Anyone familiar with this blog, knows that I love pickles. I think homemade pickles should be in every serious home cooks repertoire. You’ll be rewarded with tangy-sweet and crunchy snacks that are delightful and with far more variety than you will find in your typical supermarket.
This appealing recipe comes from Food & Wine magazine. Beautiful beets along with wedges of red onion and hard-boiled eggs are quickly “pickled” in a simple brine with whole peppercorns and fresh dill. The onion and eggs take on the bright color of the beets, making this a gorgeous salad. I adore eggs in any form and never having had one pickled, I had to try this recipe.
The pickles are ready to eat in 24 hours, after a brief soak in the brine. Serve them as a simple salad alone or with pretty greens, or scattered on a platter with chunks of feta cheese nudged between the beets and onions.
Scrub the beets and wrap in foil. Roast for 1 hour at 425°. I used my handy toaster oven. Peel and quarter the beets.
Place 4 eggs in a small pot, cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Set a timer and let the eggs gently simmer for 10 minutes. Drain immediately and rinse under cold water. Peel the eggs when you are ready to add them to the pickle brine.
Slice onion into small wedges (about 8).
In a saucepan, simmer the vinegar, water, garlic, sugar, peppercorns, mustard seeds if using, and salt. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes or so.
In a 1-quart glass jar (you might need a larger jar depending on the size of your beets) layer the beets, onion, hard-boiled eggs and dill springs. Cover with the pickling liquid. Refrigerate overnight.
***The longer the eggs are in the brine, the more color they will absorb from the beets. I prefer to keep part of the eggs white so I add the eggs to the brine no more than 24 hours before serving. You can make the pickles a few days in advance and add the eggs to the jar when you are ready. If you’ve eaten all the eggs and still have beets and onions, boil more and add to the brine!
I came across this simple and surprisingly delicious recipe in the February issue of Food and Wine magazine where each month one ingredient is featured in their clever article “Green Market Math.” The four recipes are accompanied by photos of the finished dish along with a short paragraph on how to prepare it. This particular recipe caught my attention because “hollandaise” evokes creamy, luscious, saucy, goodness and this version is dairy free, perfect for those of us who are lactose intolerant. Yet for those of you who have no such restriction, you’ll love this sauce as well.
The avocado and olive oil combination gives this sauce a creamy, rich, flavor and texture. It’s so good, we had this for breakfast two consecutive weekends. Stay away from watery avocados and choose creamy types such as the Green Gold we used here. Hass avocados are a good choice and readily available at most markets.
Making this sauce is very simple. All the ingredients go into one container and are blended up in a minute or two. Though the original recipes calls for using a blender, I prefer to use my immersion blender. The recipe makes a small serving and the immersion blender cup is just the right size and clean up is quick.
2 – 4 servings (depending on the size of your avocado)
Ingredients
1/2 ripe avocado, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup hot water
2 tablespoons mild flavored olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and a few grinds of black pepper
Preparation
In a blender or immersion blender cup, purée the avocado with the lemon juice and hot water until smooth. With the machine on, drizzle in the olive oil until combined. Season with salt and pepper and serve over poached eggs.
My favorite weekend breakfast is a poached or fried egg with a soft yolk served over toast or rice with a side of bacon and fresh fruit. When eating my egg on rice, I like a dash of soy sauce over the egg and rice. With toast, I sop up the yolk with the bread leaving nothing behind. I regularly visit the San Francisco Chronicle web site (SF Gate) in particular their food section. This terrific variation on a simple fried egg was described as a customer favorite brunch item at Foreign Cinema restaurant. I can certainly see why they are so popular. They are simply delicious!
The recipe calls for two eggs however I snuck in a third so John could have two eggs.
Picked from the garden and washed, peppery arugula goes well with the balsamic vinegar.
2 thick slices whole grain or sourdough bread, toasted and lightly buttered
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 small handfuls of arugula
Preparation
Add olive oil to an 8 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Once the oil is hot (not at the smoking point), crack open the eggs, one at a time, letting each egg set; cook for about 25 seconds, keeping the heat at medium.
