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Warm Tortilla with Cheese and Egg

6 Jan


Oh brother. How I spoil you.

You are my little experiment. I like to test my recipes and make you eat them. Not so bad, right?

I made you the most rockin’ lunch today. It started with a warmed tortilla, topped with cheese and a fried egg. I threw together some tomato, avocado, and red onion and splashed it with lemon juice, salt/pepper, and a sprinkle of cayenne. With a dash of hot sauce! The warm, slightly browned and crunchy yet soft tortilla is out of this world! Cheesy? You betcha. Eggy? Uhhuh. Colorful? Duh.

Yes, there is a bit of butter and cheese and egg, but you get your protein, your whole grain carbs, and your vegetable/fruit serving. It fills you up and tastes so so so good. You can eat this like a pizza or cut into bite-size pieces. Warning: It can get messy!

Warm Tortilla with Cheese and Egg

tortilla (I used a whole wheat tortilla)
a bit of butter
cheese
egg
salt and pepper
salsa or hot sauce

tomato
red onion
avocado
lemon juice
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper

1. Spread the tortilla with a bit o’ butter on both sides. Heat a non-stick skillet to med-high heat. Place your tortilla on the skillet and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until browned. Flip and cook the other side. Take it off the heat and put some cheese over it. Keep in a warmed oven while you make your egg.

2. Fry your egg, scramble your egg, cook your egg sunny-side up, over-easy, poached, whatever way you like.

3. Place the egg atop your tortilla and cheese and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. For your “salsa,” chop up your tomato, red onion, and avocado, sprinkle with salt pepper and a dash of cayenne and squeeze some lemon juice over.

Gorgeous!

Savory Butternut Squash Crumble

23 Nov

“I’m wary of health faddists. When they’re done talking, you can’t eat anything. We need a nutritionist who loves good food.”  -Julia Child

Julia, I completely agree. I believe that a lot of what people produce inside of their heads deters them from tasting new foods. After making this savory squash crumble, a fellow housemate of mine exclaimed, “Wait, there is squash in this? Wow, I don’t even like squash and this is good!”

Lately I have been reading Irena Chalmers’ Food Jobs, a book about the variety of professions available for culinary students, career changers, and FOOD lovers. She is helping me translate my “zest for flavor into a satisfying profession.” Everyday I scour the Internet as well as my library of cookbooks and circle of food-loving friends for new and exciting places to eat, concoctions to create, and finger-licking food finds. Working in the food industry is an ever-changing and on-going process that keeps us all on our toes and constantly having to play and finesse, and finesse, and finesse…

Butternut squash is a beautiful vegetable, with that bright orange color and that bulbous yet elongated shape. Roasted, butternut squash turns soft and caramel-like. Today I took a different approach: I stewed the squash with tomatoes, onions, and spices and then topped it with a crumb topping.

Just a word of advice for all you food photographers out there: I have a slight problem…I tend to make something and either immediately want to eat it or someone else immediately wants to eat it. Understandable. As a result, I present to you some scraps of photos that definitely could have been better—better lighting, better styling, better everything. I’m working on my problem. For now, if you want to see the real deal, check out La Tartine Gourmande’s photos. Yes, she rocks.

Ok, it’s time to get stewing and crumbling!

*NOTE: I made this vegan, but you could add Parmesan cheese and use butter instead of oil in the topping.

**NOTE #2: Feel free to experiment with different herbs (thyme, oregano…), squash varieties (acorn, kabocha…), and cheeses (gruyere, sharp cheddar…).

Savory Butternut Squash Crumble
Recipe adapted from LaTartineGourmande
Serves 6-8

TOPPING

1 cup flour
½ cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I omitted the cheese this time to make it vegan)
Pepper, to taste
6 tablespoons butter, diced and at room temperature (I used oil to make it vegan)
optional: 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar

1.In a bowl, combine the flour, walnuts, parsley, Parmesan, brown sugar, and a generous sprinkle of pepper.

2. Add the butter (or oil) and work with your fingertips until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

SQUASH

Butter or oil (for the dish)
2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter (or 3 tablespoons oil)
1 red onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 bay leaf
½ cup canned tomatoes
1 peeled butternut squash, cut into 1-inch dice
5 fresh sage leaves, chopped
optional: 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
optional: 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1. Generously butter a 10-inch baking dish.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil and butter (or just oil) and when the butter melts, and the onion, coriander, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until softened.

3. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the butternut squash, sage, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Turn down the heat. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the vegetables soften.

4. Set the oven at 350.

5. Discard the bay leaf from the squash mixture. Sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan; stir gently. Transfer the vegetables to the baking dish. Spoon the crumble mixture on top.

6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden (My top did not get super golden due to my using oil instead of butter. Oh well, it was still mighty good!).

How to Poach an Egg

20 Nov


“When food is poached, it cooks delicately over the gentlest heat; not a bubble breaks the surface of the liquid in the pan”

–Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food

The first time I ever ate a poached egg was two years ago at Café Fanny, one of my favorite breakfast spots in Berkeley.

In lieu of attempting to emulate Café Fanny’s picture perfect poached eggs, I purchased an egg poacher. I found, however, that simply pouring an egg into a low-sided sauté pan works best.

Now be warned. The whole egg poaching thing takes a bit of practice to master. I am still in the process of tweaking and refining my technique.

Ok here we go.

Poached Eggs a la Alice Waters and Julia Child
[Oeufs pochés]

Ingredients:
Egg (or eggs)
Water
Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Step one. Crack an egg into an individual cup or bowl. Be careful not to break the yolk.


Step two. Fill a pan with water about 2 to 3 inches deep; add a large splash of vinegar. Let it come to just below a simmer: very hot, but without any bubbles breaking the surface (as you can see some of my bubbles broke the surface—c’est la vie).


Step three. Hold the cup right at the level of the water and carefully slide the egg in. This gentle entry into the water will help the egg keep its shape. Immediately and gently push the white over the yolk with a wooden spoon for 2-3 seconds (I omitted this part…just decided to have my yolk exposed this time around). After a minute you can gently stir the water to discourage the egg from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat if the water starts to simmer.


Step four: The egg will take about 3-5 minutes to cook, depending on your egg. The white will be set but the yolk still soft. Test for doneness by gently lifting the egg with a slotted spoon and pressing it gently with your finger to feel how set the white and the yolk are.

Step five: Carefully remove the cooked egg with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

*I chose to drizzle with balsamic vinegar and place my egg over a nice green salad for a quaint lunch. A delicately poached egg atop a hearty slice of lightly buttered toast is also a favorite of mine! Yum!

**You can poach a few eggs at a time. The same recipe applies. When cooking for a crowd, freshly poached eggs can be kept for a few minutes in a bowl of cool water while another batch is being cooked.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad

16 Nov

I could eat bowl after bowl after bowl of this orzo salad. It’s got a salty yet creamy flavor, a nice balance of texture: crunchy, slippery, chewy, crumbled, and a beautiful color scheme.

You know those specialty markets that sell prepared “gourmet food?” Yeah, any little market or deli like Whole Foods (or the Bay Area’s Pasta Shop, Market Hall, Mill Valley Market)…Most of these markets sell some version of an orzo salad, and I will almost always buy some; I simply can’t resist!

What is orzo anyway? Orzo literally translates to “barley” in Italian. It looks like rice but is actually a pasta made of hard wheat semolina.

I love to make salads and throw practically anything and everything I possibly can into them. This orzo salad is indeed very versatile, throw in what you have on-hand in the fridge or pantry! Experiment and get creative!

Mediterranean Orzo Salad
adapted from me eating this salad at any and every specialty market

Ingredients:
  • 8 oz dry orzo
  • handful garbanzo beans
  • handful sun-dried tomatoes
  • handful chopped olives
  • handful chopped artichoke hearts
  • handful fresh spinach
  • handful cherry tomatoes (if in season)
  • handful fresh basil, either whole or cut into a chiffonade
  • handful feta cheese (omit if you want this salad to be vegan)
  • handful chopped or slivered almonds
Directions:

1. Boil water. Once it starts to boil, salt it. Salt it like an ocean. Pour in the orzo and cook until it is done. Drain. (Optional: reserve some of the pasta water in case you want to add it back later if the orzo sticks together).
2. Combine orzo, and rest of the ingredients. Stir it all up and eat! Simple as that.

