Breakfast - - Page 23

by BS

Hott Link: Red Fever

Just some quick breakfast porn for ya’ll. This recipe caught my eye since C. Christy was wondering a couple weeks back ’bout whether putting red velvet in cupcakes was flagrantly un-kosher (is there a southern equivalent for kosher?)

Anyway, I’m gonna say it’s definitely A-OK, because southern food guru Doug DuCap of Hugging the Coast is putting it all up in his pancakes! I know it’s food coloring, but still, that’s a damn pretty plate. Is it the weekend yet? I’m ready for brunch.

Red Velvet Pancakes with Brandied Cherry Butter [Hugging the Coast]

by gansie

Just Me and My Kadhai

**Girlfriend Guilt Trip Alert**

80P just finished his first year of grad school and, like a good girlfriend, I planned to take him out to celebrate. Well, Monday night in the District was cold and rainy so I found inspiration from my kitchen for our meal. While I was at my sister’s college graduation this weekend I persuaded 80 to leave the apartment for the first time in 72 hours (papers, papers, papers) to pick me up some asparagus and arugula from the opening weekend of the Mt. Pleasant farmers’ market.

I imagined a luscious spring dinner of risotto piled high on stalks of asparagus. Mine would be topped with a poached egg; 80P would get bacon strips. But, alas, the twenty two year olds texted.

80 goes to school with some straight-from-college dudes and they were down for some serious Adams Morgan (re: shit show, for out of towners) boozing. So he left before I even finished formulating (thought of subbing havarti for parm) my meal.

So there I was with my friends: asparagus, butter, garlic, egg. And you know what, I managed just fine without 80. Thanks, in part, to my Kadhai.

by gansie

Ramping Up for a Season of Gush

Picture me with my arms stretched out, my fingers in jazz-hands positioning, and gushing about lily pad perfect bibb lettuce, three feet tall scallion stalks and a fresh loaf of spelt bread. It’s farmers’ market season, boys, girls and those who identify otherwise.

It’s ON.

It’s so on that I actually openly gush to the vendors. When I’m stammering half out loud, half to my market friend westcoast and, and well, if there three halves, half in my head, about how I’m just so very excited to be outside, browsing fresh produce and even fresher mozzarella cheese. How is it possible that the creamy white pillows resting in water can be called the same name as the shredded, plastic bag dwelling yellow cheese? Tell me, because fucks if I know. Or the cheese producer that I asked as I closed my eyes and let his version of motz float down my throat.

My first visit to the Silver Spring market yielded my first go at ramps. They are part of the onion family, look more like scallions than regular onions, but are tiny and leafy and expensive. Of course westcoast and I bought three bundles. After the market he came over and we scrambled together sauteed ramps in my newly purchased European-style butter, and scrambled in farm fresh eggs and feta. And I think chives too. I don’t know. After my high from the market my hangover took over and the details of the cooking are sketchy.

But I still had a bundle of ramps left a week later, and with wilting on its way, I had to act quick…

in Breakfast / Eggs / Fish / Recipe / Veggie 17 comments

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– ES-ers agree — Lard is ripe for a comeback. Will: Always been a fan of all things pork and that includes lard, which can be thinned with vegetable fat but never entirely replaced by it. As a biochemist I’ve always been amused by friends that will happily use a pound of butter, but are abhorred with the knowledge that my ultra flaky pie dough does in fact have a little pig in it. Laura: I have recipes that require lard just sitting around, waiting for the day when I can actually find it at the store. I’ve tried using Crisco as a substitute, and it sucks. So just waiting for lard to become “hot” again…I say “to lard.” There is no substitute.

-But the cereal war has divided ES-ers along fierce partisan lines. Nick speaks for the haters: I actually haven’t eaten cereal in years. I find it gross and way overpriced. Give me oatmeal, yogurt, or just fruit please. The only reason people like it is because they had it stuffed down their face hole for their entire lives. Jeb disagrees: Hating cereal is like hating dogs…it’s just wrong. And Alex L lays it down: So, my sister and I were born here in America, and grew up eating lots of cereal and drinking obscene amounts of milk. My father (an immigrant) commented that, along with most American kids, my sister and I smelled a little funny–that, because of our high-dairy diets, there was an ever-present and very faint odor of sour milk about our persons. A psychoanalyst would probably say this is the moment where I started becoming lactose intolerant.

