Breakfast Napolean

Good morning!! That's what this day turned into for sure.  I was going to make a pedestrian omelette when this idea came out of no where.  This cost about $8, takes 20 minutes and feeds one.

Breakfast Napolean

2 organic eggs, seperated
1/2 hass avocado
2 cups spinach, uncooked
1/4 white onion, small dice
1/2 red bell pepper, small dice
2 slices of maple glazed ham roast
2 slices aged Irish white cheddar
salt and pepper
1/2 stick butter

This whole dish was done using a single large ring mold that has been greased.  First cut the ham with the ring mold.  Then start two sautee pans on medium heat.  In one sautee onions and peppers with a little butter until soft.  In the other pan place the ring mold inside the pan and cook half of the egg whites.  Once the one side is firm turn the entire ring mold with a spatula to cook the other side.  Set aside.  Do this again for the rest of the egg whites, and then do it for the egg yolks.  Set aside.  Sautee the spinach with a little butter.  Now using the next size smaller ring mold, begin stacking the items to your liking.  If you do it right it will all stand up together perfectly.  This is one of the best breakfasts I have ever had.  Buon apetito!!

Fried Egg Au Gratin

I dressed up some regular old fried eggs to make a more appealing breakfast.  This takes 10 minutes, costs $3 and feeds one.

Fried Egg with Manchego Cheese

2 organic eggs

1 organic leek, chopped

1 organic shallot, thin sliced

1 piece aged Manchego cheese, grated

1 tablespoon butter

In a medium sautee pan start butter with shallots and leeks.  Let cook for 5 minutes or until lightly golden.  Add two eggs to pan and let cook.  Place in broiler with a little cheese on top to cook tops of eggs.  Add more shaved cheese on top to finish. 

Great start to a great morning!  Buon Apetitio!!

Polenta Crusted Chicken, Tricolor Salad, Bartlett Pear, Toasted Hazlenuts

Chicken and salad is about as basic as it gets.  With a little more effort you make that ordinary dish amazing. This recipe feeds three, costs about $15 dollar and takes 30 minutes or less.

Polenta Crusted Chicken
1 cup fine ground polenta (cornmeal)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
3 thin sliced chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil


In a large frying pan start the oil on medium heat and let heat for 10 minutes.  While heating the oil, mix the polenta and the flour.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in bowl with beaten eggs, then coat the breast with the polenta mixture.  Push hard  for a good crust.  Dust off excess crust and fry in heated oil for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden.  Let sit on paper towel.


Tricolor Salad
1 head of Radicchio
1 head Belgian Endive
1 bunch of arugula
1 Bartlett pear, diced
1/4 cup of hazelnuts, chopped and toasted


Balsamic Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons real 25 yr old balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 small shallot, diced
1 pinch marjoram
salt and pepper
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil


Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a large salad bowl.  Add Salad season with a little salt and pepper and toss with the vinaigrette.  Serve the Chicken Down and the salad on top.  The warm chicken and salad combo makes for a tasty and health dinner.  Thanks to Pad and Dre for coming thru to enjoy.  Buon Apetite!!

Sunny Side Up Egg with Black Perigord Truffles

Many truffle aficionados say that this simple method is the best way to enjoy the flavor and aroma of truffles.  I though it was amazing as well.  The most important thing is to use a quality farm raised egg.  Buon Apetito!

Basted Egg with Sherry Tomatoes and Potato-Onion Puree

This is a little play on traditional sunny side up eggs and breakfast potatoes. It takes about 10 minutes, feeds one and costs $3.

I used the potato onion puree from the previous recipe on the blog. I cut and pasted here just for reference. I also made a basted egg. This is an egg that is cooked in a saute pan with about and inch of water. You have to continuously "baste" the egg with the excess water in the pan using a tablespoon. Slowly but surely the top of the egg cooks and becomes a perfect cross between poached and sunny side up. I diced some tomatoes and tossed them with sherry vinegar and some fresh parsley. Enjoy!

Organic Potato-Onion Puree

4 small organic yukon gold potatoes, medium diced

1 medium organic vidallia onion, medium diced

5-6 cloves of organic garlic, halved

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon cream cheese

Put the potatoes, onions and garlic in cold water in a medium pot. Start on medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let cook until potatoes are fork tender. Strain the water off and place in a large food processor or blender. Add butter, oil, cream, cream cheese, and salt & white pepper. Puree until smooth. Add more olive oil as necessary to get a smooth velvety texture.

Pork Belly Hash Skillet

I had some amazing left over pork belly from dinner last night at my friends' place PubBelly. This one pan breakfast dish comes together in 20 minutes and really highlights the richness of the amazing porkbelly. It costs about $5 and feeds one.

Pork Belly Hash Skillet
1 small organic idaho potato
1/8 red bell pepper, julienne
1/8 white onion, julienne
3 oz pork belly (good substitutes are bacon, ham or turkey)
2 eggs
3 teaspoons of oil

Start a small saute pan on medium. Add oil and potatoes and cook 10 minutes or until potatoes brown. Add peppers and onions and cook 5 more minutes. Add chopped pork belly and cook a few more minutes. Top with two eggs and place it in the broiler on low for 5 minutes. Season and serve.




Buon Apetito!!

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Grilled Toast and Sliced Tomato

I love breakfast. This quick setup came from simply being super hungry after a good workout. It costs about $6 takes 20 minutes total and feeds one hungry dude.

