apple. I had also roasted potatoes in a variety of spices and truffle infused oil and sauteed green beans with citrusy accents.

A nice simple Apple tart with fresh blackberries and a nice pairing with a berry-brandy (one of my dad’s friends makes various brandys and spirits). The other dessert I had created went rather quickly and thus no pictures. But they were over-sized macarons (red) filled with a chocolate Chantilly-style cream and fresh strawberry slices.

Need to have breakfast the next morning. Made up some homemade French toast with the main flavorings coming from vanilla, brown sugar, and cardamom. I then topped it off with a fresh berry-honey sauce (pictured) as well as a pear-caramel sauce). Also topped off with some powdered sugar.

Enjoy