Friday Food Find: A Holiday Egg, Cheese, Potato & Essence of Truffle Breakfast Casserole

After that mouthful of descriptive words, I’m actually going to say this and own it, “I LOVE a good breakfast casserole!”

And isn’t it just a cat’s meow for a holiday season? Why? Because you can make, cook and freeze it well in advance. When you are ready for it just take it out of the freezer, thaw and bring it to room temperature. Finally, pop it back into the oven to warm through.

How fab is that?

This one came my way when I started researching and teaching tapas classes. It is a take on a traditional Spanish potato tapa which I found, many years ago, in a Penelope Casas cookbook, “Tapas: The little Dishes of Spain” It’s a keeper; especially for a super busy holiday season. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 eggs
2C heavy whipping cream
1Tbsp of white truffle Oil
1Tbsp of thyme leaves
Salt and Pepper
Cooking oil or spray
3C of frozen hash browns (see roasting process below)
1 C Cheddar cheese, shredded
½ C Mozzarella, shredded

Process

Preheat oven 350°.

In a medium bowl beat eggs, cream, truffle oil and herbs together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spray one 9”x13” Pyrex dish or cake pan with cooking oil. Evenly distribute roasted potatoes in dish or pan. Do the same with the cheese. Pour egg mixture over potatoes and cheese. Place in oven and bake for about 30 to 45 minutes or until egg mixture does not wiggle and is golden in color. Check every 10 minutes. Take out of oven when done and let set 5-10 minutes. Run a paring knife between the outside edge of the omelet and the inside edge of the dish or pan to loosen. Then slice into squares and serve immediately.

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

3C of waxy potatoes (red bliss or Yukon gold), diced in to ½” pieces (or frozen hashbrowns)
2tsp of kosher salt
1tsp of fresh ground pepper
2-3tsp of extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven 350°.

In a medium size bowl mix all ingredients together thoroughly so that the olive oil, salt and pepper coat the potatoes. Place oiled and seasoned potatoes on to a medium sheet pan. Distribute evenly over the pan surface. Place in the oven on the middle shelf. Roast until potatoes are gold and soft through. This will take up to 20 minutes. Check at 10 minute intervals. When roasted remove from the oven and let cool. Now they are ready for the omelet.

Note: You may use seasoned hashbrowns. If you do, cut back on the seasonings in the recipe.

Friday Food Find: Cranberry Sauce

It’s the Holiday’s…with a capital H!  OMG! In just a little over a week some of us are going to be sitting down to a table full of turkey and fixin’s.  It has only been as an adult have I come to like, enjoy and even crave one this holiday’s most precious accouterments: cranberry sauce.  Oh, the beet colored, jelly shaking, tin can indented blob of what some may call cranberry sauce still exists.  In fact it’s what I grew up with and most probably why I didn’t appreciate how wonderful it could really be.  You know, I’m not judging, I’m just saying, “There’s another way; and, it takes 3 ingredients (1 optional) and no cooking what-so-ever”.  I don’t imagine you can beat that.  Can you?  Here’s the recipe. Hopefully, this will be you most joyous holiday Friday Food Find evah! I know it’s been mine.

Ingredients

1 bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed & gently patted dry (does not have to be perfectly dry)
1 small to medium size, seedless orange, cut into 6 pieces (however you want to do it) leaving the skin on
up to 1Tbsp of sugar (I use raw)

Process

Place cranberries and orange pieces into a food processor.  Begin processing until all ingredients come together to form a pureed relish type consistency (see picture).  Taste.  If the mixture is too bitter add suger a little at a time (processing in-between & scraping down sides of processor) until the sweet level is perfect for you.  This may take more that a tablespoon.  The sweeter the orange the less sugar you will need or at all. 

Use a spatula to remove cranberry sauce from processor.  Place into a container you can seal tightly.  It will last up to 1 week.

Yields up to 10 small servings. 

Tuesday Tip: A Perfectly Roasted Tomato

Tomato season is so over here in Central Texas. But boy oh boy do I have a craving. And the truth is you can buy tomatoes at your grocer that are actually quite good - even out of season. Buying tomatoes out of season may be blasphemous to some of my colleagues. And I understand but sometimes you must satisfy that craving. So here’s how I do it.