Soft Scramble with Veggies and Cheese
1 tablespoon EV olive oil
1 teaspoon salted buteer
2 tablespoons organic red onion, diced
2 tablespoons organic white onion, diced
2 tablespoons organic red, yellow and orange bell pepper, diced
handful of organic spinach, chopped
1 organic plum tomato
2 tablespoons Manchego Cheese, diced
2 tablespoons fresh dill and basil, chopped
3 organic farm raised eggs, scrambled with a teaspoon of heavy cream
salt and pepper

Start a medium sautee pan on medium heat and add the butter and oil. Cook the onions and peppers for 4 minutes or until soft. Now add the tomatoes and spinach and let cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs and stir rapidly. Once the egg starts to setup add the cheese and fresh herbs and season with salt and pepper. Keep it all moving until you get the desired texture.

I also grilled some potato bread on the panini press and then buttered it up. I also sliced a second organic plum tomato, seasoned it with salt and pepper. Put it all together and you have great breakfast in 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Egg with Zucchini-Potato Cake

This quick breakfast looks fancy but was really easy to make. All you need is a ring mold and a box grater. I used some of the tomato sauce I made for the clams the other day for a garnish and because ketchup wasn't sexy enough for this presentation.

Zucchini Potato Cake

2 oz vegetable oil
1 medium zucchini, grated
2 medium potatoes, peeled and grated
salt and pepper

Using a box grater, grate the zucchini and the potato. Use a salad spinner or lay the grated potato and zucchini on some paper towel to absorb the natural moisture. Once dried a bit mix the two together well. Start a large sautee pan on medium and add the oil. Add the zucchini and potato mixture and stir it up. Once cooked through a bit, form it into a single piece, like a hash brown, and let it get golden on one side. Flip it and let it get golden. Thats it.

I toasted a piece of rye bread and then buttered it. I used a ring mold to cut the bread into a perfect circle, this will be the base. I then used the same ring mold to cut a circle out of the potato and zucchini cake and placed that on the bread. Finally, I cooked an egg sunny side up and used the ring mold to cut a perfect circle from that as well. I warmed the tomato sauce and put two swipes on the plate. Add a bit of basil for garnish and you have a great looking breakfast in the same time as it takes to make a sloppy looking breakfast. Enjoy!

Classy Egg and Cheese on a Bagel

Egg and cheese sandwiches are probably the most popular breakfast food on the go. I decided to take this classic and move it up the class scale to get a new take on the old standard. I used 1 egg and about the same amount of pure egg whites and scrambled them into the size and shape of my bagel. The cheese is Brillat-Savarin (brie would be an easy sub). I toasted a whole wheat bagel, hit it with a little creme fraische and topped the whole thing with some tomato, fresh marjoram and arugula. From ordinary to extraordinary in the same amount of time as the ordinary. Yum breakfast!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Sunnyside Up with Breakfast Potatoes

The fastest and easiest of all decent breakfasts, eggs and potatoes. Sunnyside up eggs can be tricky because if they are over cooked they are like rubber and if they are undercooked they have this nasty slime on top that is really offputting. Most restaurants mess them up to one side or the other, that is why I usually make them at home with this easy method.

Sunnyside Up Eggs:
Start the oven on 350. Start a medium sautee pan, non stick is best, on mid-low (4 out of 10) and put just enough oil to coat the pan. You can use any oil or spray of your choice. Then crack the eggs by striking it on a FLAT surface like the countertop. Hitting the egg on the edge of a bowl or pan increases the chance of breaking the yolk. Crack the egg open just above the preheated pan. Cook the egg for about 4 minutes or until white starts to set up. Then place the whole pan in the oven for 5 mintues or until the top of the egg is stiff, fluffy and the white is opaque. Perfect every time.

For the breakfast potatoes I diced up a left over baked potato from last nights' dinner. I started a sautee pan on medium with oil and butter then added some chopped red onion and red hot pepper and let cook for 5 minutes. I then added the diced potatoes and let it all cook together for about 15 minutes. I finished with parsley, salt and pepper.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Egg Whites and Spinach in a Tortilla

This is the last tortilla dish, because I have finally run out. This is a tasty and fast way to start the day. Sautee some spinach and onions, pour in some egg white (from the carton in the egg section) and top with some cheese and left over tomatillo hot pepper salsa.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.9

Scrambled Egg and Turkey Sausage Two Ways

This is a quick way to feed the beast and get to eat two different styles of breakfast with minimal work. I made an omelete as I demonstrated on a previous blogpost. This one had jalepeno, red onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, green onion, swiss and basil. I used a ring mold to cut a perfect sized circle and put the egg circle on a toasted honey wheat english muffin. I chopped the leftover egg and put it into a toasted corn tortilla. I cooked off some turkey sausage patties (trying to keep it healthy where possible) and put some on the sandwich, I then chopped the remainder and added it to the totilla. I topped both with sour cream, choula sauce and fresh spinach.

It is very easy to make lunch and breakfast foods two different ways and people (me) enjoy it more as well. I will do more duos soon...stay tuned.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Egg and Cheese with Ribeye

Breakfast is probably my favorite meal and egg sandwiches are always key to a good morning. I had some leftover ribeye from last nights dinner so I decided to take advantage of the situation with this great breakfast sandwich.

I have been using sandwich thins recently because they are good for breakfast and lunch sandwiches, as well as low on carbs. I seared the ribeye in some butter to reheat it and get it juicy. I sauteed onions and a few kinds of peppers (jalepeno, hungarian and cubanelle) in a small pan and then add a single seasoned scrambled egg to the onion and pepper mix. I then toasted the sandwich thin in hot pan with butter. I put it all together with a little cream cheese, ketchup, lettuce, tomato and american cheese.

I call this one the breakfast of champions.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8