Rise and Shine...

In the course of our nearly two and a half years together, one thing has remained a constant - Sunday morning breakfasts are, and always have been, Justin's domain. Early in our relationship, I suspect Justin assumed this responsibility as a means of impressing me, but now that we've been living together for a year, I think it has more of a practical basis -- Justin always wakes up hungry and wants to eat right away, whereas I am content to grab some extra sleep while he toils in the kitchen, because my hunger instincts don't kick in until later. Still, I appreciate the extra time to lounge in bed, and I still love being waited on by the man that I love.

Luckily for me, I still get a say in what he makes. Sometimes I am in the mood for something classic, like pancakes, or sometimes I request one of my favorites, like the sweet potato and sausage hash we discovered together. This week, however, I had something different in mind, to hopefully further expand our breakfast repertoire. I had filed away a breakfast hash recipe some time ago that employed Brussels sprouts and bacon, and because we had leftover sprouts from my ill-fated salad experiment, and bacon lurking in the freezer inventory, now seemed like the perfect time.

I think Justin got a little annoyed with meticulously slicing the Brussels sprouts into thin ribbons for this dish, but in my mind, it was well worth the effort. Though Brussels sprouts may not be the first thing that come to mind when one conjures up a mental image of hash, or of breakfast in general, I really enjoyed this less heavy take on the dish. A hearty, stick-to-your ribs meal can be a great start to your day, but sometimes you want to eat a breakfast that won't make you want to go right back to bed, and this is it.

Bacon and eggs are a classic breakfast pairing, and bacon and Brussels sprouts are a match made in heaven, so really, what is there not to love about this meal? Whether you have someone making your breakfast and you can make a request, or you have to do all your own chopping and cooking, this recipe is definitely worth trying either way. If the idea of Brussels sprouts for breakfast is just too weird for you, then by all means, make this hash for dinner; it will be equally tasty no matter the time of day.

Brussels Sprout Hash

adapted from Cook Smarts

4 strips of bacon, chopped

12 Brussels sprouts, halved and thinly sliced

1/4 c. pecans, toasted

2-4 eggs

Heat a medium-sized non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add half the oil and then chopped bacon. Cook bacon for about 3 to 4 minutes until the edges start to crisp

Add Brussels sprouts and sauté for about another 2 to 3 minutes. Since the sprouts have been sliced so thinly, they will cook quite quickly. Add the nuts and toss through. Spoon your hash onto a serving plate, and return the pan over medium-high heat

Add a half tablespoon of oil to the pan and crack your eggs into pan. Once your eggs are cooked over-easy, slide it over your hash and sprinkle with desired amount of salt and pepper.

Wake and Bake...

Though I've been undertaking most of the cooking in our newly-minted household, there is one domain where Justin still reigns in the kitchen -- weekend breakfasts. This tradition goes back to the early days of our relationship, and I still think there are few things greater than sleeping in on a Sunday and getting to watch the man you love prepare a delicious meal for you while you kick back and relax. Today, I even got to play executive chef and pick out the recipe that Justin used to prepare us both breakfast.

I selected herbed-baked eggs, one of the most popular recipes by Food Network personality Ina Garten, whose recipes I more or less trust implicitly, though many of them need to be scaled back to feed a modest number of people. I've only made one recipe of hers that didn't turn out well, and I think that was more due to my error than hers (it was for potato leek soup, and I think I delved too far into the dark portion of the leeks when slicing them, because there were tough, fibrous bits in the otherwise well-flavored soup.) Plus, I have a soft-spot in my heart for Ina, because she could have been my mother's twin before my mom lost almost a hundred pounds. Watching her is kind of like learning to cook from my own mom, who is an excellent cook but has never enjoyed being in the kitchen.

Baked eggs had a particular appeal to me because Justin recently used the Crate and Barrel gift card he got at his Christmas office party to purchase a set of ramekins for me. It's a major bakeware item that I didn't already have (a rare thing in my well-stocked kitchen), and I knew there were whole categories of recipes that lay out of my reach until I acquired some. I've saved several recipes for pots de crème to my Pinterest board, and you can look forward to those going forward, but for now, I knew we could use our new dishes to make baked eggs and I wanted to put them to use as soon as possible.

This dish was very quick to put together, faster than anything involving potatoes, like a hash, though Justin didn't enjoy meticulously mincing herbs when he was starving. (I think he would have preferred a quick bowl of cereal this morning, but he acquiesced to my request because he is the greatest boyfriend ever.) We're still getting the hang of our broiler, which either seems to brown the surface of food while the rest of it goes raw, like this morning's eggs, or it never browns the surface at all, as with some garlic bread we made last month. We ended up having to finish the eggs in the microwave, which we overdid, leaving the eggs hard instead of soft and just-barely done, but the flavor of them was excellent.