-Finally, Samhill defends Top Chef’s latest British judge: To be fair, Jay Raynor is one of this country’s most respected food critics. He isn’t some Simon Cowell/Piers Morgan self congratulating idiot. I hope you’re going to be pleasantly surprised. But gansie has a better idea: I’m thinking posh spice would be perfect for a tv food judge spot.

(Photo: Joshzam)

in Breakfast / Celebs / Pig / TV 0 comments

by BS

100 Ways to Crack an Egg

According to legend (a.k.a. wikipedia), the folds in a chef’s hat used to represent the number of ways s/he knew how to cook an egg, with the vaunted 100-fold hat reserved for the heads of only the most knowledgeable culinary experts. But are there really 100 ways to prepare eggs? ES set out on an exploration across the food blogosphere to find out, and our answer is a decidedly delicious “yes.”

We’re reporting back and presenting our 100 favorite ways to cook an egg. If you’ve ever looked in the fridge and said, “I’ve got tons of eggs, but no idea what to cook with them,” well, you have no excuse to ever do that again. Just come right back here. Or better yet, print this out and hang it in your kitchen.

Presenting the comprehensive Endless Simmer guide to 100 ways to cook an egg:

in 100 Ways / Bacon / Breakfast / Eggs / Lists / Recipe / Sandwich 138 comments

by gansie

I Will Poop On Cereal

I hate milk. Milk creeps me out. It always tastes sour. Even if it’s fresh. It always permeates an odor of funk. It’s white and watery, yet somehow coats your mouth so that your tongue must thrust its roof, repeatedly, to remove the taste.

Chocolate milk, however, is bearable. But only with equal portions milk and syrup and only if my mom makes it.

And you constantly have to smell it. It’s so high maintenance. So demanding of your time. So not worth your time.

There are other, more loving ways, to get calcium. Blend a smoothie of yogurt and bananas. Let your lips around toasted, buttered bread and melted cheddar cheese. Even spinach and broccoli will do.

How does an ad campaign featuring glue on celebrities’ upper lips attract users?

And then there are those sugary grains. Sugary grains dumped in a bowl of udder excrement. Would you eat something resembling my friend’s son’s spit up?

What is cereal? Lumps of granola? Lumps of wheat? Lumps of purple U-shaped marshmallows? What are those weird, dried, colorful, fruit-like things? It can’t actually be fruit. Fruit is alive. Fruit ripens and then dies. Cereal lives forever in plastic and on deserted grocery store shelves.

The free toys cannot be worth the price of admission.

in Breakfast / Drinks / Rants & Raves 30 comments

by gansie

If Life Gives You Matzoh

I’m finally back in DC where the grains are flowing like Cadbury creme eggs.

Holy crap do I love those chocolate ovals of joy. But I didn’t learn to love until college. My roommate, “Rooms” on ES, introduced me to them and every year I eagerly await this gooey, messy and totally fulfilling treat. I’m actually not well versed on Easter goodies because Easter always falls during the 8-day-long holiday (Jesus’ last supper was a sedar. So sad to know that good ole JC’s last tastes were of the dry, bland matzoh. Okay, I’ll bite. I’ll answer the ageless question shared between food lovers: I’d take a steak frites with a fried egg on top for my last meal. Maybe a side of avocado? I’m still working it out. Thoughts?)

But amongst my bashing of all things Passover, I actually was quite pleased with a lunch treat I made for DAD GANSIE and myself. Maztoh brei is a fairly popular Passover meal: softened matzoh and eggs scrambled together. I used to eat it as a kid with tons of Aunt Jemima syrup. I know, it’s total fake crap. But you know what, and don’t make fun of me, I still like it better than *real* mayple syrup; it just tastes too maypley for me.

Last year DAD GANSIE and I made a savory version filled with cream cheese and smoked salmon. And this year I created another version, but with some heat. I based the 2009 edition of matzoh brei on a Bon Appetite recipe. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m usually TERRIBLE about keeping up with my cooking mags and don’t read February’s until July. I’m not even exaggerating. Sometimes I even wait til the next year of that same month. Miraculously, I read April in time to snag their spin on it. But – and say it with me class – I didn’t follow their recipe.

in Breakfast / Eggs / Holiday / Recipe / Veggie 5 comments

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