As the eggs puff up, season with salt and pepper. Tilt the pan and baste the top of the yolks with the hot oil to help them cook. Cook to desired doneness.
Meanwhile place a piece of lightly buttered toast on each plate and top with a fried egg. Pour off and discard any excess oil. Wipe pan to remove any oily residue.
Put pan back over medium heat. Add the balsamic vinegar; let it sizzle for a moment or two, and drizzle over the eggs. Scatter arugula around the toast and serve immediately.
Smokey, crispy, salty. Those three words describe one of my favorite foods: bacon. Served for breakfast alongside poached or fried eggs, stacked on your favorite bread with a big slice of tomato or crumbled over your favorite mac & cheese recipe, it is divine. A few pieces of crumbled bacon will turn any salad into a scrumptious salad. I adapted this recipe found on Epicurious by making a few adjustments to the dressing as well as the salad ingredients. The 1/4 cup brown sugar made the dressing too sweet and the 1/2 onion was overpowering. Cutting back these two ingredients as well as adding less oil made a perfectly balanced dressing with a hint of sweetness and tartness from the red wine vinegar. The dressing is also very good served on iceberg lettuce wedges, with crumbled bacon, of course.
I found a very good applewood smoked bacon at Costco. It comes in a double packet each weighing 2 pounds. Four pounds is a lot of bacon, especially if you are only cooking for two, however, it’s just too good a deal to pass up. I wrap up portions and freeze them to use later.
Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth and emulsified. I use my immersion blender. It works well for small recipes and clean up is quick. Refrigerate dressing until you are ready to serve the salad.
Salad
8 ounces baby spinach, washed and dried
5 ounces white mushrooms, sliced very thin
thinly sliced Maui or sweet onion – as much as you like
Layer salad beginning with spinach followed by mushrooms, onions, bacon, eggs, sunflower seeds if using and almonds. Drizzle a generous amount of dressing over the salad and toss to coat well. Serve immediately.
Like so many others I am in love with Bibimbap. It really is the perfect meal. When heating a stone bowl directly on the stove top the rice on the bottom of the bowl gets crunchy and is utterly delectable. Along with the colorful vegetables layered over the rice and savory Korean style patties this is beautiful dish. And any meal with a fried egg is at the top of my list.
I had never eaten Bibimbap until a few months ago when I had lunch with a friend at a local restaurant here on Maui. We decided to share the Bibimbap and a lemon grass chicken sandwich. The sandwich was tasty, but the Bibimbap was a revelation! Once that stunning Bibimbap arrived at our table I think we both secretly wished we didn’t have to share it. I did not realize the rice on the bottom of the stone pot would be crispy. It really made the dish stand out. It was a real dilemma when we had to split the fried egg! We vowed that if we ever shared a serving of Bibimbap again, we would order it with two fried eggs. So as you can see above, I had to have my own Dolsot stone bowls so that I could make Bibimbap at home.
Colorful vegetables are quickly cooked and seasoned.
These marinated bean sprouts are delicious.
Heat your stone bowl on the stove top, add a bit of oil, swirl and add some rice. You’ll hear the rice sizzle as it hits the bowl. Pat the rice gently against the heated bowl. Let it go for a while then add more rice and your prepared vegetables and meat or tofu to warm up.
Lastly, fry an egg sunny side up and place on top of your heated Bibimbap. Serve with kimchi on the side. Most recipes call for gochuchang sauce but I love Sriracha so I used it instead.
In a medium saucepan (3 qt. works well) bring 6 – 7 cups of water to a boil. Add rinsed bean sprouts and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Place sprouts on paper towels or a kitchen towel and press out some of the water. In a medium bowl add bean sprouts, minced garlic, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, Korean chili flakes if using and roasted sesame seeds. Stir to combine. The sprouts can be made earlier in the day and stored in the refrigerator.
Remove the stems and wipe the mushrooms clean. Slice into thin strips and sauté in a bit of canola oil until the mushrooms become soft. Add the garlic, sauté for another minute and remove from the stove top. Stir in sesame oil and sesame seeds and season with salt.