Once we master our broiler, we'll definitely be trying these eggs again. It's always good to have more recipes in your brunch arsenal, and this was a delicious change of pace. Plus, now that we have those ramekins, we'll be sure to get our money's worth out of them!

Herbed-Baked Eggs

adapted from Ina Garten

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon butter

4 large eggs

Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat. 

Combine the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and Parmesan and set aside. Carefully crack 2 eggs into each of 2 small bowls or teacups (you won't be baking them in these) without breaking the yolks. (It's very important to have all the eggs ready to go before you start cooking.)

Place 2 individual ramekin dishes on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of cream and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in each dish and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each ramekin and sprinkle evenly with the herb mixture, then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes, until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked. (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly.) The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven. Allow to set for 60 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.

One Potato, Two Potato...

Generally speaking, I try to refrain from imposing my beliefs on others. Evangelism is not my style; in fact, it kind of drives me crazy. I feel that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, as long as they don’t force them on anyone else. Ever since a relative of mine locked me in a room and read the Bible to me in an effort to “save” me, I’ve been a proponent of the “live and let live” approach to life. I suppose I should be touched that said relative cared enough about my eternal soul to want to “help” me, but if a major religious conversion is in my future, I’d rather find Jesus when the time is right for me, not when someone else decides is convenient.

Nevertheless, I have seen the light about something in my life recently, and I want to share it with you. You see, I have recently discovered that I love sweet potatoes. All my life, I associated the vegetable with the sickly sweet marshmallow and canned yam dish served on Thanksgiving, and I wouldn’t let them creep onto my plate in any form. Then, earlier this year, the café at work snuck some sweet potato fries onto my plate in lieu of the normal variety, and I tried one for the hell of it. I was hooked.

I started ordering sweet potato fries any time I saw them on a menu, but I assumed that my love for them was rooted in the fact that they were fried. I mean, when does frying not make something tastier? I started getting curious, however, if I could make myself eat them in other forms. After all, they’re perennially listed as a superfood, and touted for their nutritional superiority. Given that I don’t really like vegetables in general, it would be nice to find something healthy that I actually like to eat.

By then, it was fall, and a spate of sweet potato recipes were popping up all over the cooking blogosphere. I filed some away on Pinterest, but it wasn’t until I found some Italian sausage languishing in the freezer (I’m trying, seemingly in vain, to reduce its contents in preparation for our move), that I decided to actually give one a try. I was very glad I did.

The recipe was for a sweet potato and sausage hash, and Justin and I made it for a weekend breakfast a few weeks ago before heading over to our new place to work for the day. The complex carbohydrates in the sweet potatoes kept us full much of the day and fortified us for a day of manual labor. More importantly, however, it tasted amazing. The sweetness of the vegetables paired perfectly with the salt and spiciness of the sausage. Basil added a fresh herbal note. With a breath of relief that I could get myself to eat non-fried sweet potatoes and still love them, I vowed to make it again soon.

Tonight, I did just that. I had a couple sweet potatoes left over from the previous batch, and some Italian sausage from last week’s lasagna soup, and both items needed to go. I topped the hash with a fried egg, and it was the perfect breakfast-for-dinner. Seriously, even if you think you don’t like sweet potatoes, this might be the dish to win you over. Just make it.

Sweet Potato and Sausage Hash

adapted from Improv Kitchen

4 c. sweet potatoes (from about 4 sweet potatoes), diced

3 links spicy Italian sausage, casings removed

1/2 onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

8 basil leaves, chiffonaded

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450.

1. Drizzle the diced sweet potatoes with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven approximately 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, while you complete the remainder of the recipe.

2. Cook sausage and garlic powder over medium-high heat in a large saute pan until browned. Add onions and a pinch of salt, and cook until softened. Add the minced garlic and cook one minute more. Remove the sweet potatoes from the oven, add to the saute pan, and cook two more minutes. Toss in the chiffonaded basil just before serving. Top with a fried egg if desired.

Eggstra, Eggstra...