This is actually a technique I’ve been teaching to students for years. The basic standard is, “If you buy out of season, in this case tomatoes,  you’ll get the best flavor by roasting them”.  And you get the best flavor by roasting because it brings out the sugars which in turn caramelize leaving you with a sweet harmony of flavor that’s irresistible.  Ready for a perfectly roasted tomato? 

Ingredients

5 medium Roma tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2C of dried or fresh basil (if using fresh tear gently into small pieces)
2Tbls of extra virgin olive oil
3tsp of salt (I use kosher)
1 1/2tsp of fresh ground pepper
Pre-heat oven 300F

Process

Clean tomatoes, pat dry, remove stem and slice lengthwise into 4 even pieces.

Take sliced tomatoes and place them on a parchment papered sheet pan. Be sure to use a pan that has a lip around each edge so that the tomato juices to not drip when cooking.

Drizzle olive oil over each tomato slice. Sprinkle basil, salt & pepper over all the tomato slices.  Make sure each tomato slice has a little bit of every ingredient.  Place tomatoes into pre-heated oven on the middle rack. 

Roast for up to 1.5 hours or until the tomatoes begin to carmelize (see the “browning” in the picture). 

Check your tomatoes every 15 minutes.  You can take them further than I did.  It’s really a preference.  Take the tomatoes out of the oven.  Let them cool.

Serve with any salad or by themselves.  At my house I can’t keep them around at all.  However, refrigerated they will keep well up to 1 week.

Enjoy this weeks Tuesday Tip: a perfectly roasted tomato!

Friday Food Find: Casa Pav's Garden Lettuce

Now this really says, “Fall”!

I’m super excited to share what’s going on in our garden here at the casa.  We have 2 raised beds full of winter lettuce and greens.  And they are growing at record speed.

Just the other night we harvested baby red leaf, arugula, chard, pak choi and just a little free growing purslane.  We had a beautiful salad for dinner. 

I can’t take much of the credit for how lovely our garden is growing…it’s mostly my husband Mike.  Planting, growing and tending the garden soothe him after a long day in the office. 

It looks like his tender lovin’ care is taking off in spades.  I’ll keep you posted on all the different recipes we’ll use to enjoy this garden of ours. 

Have a great weekend! And I’ll see you next week for “Lessons in Technique: tuesday tip - how to clean herbs”.

Our dinner lettuce & greens.

Friday Food Find: A (My) Perfect PB&J & Dad's Lunches

There’s no denying it.  I love a peanut butter and jelly sammich!  And if I’m going to indulge it better be pretty darn close to perfect. 

I’m not sure when my little  pb&j love affair began.  But it’s safe to say that it probably all started around the time when my Dad began making lunches for my sisters and me. 

While my Mom worked the daytime shift as an RN at the hospital, Dad was going to graduate school and taking care of us kids.  And did he have a lunchtime repertoire.  It went like this: 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich (grape jelly), cottage cheese and a 1/4 pickle.  Sometimes he’d shake it up a bit and we’d have fruit, cheese or even a fried egg sandwhich w/ mayo.  

Dad would bring our small plates of food out to the living room. And we’d have a picinic while watching “Let’s Make a Deal”.

Now that’s a food memory. 

So, today I find myself thinking about that memory all the while making one of my favorite sandwiches: a (well, my) perfect PB&J.  It’s all about perception and taste - right? And for me a craving of a delish flavor dynamic & texture that can’t be beat.  Here it is.

Ingredients

2 pieces of your favorite bread (I used a sprouted wheat bread. A nod to healthy eating.)
2Tbls of your favorite peanut butter (I use only Peter Pan)
1 1/2Tbls of jelly or jam ( I use only Smuckers Grape)

Process & Pictures

Place one of your two pieces of bread on a plate.  Slather your peanut butter side to side & edge to edge; like icing a cake.  On top of the peanut butter spoon jelly or jam in the center.  With a knife or small off-set spatula begin spreading the jelly as you did the peanut butter while gently bring the two ingredients slightly together.  Lick the knife or spatula of remaining pb&j, set aside and place second piece of bread over the first.  Align all sides.  Cut down the center for two even halves.  Eat immediately with abandon & joy! 

p.s. I’ve published this blog on Thursday because of the ACL Music Festival this weekend. Mike (hubby) are there all 3 days.  OMG!