Eats For One … or more

Why Do I Make Breakfast Difficult?

My Saturday mornings have a routine… Go to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at eight o’clock, come home and prep the vegetables for storage – top and wash the carrots and radishes, trim the leeks, whatever else depending on the season and bounty – put everything away and make notes of what we have to eat for the week. Then, it’s time for breakfast – by that time one might call it brunch although I cook and eat alone and brunch implies a sharing, less informal thing – Carol has long since had her breakfast.

Since childhood, I’ve never been a cereal or oatmeal – or even a smoked salmon and cream cheese – kind of guy. I need to invent something. “Why do I have to make it difficult?” I say to myself… and then I go ahead with a preparation of more than a few steps. This morning, I had leftover corned beef, I fried that, just enough to get it warm – that’s a good start – but I had no other leftovers. So I sliced and fried a potato, broke two eggs and beat them up with a bit of crème fraiche (tip: zap your crème fraiche in the microwave for seven seconds before adding eggs), topped that with some fresh cheese curd from the market and made a two-egg frittata. Oh, I threw in some celery, for crunch.

slice and fry a potato

slice the corned beef and warm

start the frittata with a layer of corned beef and potato

add celery, eggs, more potatoes and cheese curd… cook at very low heat until it sets…

pop under broiler for three or so minutes, slide onto plate

I had the time and took the time to do it. That’s what I call a good breakfast.

You want a quik-n-EZ breakfast?

Warm up last night’s pizza in the toaster-oven. Yum.

Back in July, 2007, I posted a story called A Chicken’s Liver, about what to do with the liver you find inside your chicken — make a quick one-liver pate. I do that as a matter of course when I have the occasion to use a whole chicken.

And that’s good, but not plenty. Carol recently said, “You know what we haven’t had for a while? Chicken livers.” I listened.

From time to time, I make the traditional Chopped Chicken Liver — liver, onions and hard cooked eggs mixed together — most recently for my Super Bowl XLIII Party. Good, but it lacks finesse; and on that occasion it was overshadowed by my Bacon Explosion, wildly popular at the time.

I went in search of a real chicken liver pate — buttery and boozy and rich — and found the answer on the KQED blog in a recipe by Thy Tran, a food writer I had seen in the Chronicle from time to time.

Here’s what she thinks about a real chicken liver pate:

“For those trying to watch their cholesterol intake, you can stop reading right now. Ditto for the vegetarians and the hard-core dieters. Teetolers might also want to move along.

For those remaining — those of us who still manage to reward ourselves during the dark days of winter — it’s time to whip up some chicken liver paté.

As buttery treats go, liver is dense with protein, vitamins and minerals. A few crackers spread thinly with this paté will make the bitterest salad sweeter. Accompanied with a thinly sliced apple and a glass of wine, it becomes a very adult way to enjoy a movie at home. And little ramekins set out for guests never fails to impress.”

That’s my kind of food treat — I’m not much into sweets — so I set to work.

First, marinate the livers in cognac and thyme to get all flavorful and joyful. OK, it doesn’t look all that good… yet. But chicken livers, cognac and thyme… there’s no bad in there. I did a half recipe, so that’s a half pound chicken livers, an ounce of cognac and one and a half tablespoons fresh thyme. (more…)

One at IHOP and one at home
And then, two more breakfasts

ONE
International Crepe, Omelette at IHOP

Son Brian’s job has moved him from Montpellier, in southern France to Reno, in western Nevada. Quite a change, but Reno is a pretty nice place. He closed on his house a short time ago. Carol and I went to help him unpack and move furniture around. His refrigerator was delivered about the time we arrived on Friday; a beautiful refrigerator, but empty.

Brian had to go get his driver’s license early Saturday morning, so Carol and I went searching for a proper sit-down breakfast. Outside of downtown Reno and the casinos, restaurants are situated in outdoor shopping centers. The first we passed had no restaurant. At the second, larger shopping center we spied an IHOP. Their parking lot was full, a good sign that they’re open and popular.

I don’t think I’ve been to an IHOP since they were the International House of Pancakes on Storrow Drive in Boston, back when our kids were kids. I’m not a fan of pancakes, so I ordered the International Crepe Passport: Two eggs, two crispy bacon strips, two pork sausage links and your choice of a Danish fruit crepe or two Nutella or Swedish crepes. I chose sausage only, eggs over easy and the Danish fruit crepe.

Carol chose the “Create Your Own Omelette” with sausage.

The portions were enormous, way more than I wanted or needed for breakfast.

That’s the “Danish” apple cinnamon crepe on the left. The white blob on top is whipped cream and the crepe is also stuffed with whipped cream. When the waitress asked if I wanted sausage and bacon or one or the other, I thought she was talking about a total of two. Silly me. I declined extra toast. The trouble is, people expect these huge portions, and then feel obliged to clean up their plate. I ate the sausages and eggs and about a third of the crepe. The kindly waitress offered a box, but enough is enough. (more…)

Carol and I religiously eat dinner together at the dining room table. As for other meals, it’s catch as catch can – we each prepare what we want when we want it and eat at the kitchen table. She’s a sandwich person, I’m not; I tend toward soup or anything made in a skillet.

