Birthday Breakfast

Steve brought me the latest issue of The Week shortly before his 40th Birthday and said, "You could make me this for breakfast." Since he usually asks for donuts, I happily obliged. The recipe serves four; we pigged out and ate double portions each. We regretted it. If you are only cooking for two, adjust the recipe accordingly.

Slow-scrambled eggs with prosciutto

4 slices rustic bread, about half an inch thick
1TBS olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half
6 eggs, at room temperature
2TBS butter, divided
.25tsp salt
Pinch of white pepper
4 slices prosciutto di Parma (I used Soprasata instead)

Brush bread slices with olive oil. Toast bread in large skillet over medium-high heat until browned on both sides, 5 to 6 minutes. Rub each slice with cut garlic clove and set aside.

Whisk together eggs, 1TBS butter cut into small pieces, salt, white pepper. Melt remaining 1TBS butter in 9-inch nonstick skillet over low heat. Add eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to set on bottom, about 2 minutes.

Continue to cook, stirring almost constantly, until eggs become creamy, with texture resembling small-curd cottage cheese. Continue cooking and stirring until they begin to thicken and become less glossy but are not quite done, 8 to 15 minutes. Remove eggs from heat and stir for about a minute to finish cooking. They should be very creamy, with very small curds.

Divide eggs onto toasted bread and spread over each slice. Top each serving with slice of prosciutto.

Serves 4 

not quite right

It was my night to cook for my friend tonight, and I had a lovely menu prepared:

Spicy pumpkin soup w/Mexican cream & toasted pepitas
Tomato & cucumber salad w/cilantro
Ficelle (small thin baguette)
(no dessert - we're taking the month off from sweets)

I won't post the soup recipe because it came out way too thin, despite the fact that I halved the amount of broth it called for. What were they thinking? But want I wanted to document here was how wonderful the crema and pepitas were. If the soup had been the proper weight, it would have been a most lovely presentation. If you have never made Mexican cream, try it sometime drizzled over any thick soup. Lentil or black bean come to mind. Just mix equal parts sour cream and heavy cream together, with a little lime juice and chill for two hours or up to a day. Mmmmm.

Lentil Stew

"Oooh, you should definitely blog this." - Steve
"This doesn't taste like diet food at all." - Steve
"Mmmmm... well, I like sausage... mmmmm, that's good." - Sammy

Lentil Stew

1 can 99% fat free chicken broth
1 can (see above) water
1 cup uncooked lentils
1 tube reduced fat Jimmy Dean sausage
1 sm yellow onion, chopped
1lb white mushrooms, stems removed, sliced
2 carrots, grated
1.5 TBS butter, divided
2 TBS flour

Pour broth and water into large saucepan, add lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer with lid vented for 30 minutes. Check to be sure they are tender before adding other ingredients.

While lentils are cooking, brown sausage, breaking up into small chunks. When fully cooked, spoon into a bowl and set aside. Add .5 TBS butter to pan (with any leftover brown bits from the sausage that might be stuck there), add onions and sautee over medium heat until soft, brown and sweet. Spoon onions into a bowl and set aside.

In same pan, add another .5 TBS butter and sliced mushrooms. Grind salt & pepper liberally over mushrooms, sautee until done. Add mushrooms, sausage and onion to saucepan with (now done) lentils. Stir well and leave on low heat.

Add final .5 TBS butter to pan with 2 TBS flour to make a roux. Slowly wisk in liquid from lentil pot, simmering over medium high heat to make a gravy. Add as much of the lentil liquid as you like, 1 cup or so. When it makes a nice gravy, return to the lentil pot and stir well.

Serve in wide bowls with grated carrot garnish.

(Note: for those of you who care about such things, this recipe has approximately 1600 calories total, half of which is from the sausage. I estimate that my portion and Steve's were about 600 each, and Sam's was 400 - although he didn't finish it. Athena had pears and toast.) 

Fish Tacos & Black Bean Salad

This is a very easy, nutritious meal that (with a little planning) can be thrown together in about 15 minutes. I trade cooking duties with a friend once a week, and this is what I made tonight.

Black Bean & Corn Salad (make early in the day or the night before)
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 cup (or so) frozen whole kernel corn, cooked
2-3 chopped roma tomatoes
.50 purple onion, diced
chopped cilantro to taste

Mix all together, cover and chill.

Fish Tacos
.50 to 1lb halibut filet, no skin or bones (you could substitute any mild white fish)
olive oil
chili powder
lime juice
chopped cilantro
.50 small green cabbage, very thinly sliced
1 avocado, sliced
thin corn tortillas

Heat olive oil, chili powder and lime juice in skillet until hot; add halibut and grind some salt & pepper over all. Sautee until fish breaks apart and most of oil is absorbed. Meanwhile, prepare cilantro, cabbage, and avocado. When fish is done, stir in cilantro. Warm tortillas in the microwave, and serve. To assemble, place a small mound of fish mixture on warm tortilla, top with cabbage and avocado, fold over and enjoy!

ps - Steve likes to top his with salsa; perhaps you will too.