Julienne the zucchini into long, thin strips using only the outer, colorful portion. Heat a bit of canola oil in a small skillet and cook for just a minute to slightly soften the strips. Stir in sesame seeds and season with salt.
In a small skillet blanch the spinach for 1 minute until wilted. Squeeze out the excess water and stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil and sesame seeds.
Julienne the carrot into long, thin strips. Briefly sauté with garlic and sesame oil. Season with salt.
The first time I used the bowl I soaked it in room temperature water for 5 minutes then placed it on the stove on medium heat to warm up. I slowly adjusted the heat higher (between medium and medium high) and once hot added about 1 teaspoon of canola oil and coated the bottom and lower sides of the bowl. (Please follow the heating instructions that come with your specific stone bowl).
Add enough rice to the heated bowl to cover the bottom of the bowl. Press gently with a spatula. You should hear the rice sizzle on the hot bowl. Cook the rice for about 5 minutes and check to see if the rice is crunchy by lifting up a portion with a spoon. The rice should have a light golden toasted color to it. Once this happens, add more rice and top with vegetables and Korean style patties if using. Placing the vegetables in alternating colors makes for a gorgeous rice dish.
Fry your egg sunny side up. Place on top of the heated Bibimbap and serve with kimchi and Sriracha.
***There are so many variations of this dish. You don’t need to stick with specific vegetables or meat and can easily adjust the recipe to your liking. Make it vegetarian by using tofu instead of meat.
Deviled eggs (aka eggs mimosa) are a perennial favorite. I never tire of them. Have you ever wondered about the origin of the name? The term “deviled” refers to a dish that has some kick or spiciness to it. Ingredients such as Dijon mustard and cayenne pepper are added to mayonnaise along with other savory ingredients and that is what makes the dish “deviled.” With so many variations there is no standard way to make them. Some recipes call for jalapeños, pickle relish, smoked salmon, and so on. My favorite topping is crispy pancetta. Truly delicious.
The conventional wisdom advises against buying the freshest eggs when you want to hard boil them because they are difficult to peel. Why in the world would I look for old eggs? I bought these beauties at Costco. They don’t have “old” eggs because people scoop them up so quickly they don’t have time to sit around on the shelves for very long. That being said, the “conventional wisdom” was correct: they were a bit tricky to peel. I lost a couple of whites but they didn’t go to waste and made a good snack while preparing the deviled eggs for my dinner party.
A foolproof way to hard boil eggs is to place them in a sauce pan, cover with water by an inch or two and bring to a boil (don’t walk away from the stove!). As soon as the water boils turn the heat down to medium and set your timer for 10 minutes. When done, drain sauce pan and run cold water over the boiled eggs. They will be perfectly cooked.
Sieved eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon, chives.
Thin cut pancetta.
Crispy pancetta.
Deviled Eggs with Crispy Pancetta
Ingredients
8 large eggs, boiled
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce pancetta finely diced and fried until crispy
Preparation
Peel eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Carefully remove yolks and mash in a bowl with a fork. Add mayonnaise and mustard and stir with fork until smooth, then season with salt and pepper. Fold in chives.
Pipe filling into egg whites with a pastry bag or use a Ziploc bag (just snip off a corner for a makeshift piping bag). Top deviled eggs with crispy pancetta and minced chives. You can prepare the deviled eggs in the morning, cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Anyone familiar with this blog, knows that I love pickles. I think homemade pickles should be in every serious home cooks repertoire. You’ll be rewarded with tangy-sweet and crunchy snacks that are delightful and with far more variety than you will find in your typical supermarket.
This appealing recipe comes from Food & Wine magazine. Beautiful beets along with wedges of red onion and hard-boiled eggs are quickly “pickled” in a simple brine with whole peppercorns and fresh dill. The onion and eggs take on the bright color of the beets, making this a gorgeous salad. I adore eggs in any form and never having had one pickled, I had to try this recipe.
The pickles are ready to eat in 24 hours, after a brief soak in the brine. Serve them as a simple salad alone or with pretty greens, or scattered on a platter with chunks of feta cheese nudged between the beets and onions.
