A Sinful Breakfast At Home - Rustic French Toast with Homemade Strawberry Syrup and Sauasage

I woke up this morning after spending an evening with the #bionicwoman my momz.   We made some delicious orzotto with rosemary chicken and a goat cheese, beet, and pea shoot salad.  It was yum but the orzotto was too strong a flavor (think i used too much cheese) for the chemo fatigued #bionicwoman.  She ate a bit of it with another slice of havarti dill cheese and some blanched sugar nap peas.  YUM.

Anywho....I drove home this morning and it was chilly chilly.  Like 29 degrees.   Brrrr.   I wanted to make us a stick to your ribs winter breakfast/brunch.    I landed on my meat first as an idea.   I wanted to make some butcher breakfast sausages drizzled with some maple syrup.   So I asked myself what would go along with it.   I decided I want to tie the syrup flavor through the breakfast.   I decided I wanted to get a nice rustic french toast with some homemade strawberry syrup.

Making a nice fresh homemade berry syrup is so much fun and is so easy.   Dump a bunch of berries all cut up in a pot.    Add water to the top of them and then add some sugar.    Bring it to a nice boil then turn down the heat and let it simmer.   Mix it a round every now and again and whamo.   Simple and sweet deliciousness.

I cut a nice loaf of bread into thick slices.   I made a nice milk and egg mix where I whisked in some cinnamon.   Tossed some butter in a pan and drop in the custardy soaked bread.   Get it nice and toasty.

I drizzled the fresh strawberry syrup on the french toast when I plated it.   I put on a nice tab of butter and sifted some confectioners sugar onto the french toast.

What I got was....how do you say....DEELISH.   Absolute delicious and sweet french toast sausage party.

YUM

A Tasty Serrano Ham Sandwich with Soft Ripened Goat Cheese, Chicory, Radish and Strawberries

I was walking home from learning how to sit meditation at the Brooklyn Zen Center when I decided I was in the mood to stumble into Union Market.

The first thing I saw was this beautiful whole oat baguette that looked so delicious.   I needed to build a sandwich around this baguette.   It was calling me.

So I began to stumble around the produce section and some beautiful fresh strawberries caught my eye so into my sandwich they go.   I noticed an ingredient that looked great that I have never used before...Chicory.   I broke off one leave and tasted it.   Bright, Peppery, Yum.   Ok.   Chicory it is.

Since it was peppery I decided to compliment it with some radish that I could julienne.  I mixed the chicory and radish and tossed it in some olive oil with salt and cracked black pepper.  This would be a peppery bright bed that I could use as the base of my sandwich for bright crunchiness.

I decided I would get some quality ham that I could compliment with a goat cheese that would round out the savoriness and creaminess for the sandwich.  I decided once I assembled it I would top it off with some nice organic honey to balance the tartness of the fresh strawberries with some honey sweetness.

Here is the pic of my lovely ingredients:

Here are some pics of the finished sandwich:

YUM YUM SANDWICH

Berry Bread Pudding

About one month ago I wrote about the joy of cooking a Puerto Rican bread pudding.   Well in the theme of "Berry Berry Delicious" I wanted to post about a small change I made to the recipe recently.   I added some mix berries on top to give it a sweet tartness and some depth.  It came out amazingly!  I highly suggest anyone toss some berries on top of their bread puddings before cooking.  It works so nicely with the spice combination and adds depth to the flavor

Buttermilk Pancakes with Berry Compote

So this weekend I decided to make buttermilk pancakes with a Blackberry and Blueberry Compote to go along with it. 

I had made the buttermilk pancake recipe from the Joy of Cooking and it came out ok.   Truth be told I was not happy with their fluffiness.  

I tried using the following recipe from Food.com and again not so fluffy.  Or at least not as fluffy as I had wanted.

So I decided to put a bit more care into them.  Especially around how I whisk in the wet and dry ingredients.  

Here was the recipe that I used:

3 eggs, separated
1 2/3 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-best-no-kidding-buttermilk-pancakes-173284#ixzz1ByOz0zav

So this time I whisked the heck out of the eggs.   I then slowly whisked in the buttermilk taking care to make sure it was nice and frothy.   I then slowly whisked in the melted butter tempering it in.  

Once the wet ingredients were nice and whisked in I slowly started to whisk in the dry ingredients leading with the ingredients that were the lower volume.  So slowly whisking in salt, then baking soda, then baking powder, etc..etc..etc...

I cooked the pancakes this time and they were fluffy fluffy fluffy.   Just yummy the core.   I highly recommend this recipe if you are willing to put the time against properly and attentively whisking in the ingredients in a thoughtful order.

Berry Berry Delicious Birthday Meals

So today was a very special day that required me to cook some very special meals for a very special person.    This person happens to also love berries.

So when I woke up this morning I had an idea.   I wanted to make the day a Berry Berry Delicious day by whipping up some Berry Compote centric dishes for breakfast and dessert.

I made a quick and easy Blackberry and Blueberry compote in the morning with the notion of putting it on some buttermilk pancakes and designing a cake around it a bit.

First step was the pancakes and I want to make it absolutely delicious.   I have come to realize that the more care or love you put into the meal the better it comes out.   You need to take your time and do every step with the full focus of your mind and heart.   When you do this things come out so wonderful delicious and uniquely perfect.

I used the recipe from Joy of Cooking for Buttermilk pancakes and I will posts  separate article about all that tomorrow but I wanted to take the time to talk about technique for a second.   What I am beginning to learn about baking is that you need to very careful mix every thing up.

The more care you put to how you mix things together. the more delicious they end up being especially texturally.   So I took great care in whisking all the liquids together.    I started with the eggs and buttermilk and really whisking them to make them nice and airy.   I then slowly whisked in the butter, and then the dried goods an ingredient at a time.  Slow slow slow.    The batter was so fluffy looking and bubbly.  It looked divine before even cooking!   I cooked in some of the compote as well as drizzled it on top.   They were so fluffy and fruity.   YUM YUM YUM!!!!

And Dessert you ask?!????   I whipped up Joy of Cooking's Velvet Spice Cake.   YUM YUM YUMMY!   I also whipped up the Joy of Cooking Chocolate Butter Icing.   Once the cake cooled I layered on the icing and let it get cool again.   I then gave it a healthy coating of the berry compote and of course I spiked the icing and compote mixture with some fresh nutmeg and a pinch of ground coffee.    How did it taste???   I had a piece with vanilla ice cream and some more berry compote drizzle and good lord.   YUM YUM CAKE!

I also cooked bacon for breakfast and shrimp scampi with new york strip steak served with grilled eggplant, zucchini, and red endive along side of cilantro mashed potatoes.  All of which was delicious!    I love putting my love on a plate and making a very special person a very special meal.   :)   Happy Birthday.