Sunday morning, I had a hankering for eggs poached in some kind of tomato sauce. That’s a good start. Although I have various homemade tomato sauces in the freezer, none were ready to go.

I did have a can of Progresso Vegetable Classics Tomato Basil Soup in the drawer. That’s pretty good for use as tomato sauce, thick and tomatoey.

I got out some celery to chop into the soup, but with the refrigerator door open, spied some excess fava beans that I had shelled and blanched for a lamb stew. Even better.

I got out the eggs and put two in a bowl of hot tap water. That will warm them up a bit… it doesn’t seem right to put cold eggs into hot sauce.

favas in one bowl, shells in another

Put a small skillet on the stove over medium high heat, and when it was pretty hot, covered the bottom with olive oil, added the favas and cooked a bit, tossed and cooked a bit more. (more…)

On Saturday I had brunch with a friend at Namu on Balboa at 6th Avenue — fine place that — and broke into a rant about Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food. I really believe in his way of eating and can’t help going on about it.

On the subject of breakfast, Lisa said she would like to eat fresh food but she has two pre-teen daughters and teaches. Mornings are hectic, to say the least. Her first class is at 7:30, so she eats a Trader Joe’s power bar in the car during her commute. “I have to be able to eat with one hand,” she said, “something not messy. I don’t like what I eat for breakfast, but that’s the way it is.”

I don’t have that problem, but was thinking about her plight the next morning. I put together a breakfast that was not messy, and while I ate at the table, what I had could have been eaten in a car with one hand, from a container rather than a dish.

• Piccoline olives
• Anchovy stuffed olives
• Hard boiled egg, quartered
• “Mikes” cheese curd (with peppers) from Spring Hill Farm, available at a Farmers Market near you. (more…)

Food and the Super Bowl

This year we hosted our XIth Annual Super Bowl Party for Super Bowl XLII, the New York Giants vs. New England Patriots. Having lived in Newton, Massachusetts for 24 years while raising our kids, we are dyed-in-the-wool Patriots fans; but not all those invited shared our views.

In years past, we themed the food around the teams playing (Baltimore Crab Cakes, Carolina BBQ, are examples,) but last year we ran up against Indianapolis. What the heck would you do with Indianapolis??? So we punted and did a country ham, because we like country ham.

In any case, this year we had some good theme choices (New England Clam Chowder vs. Manhattan Clam Chowder, Lobster vs. NY Steak,). We recently returned from Europe, and particularly Spain, where we delighted in the Tapas. What great food for a party, finger food, little paper plates are good; eat bites of what you want, when you want, as much as you want, throughout the game. (more…)

We were at a friend’s house for lunch on Sunday. Panini was served. Ummm Good. Our hosts raved about their Cuisinart Panini Press and another guest said she had bought one just like it at Crate and Barrel.

When I was standing in line for the Get Green event at Macy’s, an All Clad Panini Set was on display, right beside me, a simple non-stick, 10×12 inch grill pan and a heavy metal weight with a handle, slightly smaller than the pan. I checked the price, $130!!

Lordy! I can do that with my cast iron grill pan using the lid from my cast iron skillet for the weight. (more…)

a one-liver pate;

When you poach a chicken, there are these giblets in the cavity of the beast. What does one do with those? And why am I ”Eats – for – One – guy” poaching a whole chicken?

Second question first:
In this case, I’m using the chicken meat and the broth that the poaching creates in Brunswick Stew. If I weren’t doing that, poached chicken meat can be used in chicken noodle soup, for chicken salad, for chicken hash, for chicken sandwiches, to fill tacos or quesadillas, to throw into canned soups or to add to leftover, already-made soups to make them more interesting and hearty. And you’ve got the chicken broth, for free, as a bonus. I freeze mine in stackable quart containers. (more…)

Saturday morning at eight o’clock I’m at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market for the weekly fruit, vegetable, meat and fish shopping. I think I mentioned previously that Carol and I do our own meal thing during days, so this truly is eats for one.

After market, and after the goodies are put away, I make up some eats.

Today, I put a layer of sliced cucumbers on a plate. These are little Mediterranean cucumbers, the skin is tender and delicate and the seeds aren’t yet fully formed, so you just slice and eat the whole thing. The one at the top is a Japanese cucumber, same deal. That’s an egg in the center, for scale.

Slice the cucumber on the bias so you get nice long elliptical slices.

Add a layer of peeled, sliced tomato and sprinkle with sea salt.

Add a layer of sliced fresh mozzarella and drizzle with olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the plate under a preheated broiler for about two minutes.

Garnish with a still warm, quartered boiled egg.

That is so fresh and crunchy and soft and cool and warm, the combination of tastes is heavenly. (more…)

Slow cooked eggs with tomato and pickled onion relish

My beets were roasting and I remembered a recipe for Quick Pickled Onions I saw on the Coconut and Lime food blog. It is indeed quick and stupid simple:

Place 8 peppercorns in a pint jar. Fill the jar with sliced onions, leaving about 1/2 inch on the top. Add about 4-5 cubes of beets. Fill the jar about half way with red wine vinegar and then the rest of the way with white vinegar. Seal and refrigerate 1-3 days before serving.

I did that with two jars. I used the bulbous fresh red spring onions, which are available for about a month just now at the Farmers Market. (more…)