>Bugs "Bundt-y" Carrot Cake

29 Sep

>
Two years ago I took a reading and composition class and had this great connection with my graduate student instructor (GSI). She baked a cake for the students on the last day of class. Carrot cake. Wow was that good! I had to have the recipe. The cake was so moist and spicy, and there was not an overwhelming amount of frosting–just enough to complement the cake flavor!


Not only did she give me the recipe, but also she recommended that I go to Tartine Bakery to sit and people watch over a good cup of coffee and a pastry. Tartine is now one of my favorite hot spots in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Ok. And get this. She recommended that I read this book called “Julie and Julia” about a woman who cooks her way through Julia Child’s famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The book exhibits lots of humor and a few botched culinary experiments along the way. I had already read the book and LOVED it! Just this summer, I saw the MOVIE “Julie and Julia,” attended a birthday party at a local bookstore for Julia Child (we ate cake, sang “Happy Birthday,” and talked about food/cooking), and purchased Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I even have a master plan to be Julia Child for Halloween!!! Eeee soo excited!

Anyway, back to cake. Carrot cake, that is. Since the two years that she gave me the recipe, I have made this cake many times and it ALWAYS turns out great—definitely a crowd pleaser and a great “gift” to bring to a dinner party.


One of my favorite parts about the cake is that the recipe calls for fresh ginger! The ginger flavor adds such a nice “je ne sais qua” to the cake (ok, I admit, I was trying to find a good way to use my new favorite French phrase du jour!). FYI “je ne sais qua” is an idiomatic expression that one might say when thinking about something (or someone) special that you just can’t quite put into words…a charm, a special enchantment…


Carrot cake is typically baked in layers with globs of cream cheese frosting sandwiched between each layer as well as on the top and sides. Both my GSI and I think it is just so much darn easier to bake the whole shebang in a bundt pan and do a nice thin layer of frosting just on the outside.


Remember to TOAST your nuts! That is key. Whether you use pecans or walnuts (walnuts are my personal fave), toasted nuts are a blessing, really just a dream come true. Mixed in with that moist cake-y, carrot-y, ginger-y goodness…mmmm mmm mmmm!


I baked this cake in my friend’s old-school oven. We literally had to light the oven with a match and we pretty much guestimated the temperature. It was definitely tricky. Although cute and vintage-esque, I would recommend using a trust-worthy oven with a more reliable temperature setting. But hey, this made the afternoon exciting and kept us on our toes. I mean, every day you should do something risky, and this risk was totally worth it!


Bugs “Bundt-y” Carrot Cake
adapted from my GSI who adapted it from Martha Stewart

Makes 1 bundt cake (or 1 four-layer cake), serves 10 to 15

Ingredients

* Unsalted butter, for pans
* 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
* 1 cup walnut halves
* 1 1/3 pound large carrots, peeled (I just eyeball the amount…)
* 3 large eggs, room temperature
* 1/3 cup nonfat buttermilk (I have used plain Greek yogurt before and it works just as well)
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
* 1 ½- 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (depending on how spicy you like it)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

* Cream Cheese Frosting
* 1 stick of butter, room temperature
* an 8 oz block of cream cheese (I used ½ nonfat and ½ regular), softened
* powdered sugar (about 2 cups)
* pinch of salt
* a few drops of vanilla

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a bundt pan (or two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans). Dust pans with flour, and tap out any excess. Set pans aside. Spread nuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking pan, and toast in the oven until lightly golden, about 7 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and let stand until completely cool. Reduce temperature to 300°F. Finely chop nuts, and set aside.

2. Peel the carrots and place in a food processor to yield about 3 cups of grated carrots.

3. Peel the ginger (I like to use a metal spoon) and use a microplane (one of my favorite tools!!) to grate the fresh ginger.

4. Place carrots, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, sugar, vegetable oil, and ginger in a large bowl; whisk until well combined.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Fold in the toasted nuts.

6. Pour the batter into the bundt pan (or divide between the two cake pans), and bake until a cake tester inserted into the middles comes out clean, about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove pan from oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; let stand until completely cool.

7. To make the frosting, blend butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and continue to whisk until soft and there are no lumps. Add vanilla and salt.

8. Once the cake is cool, frost. Garnish with something aesthetically pleasing. I used walnuts. Refrigerate until ready to eat, if you can even wait!

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