I must confess, my desire to dye Easter eggs this year was not entirely rooted in childhood nostalgia for the craft project, but also in a surprisingly nostalgic longing for the dish that always came after the eggs were dyed -- egg and olive salad. They say that as you get older, you begin to understand the wisdom of your elders, and in this case at least it's true. Egg and olive salad (a concoction that has no recipe but is just as it sounds: sliced hard-boiled eggs, sliced Spanish olives with pimento, Miracle Whip, and a sprinkle of sugar) is a seemingly unorthodox combination of flavors that somehow just works.


I used to love its unique combination of sweet, salty, and tangy flavors as a child, but the older I got, the more I found myself mortified by its presence in my lunch. My friends would make fun of me for the way it smelled and what they deemed the "gross" combination of ingredients. Eventually, I begged her to stop sending it in my lunch. As far as I can remember, she stopped making it all together as long as I was still living under her roof.

Now that I'm older and less prone to the whims of peer pressure, I've found myself thinking back fondly to the memories of that childhood egg and olive salad, particularly the multicolored batches that resulted from freshly-dyed Easter eggs. Hence, after spending all that time on Saturday decorating eggs, their beauty was not long for this world. Even without a recipe, and never having made it before, the egg and olive salad was just as I remembered it, and just as delicious. Funny thing, nostalgia...

I Say Potato, You Say Frittata...

Continuing in our weekend of spending time together in the kitchen, Justin and I took on the "white whale" of my cooking career -- the frittata. A frittata is an egg dish, similar to a crustless quiche or a very thick omelet, that is served sliced into wedges. I've enjoyed eating them ever since we made a baked version (that I have long since lost the recipe for) in home economics class in middle school, but so far in my life, successful preparation of this dish has remained elusive.

My most notable frittata failure dates back to my senior year of college. I was attempting to make a tortilla española (basically, a frittata with fried potatoes and onion), the night before I was scheduled to take the GRE. Leery of trying to flip the frittata and cook it completely on the stove, I opted for the alternative method of starting it on the stove and finishing in the oven. Distracted with stress over the exam, I failed to make the connection that the handle of the pan would be hot (having just come out of the oven), because it was sitting on the stove (where pan handles remain cool to the touch). I picked up the pan by the handle, and burned the shit out of the palm of my hand, causing me to cancel my exam the next day.

Subsequent attempts, though free of physical harm, were uniformly lacking in the deliciousness department. I was so fearful of flipping the frittata and making a mess, that I tried several different techniques to avoid it, none of which yielded a palatable entree.

Despite my lack of success, I was unwilling to give up. When I was hunting for new dishes to try, I was drawn to two separate frittata recipes. One, which I made last week, featured corn, green onions, potatoes, and mozzarella cheese. Although I wasn't crazy about the flavor combination (the corn was too sweet and it overwhelmed the other components), the recipe was a success in that it helped me overcome my fear of flipping. I still made a huge mess trying to do it for the first time, but it was the most well-browned, properly cooked frittata I'd ever produced, even if it was still a bit aesthetically lacking.

Hence, this week, I was willing to try again. This time, I picked a recipe that called for potatoes, onions, and dark leafy greens, all things that Justin enjoys. The original recipe called for kale, but Justin and I were unable to locate any in the produce department at the grocery store, so we went with fresh spinach as a substitute. Graceful as ever, I managed to burn myself with a spatter of cooking oil as I slid the onions and potatoes into the skillet, so Justin did the lion's share of the cooking, whereas I stepped in only to flip the frittata. In spite of my injury, the practice had really helped, and I flipped the frittata without incident, producing the most attractive one to ever grace my stove.

It was also quite tasty, and the cold leftovers made a tasty addition to my lunch in the following days. We had it for breakfast, but it would also make a lovely lunch or light dinner, paired with a salad. Go ahead and give it a try -- the flipping isn't nearly as scary as I had believed for so many years, and with a little practice, you'll be producing perfect frittatas of your own.


Potato and Kale Frittata
adapted from Serious Eats

4 tablespoons olive oil
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch dice
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 c. kale, chopped (we substituted fresh spinach)
6 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pour the olive oil into a large cast-iron skillet set over medium heat. Add the onions and potatoes. Cook, stirring carefully and occasionally, until the onions brown and the potatoes are tender. This should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Toss in the kale and cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper.
2. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk together. Pour the eggs into the skillet. Smooth mixture out with a spatula. Cook for about six minutes, until the edges are cooked but the middle is still runny.
3. Slide the half-cooked frittata out of the pan onto a plate. Carefully place the skillet upside down over the frittata, and quickly flip the entire thing, so that the runny side of the frittata is against the bottom of the pan. Cook 5-6 minutes more until well browned.
4. Slide the frittata onto a clean plate, and cut into six wedges for serving.