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quarta-feira, 9 de março de 2011

#gastronomia : Mini Breakfast Stratas


January 15, 2011


Post image for Mini Breakfast Stratas

If I had to choose between lounging around in bed on a weekend morning or getting up early to make a hearty breakfast, it would be no contest. I’d pick the lazy option every time. But why choose when you can have both by spending ten minutes assembling a breakfast strata the night before? This popular, make-ahead casserole includes all of the ingredients of a classic “English” breakfast in one easy package — eggs, optional ham or bacon, cheese, vegetables, and bread — while minimizing the cook’s time involved and letting the oven do most of the work.

In this simple recipe, I have considered how breakfast strata’s winning formula might be improved and settled on the idea of baking my default recipe for the dish in individual portions using muffin cups. Do member of your household eat breakfast at different times? No problem. Each serving can be reheated in the microwave oven for 10 seconds and then served. Wrapped, these mini stratas make excellent additions to lunch boxes. They can be eaten on the go or as afternoon snacks. They cook in half the time of a traditional strata casserole and are a great way to use leftovers. A vegetarian (ovo-eating) option is provided. And, finally, they make a satisfying light dinner served with soup or salad. I think of these as anytime stratas.

Ingredients

5 large eggs
1 1/3 cups milk or half & half
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/8 teaspoon paprika (sweet or smoked)
A pinch of cayenne
A dash of nutmeg
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt
5 slices day-old bread, cubed (about 2 cups)
(Optional) 4 ounces cooked smoked ham, cubed (about 1 cup) or 5 slices cooked bacon, drained and coarsely chopped
1 cup cooked and very well drained mushrooms, spinach, swiss chard, potatoes, or other vegetables (double the amount of vegetables and dispense with the meat if opting for the vegetarian version of this dish)
6 green onions, the roots and half the greens removed, thinly sliced
4 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) grated cheddar, emmental, or other cheese
(Optional) 1 tablespoon chopped bell peppers

Preparation

  1. Oil 6 jumbo-sized, 12 regular-sized, or 24 mini-sized non-stick muffin cups.
  2. In a mixing bowl with a spout, whisk together well the eggs, milk or half & half, mustard, paprika, cayenne, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Evenly distribute among the muffin cups, in order, half each of the bread cubes, meat (if used), vegetables, green onions, cheese, optional bell peppers (if used), and the milk/egg mixture. Repeat.
  4. Cover the muffin cups with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 24 hours.
  5. When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees F. with the rack in the middle position. Bake for 15 to 35 minutes, depending on the size of the muffin cups used, until the tops are lightly browned and the eggs set. Allow the mini stratas to cool in the muffin cups for five minutes, remove them, and serve.
moderncomfortfood.com


Post image for A Cheese (Hold the Beef) Burger

If you’re a North American of a certain age, you’ll recall a mid-1980s series of commercials in which a popular fast foods chain disparaged the allegedly puny size of its competitors’ burgers by asking, “Where’s the beef?” You’d have good cause to ask in the case of this particular burger since it includes no beef whatsoever. Instead, a grilled cheese patty is the star here.

For years I’ve enjoyed what are called grilling cheeses, which have high melting points and can be browned on a barbeque grill or stovetop grill pan without losing their shape or otherwise melting into a gooey mess. These include Mexican queso blanco, Cypriot halloumi, Indian paneer, Greek kasseri, and certain varieties of farmer’s cheese. And the thought occurred: why not a cheese-glorious-cheese- [go to recipe...]

{ 19 comments }

Post image for Strawberry Buckle Muffins

Occasionally, I take an online stroll through this blog to check on things, as I did yesterday. Aside from finding, and correcting, an embarrassing number of typographical errors that somehow slipped past me earlier (blush), I also asked myself: What’s missing here in terms of foods that readers and I both love and cook often? And I was surprised to find that I hadn’t published a single muffin recipe. Zero. What? Cakes galore but no muffins on a comfort food recipe site (blush again)? So I immediately set out to remedy this oversight through this post.

This recipe almost wrote itself. It’s prime-time strawberry season in my part of Florida, and with prices currently at three pounds for $5, we’re happily eating a big bowl of these delectable fresh fruits with every meal. Old-fashioned buckle, a faintly sweet concoction of [go to recipe...]

{ 25 comments }

Tangerine Cheesecake Ice Cream

February 20, 2011

filed in: Dairy,Desserts,Fruit

Post image for Tangerine Cheesecake Ice Cream

When life gives me tangerines, as it does every year from December through February in my garden, I make … well, all sort of things. Juice, juice concentrate, smoothies, fruit salads, preserves, citrus flavored main courses, muffins, and the list just goes on and on. But this week, with my garden’s tangerine harvest season drawing to a close and the weather warming up, I decided to bring a bit more decadence into the mix of uses I have for this, my favorite of citrus fruits.

This recipe for tangerine cheesecake ice cream aims for a rich flavor and texture while keeping the calorie count under control by using tangerine juice, milk, and reduced-fat cream cheese as the primary ingredients. Please note that this recipe involves preparing a custard base [go to recipe...]








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