I struggled with what to call this dish. To give you a better idea of what I created, try to imagine if Shakshuka and Nachos were to hook up. This dish would be their love child.
I first had Shakshuka a few years ago in Israel. It is essentially eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and onions, often spiced with cumin. My husband loved it and kept asking me to recreate it at home. While I loved the classic rendition, I couldn’t resist tampering with it. I began with the usual base for a Shakshuka sauce; canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and sweet peppers. I took a page from Mexican sauces and added a few dried chile peppers. I used an ancho and a guajillo pepper. Dried peppers add a depth of flavour you just can’t get from chile powder. Here is a great primer if you want to learn more about cooking with dried peppers. Many of the more popular dried peppers are not that spicy, so don’t be afraid. I added corn to my sauce because corn makes everything better.I knew that I wanted to top the dish with cheese, because, Nachos need cheese. I settled on a mix of cheddar, Monterey Jack and Queso Fresco, a mild cow’s milk cheese. If you can’t find it, Ricotta Salata would be a good substitute, or just use extra cheddar and Monterey Jack.
Rather than fooling with poached or fried eggs, I decided to make it easy and use scrambled eggs. Inspired by matzoh brei(fried matzoh), I briefly mixed the tortilla chips with the eggs, before pouring them over the tomato sauce. I added some chopped pickled jalapeños to the eggs for a bright bit of heat. I served it with black beans, salsa and sour cream. Diced avocados or some guacamole would also be very welcome at this fiesta.
I blame my addiction to online shopping on my late paternal grandmother, my Bubbe. I grew up in Toronto, but she lived in Philadelphia. At least twice a years would send us her special poppy seed cookies. She always packaged them in a shoe box for mailing. I was conditioned to anticipate the arrival of apparel boxes at a very early age. It’s not my fault.
If you think about it, online shopping is really just the evolution of 20th Century catalogue shopping. If you are Canadian and of a certain age, you will remember The Eaton’s Catalogue. As a child, I spent many happy hours lusting after Barbie clothes and accessories. Not much has changed.
I recently discovered an unexpected bonus of online shopping. With my Amazon Prime subscription, I have access to Amazon TV. While making these breakfast pizzas, I began binge watching Good Girls Revolt. I had been feeling a bit lost after finishing Downton Abbey, and this series is filling the void.
Feel free to use store-bought pizza dough, or make your own. I am a big fan of Jim Lahey’s no-knead pizza dough. All you do it mix flour, yeast, salt and water in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Cover it and let is sit overnight until it becomes all bubbly. I have included the recipe for it at the end of this post.
My breakfast pizzas were inspired by an episode on Cook’s Country
The first one I created starts with a ricotta and feta base and is topped with nests of sautéed leeks cradling golden eggs.Each bite delivers a perfect combination of texture and taste; crispy, bubbly crust, creamy ricotta, gooey mozzarella, tangy Gruyere and golden brown caramelized leeks. Topping this pizza off with eggs may seem like excess, but trust me, when your fork breaks the sunny yolk, and you drag the crust through that golden eggy goodness, you will thank me. My second breakfast pizza is Southwestern, featuring tomatoes, corn, jalapeño, avocado and cilantro.Thinly sliced grape tomatoes form the nests to hold the eggs. The avocado and cilantro are added after cooking.
Although I write a food blog, I seem to struggle when it comes to deciding what to make when I have company for brunch. Smoked Salmon, cream cheese and bagels (unless I bake my own), feels like I phoned it in. Just not enough effort. Sort of like serving jarred salsa and bagged tortilla chips when friends come over. Pancakes and waffles are a challenge because they really are best served as soon as they are made and I don’t love cooking when I have people over. I prefer to have as much done in advance if possible. Plus, so many people are avoiding gluten and/or carbs these days.
My go-to brunch standard is a fritatta. My favourite is studded with sautéed leeks, cauliflower, corn and Gruyere cheese. It can be made ahead of time and is delicious served warm or at room temperature. But I get easily bored with food and always want to try something new.
Clinton Kelly made a variation of this hash on The Chew a few weeks ago. It seemed like a perfect brunch dish. He used ready made chicken sausage, but I keep Kosher, and couldn’t find any at my butcher. I decided to make my own. Since I wasn’t putting the sausage in casing, it really is quite simple to do. It’s just a matter of picking the right seasonings.I decided to use ground turkey and seasoned it with paprika, fennel seed, allspice, salt and red pepper flakes. Ground turkey tends to be dry, so to add moisture, without adding extra fat, I added some finely grated apple and onion. I learned that trick from Rachel Ray.
Once the ground turkey is browned up, it’s time to make hash. I used a combo of sweet potatoes and Yukon golds. I added some corn, sweet red peppers, and jalapeños for a bit of zing. Once all the veggies are cooked, the ground turkey is mixed in and it’s time to add the eggs. 12 minutes in a hot oven and brunch is ready. A big (12 inch) cast iron skillet is perfect for this dish, but any large skillet will work. It can be brought right to the table and served from the pan.If you want to get really cute, make the hash in a big pan, and then transfer it to 4 mini cast iron pans. Top each with an egg and bake. Serve each person their own little pan. I found the mini pans at World Market for $7.99 each. I couldn’t resist.
