Huevos Avocados

While I frequently forget that sometimes, “simpler is better”, occasionally I do remember that philosophy, and do something that surprises me in its satisfaction-to-work ratio. This is definitely one of those things. Really just 3 ingredients, that blend together so nicely, and which could be served at breakfast, lunch or dinner. I’ll be making them again soon.

Ingredients

• Avocados (at least one per person)
• Eggs (one per avocado)
• Shredded queso fresco (or mozzarella cheese)
• pinch of salt
• pinch of red pepper

Start with firm avocados. Ripe or over-ripe will be difficult to work with, and besides, the cooking process will soften them up just fine. With the peel still attached, slice off, lengthwise the sides of the avocado, so that you have a center-cut of about 3/4 of an inch remaining. Using a paring knife, carefully remove the pit, so that you end up with a slice that has a big hole in it. Now remove the peel for the outside of your slice.

Place the avocado slice on a well greased baking pan, and crack 1 large egg into the hole. It’s fine if some of the egg spills out, but make sure to keep the yolk whole and in the hole! Place the pan in a 350 degree oven and cook for about 20 minutes – longer if you want your egg well done, less if you are fine with a runny yolk. About 5 minutes prior to the end of cooking, top with shredded queso fresco, and switch the oven to low broil. Broil until the cheese is bubbly, and remove from the oven.

Use a spatula to remove the avocado/egg from the pan (remember, your pan should have been well greased !), plate them, and put a pinch of salt and red pepper on them to serve.

Chorizo Hominy Breakfast Pie

I had the great pleasure recently to see a good friend and his daughter in Palm Coast, FL, while driving back from Christmas vacation. We decided to do a quick breakfast, and I prepared this Mexican-inspired breakfast pie for the occasion. The use of the hominy provides a rich corn taste, that really makes the dish. You could use a substitute for it and the chorizo, but it just wouldn’t be right.

Ingredients

• 6 ounces hard chorizo, diced
• 10 ounces queso fresco, grated
• 1 can (about 1 cup) white or yellow hominy
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 pablano pepper, finely diced
• 1 habanero pepper, finely diced
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the Crust

• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 stick salted butter

Start by making the crust. Melt the stick of butter and add to it the panko and parmesan cheese. Mix thoroughly. Butter well a 6 x 9 baking pan, and then press the panko mixture onto the bottom of the pan to form the crust. Use about 2 ounces of the grated queso fresco to cover the top of the crust. This will really hold the crust together. Set aside.

In a pan, cook the onion and diced peppers in a little butter, until the onion is translucent. Set aside and allow to cool.

Take the diced chorizo, and cook it in a pan until most of the fat (and a lot of the bright orange color!) have cooked out of it, and the sausage is slightly browned. Drain on paper towels and allow to cool.

Open the can of hominy, and drain throughly.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and add the cream, mixing well. Add the remaining queso fresco, chorizo, cooked peppers and onions, sun dried tomatoes, and hominy to the bowl and mix throughly. Pour the mixture evenly into the baking pan on top of the crust. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until the top of the pie is golden brown.

Allow the pie to cool and set up, to facilitate slicing and portioning. Reheat in the microwave as necessary and serve hot.

Breakfast Rice #3 – Sweet

Unless you are in Asia, you probably don’t think about having rice for breakfast. And that is too bad – like any other cereal grain, it is a great, healthy start to the morning. A bowl of well cooked brown rice can be jazzed up many ways, including this one. Made much as you would a bowl of oatmeal, the texture of the rice really brings this up a notch.

Ingredients (Per Serving)

• 2/3 cup brown rice, cooked
• 1 egg, scrambled
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tablespoon golden raisins
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Prepare your brown rice, so that you end up with 2/3 cup cooked rice. Don’t be afraid to make it kind of mushy, as this will more closely resemble the texture of oatmeal.

Lighty grease a frying pan, and scramble the egg, chopping the egg up as you go, so you have many small pieces. Add the tablespoon of butter to the pan, and when melted, add the brown rice. Stir fry the mixture for minute of so, mixing the rice thoroughly with the egg. Add the cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, and stir until mixed.

Place the rice in a bowl, and top with the nuts and dried fruits. Pour about a tablespoon of maple syrup over the top and serve.

Bacon Scotch Egg

This is a play on one of the bastions of English pub food, the Scotch Egg. The key difference here is that we are soft boiling rather than hard boiling the eggs, and substituting bacon (‘skinny bacon’ for my English friends) for the sausage meat. I posted a picture of this a while back on Facebook, but never really explained how to make it. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients (for 1 egg)

• 1 large egg
• 2 strips bacon
• 1/4 cup panko or bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Start by soft boiling the egg(s). Get a pot of slightly salted water up to a full boil. Carefully add the eggs, making sure the shells do not break. For 1 to 4 eggs, let boil for 7 minutes. For 5-8 eggs, let boil for 8 minutes. Carefully remove the eggs from the boil, and immediately transfer to a bowl containing ice water, to stop the eggs from cooking any further.

When the eggs are cool, peel the shell from the eggs. Be very careful about this. Since the eggs are soft boiled, the yolks will still be liquid. Too much pressure while peeling the egg will cause the egg white to crack, and the yolk will ooze out – that would be bad !

Now wrap the eggs in the bacon. The bacon you should use for this should NOT be the thick cut variety. It should be thin and have lots of fat. Now is not the time for lean bacon. Wrap one strip of the bacon lengthwise around the egg, again being very careful not to crush the egg as to break the white. Take the second strip of bacon and spiral it around the egg. Make sure the egg is fully covered and the bacon is wrapped very tightly around the egg – this is why you should use really fatty bacon – it sticks together better.

Now bread the egg. Mix the panko and the parmesan cheese together, and begin coating the bacon wrapped eggs. Try to get as much of the coating to stick to the bacon as possible.

Now to the deep fryer. With the oil at about 350 degrees, carefully drop the egg into the oil and fry for about 5 minutes, until the bacon is golden brown and crisp. This is key, as a soggy bacon wrapped egg is no good. Don’t worry about the egg yolk becoming fully cooked – the bacon and the egg white will insulate it enough during the cooking process.

When the eggs are done, remove them from the oil and allow to drain on paper towels. Serve them as hot as possible.

These eggs are really good served over a crisp green salad, as shown in the picture. Lightly dress the greens with balsamic vinegar. When the eggs are cut into, the yolk will ooze out, and finish dressing the salad. Yum !