Endless Simmer - A Food Blog

Like I said in my first Passover post, I wouldn’t be getting any timely recipes to you. And as the holiday ended yesterday I’m just getting you a little something.

Now I have to say, this wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever eaten. But the below video will surely excite you.

The fairly common Matzah Brie (fried matzah) is like our answer to french toast. The matzah is torn in to pieces, soaked in water to soften, then the water is drained out as much as possible. Next, mix the matzah with eggs and milk. A lot of people make this sweet like french toast and add cinnamon and nutmeg and once fried, cover in *kosher for Passover* syrup. But I like my breakfast on the savory side: I seasoned it with salt and freshly ground black pepper and when it was fried, I topped it with cream cheese, raw onion and lox. I based it on this recipe.

The tricky part though, is flipping this creation so the top side is equally cooked and browned.

Check out DAD GANSIE as he flips the shit out of our matzah brie. This is best watched with volume.

Camera Works: gansie

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Editors Note: By now, you may have noticed the comments by the former *lurker* miked. It took him a while to come around to the whole blogging thing, even though his woman, Edouble, is an ES contributer. So while miked will talk to me about recipes and now gChat about recipes, maybe one day we can get him on the blogging tip. You can spy on our virtual convo about omelets below. And, Maidelitala, don’t be mad miked stole your omelet thunder.

miked: have you every had a fluffy omelet?
i just made one and Maidelitala made them yesterday morning. i told her she should do a post.
1) separate yolks and whites
2) whip up whites till they get sort of fluffy/bubbly
3) pour fluffy whites into pan
4) pour yolks (if you like them) on top of fluffy whites.
5) put other omelet stuff there
gansie: yum! interesting…i never get that complicated w/ my omelets
miked: it doesn’t really take much longer—as long as you have the yolk-separating skills—you just do it while veggies, etc. are sautéeing.
gansie: and then for the omelet part
do you flip it to cook the other side or just put the filling in the runny-ish center?

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Why are eggs only offered as breakfast? Do you know how many times I’ve been hung over at work and walked to about six different “cafeteria” type places asking if they could make me a fried egg and cheese sandwich for lunch?!?! (For the record, Au Bon Pain will serve a fake egg sandwich during lunch time).

I just don’t get it. Eggs are delicious. Eggs are nutritious. Eggs are malicious. Fine, they’re not malicious, but I have this weird thing that I have to write in threes so that was the first word that came to mind that rhymed.

Anyway, the reason this nomination came up was that I worked from home today. And besides the embarrassment of watching TRL for a half sec and seeing Heidi Montag or whatever try to freestyle while Nelly provided background beats, I loved emailing in bed. But of course my favorite part of working from home is that I get to cook my own lunch. Now sure, most days of the week I bring in something that I had previously cooked, but it’s not the same. I love leftovers. But it’s not the same.

So although the above isn’t some culinary masterpiece, I was thrilled to eat some homemade eggs for my noon meal. I got to think about what I was craving (always eggs) and make it on the spot. Not just the usual of having to psych myself up for whatever leftovers are sitting in the fridge.

I therefore officially nominate eggs to be a required dish for lunch or, alternatively, to import breakfast-all-the-time Jersey diners to every corner in every city in every country.

Egg Scramble Pita Pocket

Place whole wheat pita in a 200 degree oven to warm through. Sautee mushrooms in some extra virgin, then add diced roasted red peppers and keep on low heat until sufficiently hot. On a plate, crumble feta cheese. Push the mushrooms and peppers to one side and crank up the heat. Add butter to the empty side and crack two eggs. Scramble just the eggs and when 75% done incorporate the veggies and then crumble on the cheese and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pull the pita out of the oven and cut down the middle, creating pockets. Pry open the pita and pour in the scramble. If you’re me, take pictures before eating.

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Dear DC Tonic Brunch,

I love your neighborhood bar and restaurant at night, but for brunch, you have failed me miserably!

So Beware Tonic Brunch upstairs, you have officially pissed off Liza.

.

You didn’t even provide the BASIC necessities of any establishment. NO WATER! We had to ask five, YES FIVE times to get a cup of water. NO SILVERWARE! Oh, you were out of knives and spoons… well I had to work REALLY hard at cutting my food and I refuse to do any kind of work at all during brunch. NOT COOL. NO COFFEE REFILL! This is a MUST at brunch, and beyond unacceptable. WTF! Your food- if I wanted a bowl of butter I would have asked for that, but no, I ordered GRITS! And your new tortilla buenas… you might as well have given me scrambled eggs with a side of tortilla’s because that’s essentially what this was - no chile flavor at all like you claimed.

You know, I had given you a second chance, even when everyone had already claimed you were not up to par, and what did you do, you basically spit in my face. And in the MORNING! You can’t treat people like that in the morning. Brunch is the one thing I look forward to EVERY weekend, and you ruined one of my favorite experiences. I could not WAIT to get out of your restaurant.

So Tonic Brunch upstairs, you should really just stick to your tater tots, and leave the brunch to someone else, because you did NOT cure what “ails” me, you created an ailment that I was bitter about all day!

Your former loyal customer,

Liza

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A few months back, we had a lively discussion on ES about the importance of freezing bread. Here’s an instructional excerpt from Tim:

…thin bread from the freezer is so easy to butter before you toast, broil, or fry it. Mmm.
Bread in the fridge, however, will keep longer but will affect the quality and texture and will taste stale. Help educate your friends to stop bread refrigeration.