Upon waking each morning, I peek through the drapes to see if any buds have appeared on the bare limbs of the Norway maple tree outside my bedroom window. Seeing none, I am overcome with the urge to burrow right back into my hole (or under my covers). Mother nature has a perverse sense of humour this year. This long cruel “polar vortex” winter seems to have segued into a particularly nasty spring.
When I finally saw the first buds materialize, followed by a thatch of chives popping through through the earth, I knew that local rhubarb was not far behind. I’m not a rhubarb fanatic, but I do like to create with it at least once a year to celebrate the season. Last year it was this gorgeous tart. This year, I had had my heart set on rhubarb scones. I was inspired by Midge over at Food 52. When I told my husband about my plans, he frowned and grumbled, “What a way to ruin scones.” Clearly I am married to a Spring Grinch. Blueberry scones would make him purr, but those come in July. Get with the program honey.My favourite scone recipe is from the bibleBaking Illustrated, created by the same geniuses over at Cook’s Illustrated. These scones use heavy cream which contributes to a rich and tender crumb that buttermilk or whole milk would never achieve. They are not overly sweet, just 3 tablespoons of sugar are called for in the recipe. Knowing that rhubarb is super tart, I decided to add an additional few tablespoons of sugar to macerate with the sliced rhubarb, before adding it to the dough. When I went to make them, I discovered that I didn’t have quite enough heavy cream. Feeling too lazy to run to the store, I topped up the measuring cup with a bit of coconut milk. To ramp up the coconut flavour I added about 1/4 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut. The dough gets pressed into an 8 inch cake pan to give you a perfectly round circle for dividing into triangular scones. A bench scraper or sharp knife work well for cutting the scones.A final brush of heavy cream before they hit the oven gives the finished scones a lovely glossy surface. They were the height of scone perfection. Moist and flaky with a lightly crisped exterior. Even the Spring Grinch enjoyed one with butter and jam.
These are a biscotti unlike any other you may have tried. Traditionally, biscotti are hard, sturdy cookies, made for dunking into coffee or tea. These biscotti are firm but crisp and quite crunchy and airy all at the same time. They are delicate and will shatter if you are not careful handling them. It is a lot like eating a crunchy cloud, if you can imagine that. I call them breakfast biscotti because they are made with Special K cereal. That’s what gives them their unique texture.
This recipe comes from a childhood friend’s mother (Mrs .B). I was friends with the daughter of the family and my sister was friends with the son. Working as a tag team, we managed to wear Mrs B down until she gave us the recipe.
Biscotti, in Italian, means twice cooked. The cookies are first formed into a log, cooked until slightly firm, allowed to cool, then sliced into thin cookies and baked a second time until firm. All cultures around the world have their own form of this cookie. Jewish bakers haveMandelbroit (meaning almond bread), the English have their “Rusks”, in France they are called “Croquets de Carcassonne”, in Greece, “Paxemadia” and in the Ukraine they are called “Kamishbrot”.
These biscotti keep well in an airtight container for several weeks. I have almost managed to convince myself that they are a complete and healthy breakfast!
The dough mixes up quickly in the kitchenaid. Oil and sugar are creamed until light. Next the eggs are added. This is followed by the dry ingredients and finally, the Special K.
The dough is quite sticky, but do not be tempted to add more flour. Scrape out dough onto a heavily floured counter and knead lightly. Divide dough into 4 and then form logs. Bake logs for about 30 minutes until slightly firmed up.
After logs have cooled for at least an hour, slice on the diagonal. A serrated knife or chinese cleaver works well for this. Sprinkle with cinnamon, turn slices cut side up and return to the oven for second baking.
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup shortening
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups Special K cereal
¾ cup slivered almonds, toasted and cooled
cinnamon for sprinkling on half-baked cookies
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add oil, shortening and vanilla and mix until well blended. Add salt, flour, baking powder, special K and almonds. Mix just until blended.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into 4 pieces. The dough will be quite soft and sticky. Flour your work surface well so that you can handle the dough more easily. Roll each piece of dough into a log, about 2 inches wide and about 8 inches long. Place two logs on each baking sheet and brush off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Bake for about 20 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through.
Remove baking sheets from the oven and let logs cool for about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Place each of the cooled logs on a cutting board and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Using a serrated knife, cut into ½ inch diagonal slices. Arrange slices on parchment lined baking sheets, cut side down. Bake for about another 40-45 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through. The mandelbroit will be a bit soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will harden upon cooling. These freeze very well and our family likes them even better frozen.
I struggled with what to call this dish. To give you a better idea of what I created, try to imagine if Shakshuka and Nachos were to hook up. This dish would be their love child.
I began with the usual base for a Shakshuka sauce; canned tomatoes, onions, garlic and sweet peppers. I took a page from Mexican sauces and added a few dried chile peppers. I used an ancho and a guajillo pepper. Dried peppers add a depth of flavour you just can’t get from chile powder. Here is a great primer if you want to learn more about cooking with dried peppers. Many of the more popular dried peppers are not that spicy, so don’t be afraid. I added corn to my sauce because corn makes everything better.
I knew that I wanted to top the dish with cheese, because, Nachos need cheese. I settled on a mix of cheddar, Monterey Jack and Queso Fresco, a mild cow’s milk cheese. If you can’t find it, Ricotta Salata would be a good substitute, or just use extra cheddar and Monterey Jack.