I’ve been trying to follow this advice. However, I still think there’s nothing better than fresh bread - bagels, baguettes, whatever - fresh beats frozen by a mile. So now when I buy any kind of bread, I try to make an exact calculation of how long it will last and keep just the right amount unfrozen. For example, I’ll buy a loaf of bread, keep six slices in the breadbox for the next three or four days and freeze the rest immediately. (The breadbox is metaphorical, I don’t really have one, who does anymore?)

In general, this works out well, but with this crazy modern life you never do know what’s gonna pop up at the last minute, and from time to time I estimate incorrectly and end up with that one rock hard stale bagel or slice of bread that I really should have just frozen in the first place.

My point is, life is pretty difficult these days. But my better point is, ya gotta have some recipes for stale bread.

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I’m not sure exactly what makes this happen, but there is something about history’s great inspirational, controversial figures that causes them show up in some yokel’s milkshake, tortilla or toast.

I have previously expressed my love for the Notorious BHO, and have even enjoyed his namesake beer and ice cream products on occasion. I have not, however, started seeing his handsome mug in my breakfast foods.

This Southern California man has, and he details a pretty fantastic (and by fantastic I mean, made up) story about how the Hillary Clinton campaign appeared at his door in an effort to silence the great toast apparition of 2008:

Yesterday morning my wife asked me if I wanted toast for breakfast. I said “sure.”

Now I wish that I had never said that…

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It’s early March, which can only mean two things: it’s either time for the second annual spring training trip or it’s time to begin over-hyping the Washington Redskins. Last year, myself and two of my “we-finally-got-rid-of-abreu-lieberthal-bell-and-wade-so-we-can-root-for-the-phillies-again” friends decided to start an annual trip down to spring training in Clearwater, Florida.

While our 2007 focus was mostly on beer and hot dogs and a Howard Johnson hotel near the stadium, we expanded our horizons in 2008. Staying in Ybor City allowed us to not just enjoy the nightlife, but also the fine Tampa cuisine.

Below is a day-by-day eating recap. (Note: since the average ES reader is likely unaware of the Phillies AA team, we do not recap the baseball games here. I will say this, however, Greg Golson is faaaaast.)

Weds:
Breakfast – the tray table on the airplane where I was faceplanted until 6 in the morning on my red-eye from Salt Lake City.

Lunch – Baseball game…..the usual…..hot dogs and plenty of beer

Dinner – Fried Calamari: have you ever noticed that all non-cocktail, calamari sauce is always a little bit different. I wish it were a little more consistent. This batch was fried, but a little soft. I like my calamari like I like my NFL free agents: crispy and hard to stop talking about. The Lava Burger – I could try to describe this, but there is no better description than what is on the Green Iguana’s Bar and Grill Menu – Caution! Contents extremely explosive – a Caribbean – spiced grilled burger with the Lizard’s Lava BBQ sauce and tobacco onions.

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I hate milk. Straight milk, that is. Sure, I take it in my coffee and in milk shakes (which should really just be called ice cream shakes) and when I was a kid I used to drink chocolate milk. But straight milk makes me nauseated. And I can never do the smell test when the milk is bad because every time I smell it, even if it’s a new jug, I think it smells like throw-up. So I’m saying that to say - I have to sneak milk into my diet by using other methods. Hence the delicious drink I will shortly describe.

For some reason (fine, when do I ever not talk about food) I was telling Elizabeth, my old house mate’s new house mate, about my banana and PB sandwich and how I wish I knew other ways to use up post-ripe bananas. She then told me about this nutritious and tasty drink starring a ripe, but frozen, banana. It’s a really simple - throw everything in the blender - type of drink. Her version is much simpler, and much healthier. But I’ll give you mine first. You know, because god-forbid I ever follow a recipe exactly the way it’s supposed to be.

I did measure, though.

Banana-Chocolate Smoothie

To start, when a banana starts to over ripen, slice it into rounds, put it in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer.

In a blender: 1 frozen, sliced banana, 1 cup skim milk, 1 tablespoon hot chocolate mix (sans marshmallows), 2 tablespoons light chocolate syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon honey. Blend until smooth.

Elizabeth’s recipe included the banana, skim milk, vanilla extract and cocoa powder (I tried to find it at my local market, but I don’t think they had it.) It’s not supposed to be a sweet drink, but I wanted more chocolate taste and I wanted to add the the thickness that honey brings to the party.

Photos: 80P

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(in case you’re wondering what design is hiding underneath the sandwich)

It’s rare that I keep bread in the house. Not that I have anything against carbs or whatever, I just normally don’t make sandwiches. I’ll either throw something over a salad, in a pita or under eggs. And toast, please - we all know I take my grains in the form of begals.

On a whim I convinced 80 to pick up some turkey deli meat on his trip to Whole Foods. (And bread, for turkey sandwiches.) Clearly I should have known that WF doesn’t just sell regular, plain old sliced turkey. No, 80 had to buy 10 dollars worth of real smoked turkey breast that we had to slice ourselves. (It was delicious, look for details on my kick-ass turkey sandwich in a later post.)

But now to the sandwich at hand. It’s a really simple egg sandwich enhanced with some fridge staples. Recipe and *bonus* trick post jump.

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