Sunday Breakfast: Part 3 (The Finale)

It's hard to believe summer is already over and I already had my first day of class. Although I didn't get to spend a month in Europe this summer it was still great, and is definitely disappointing to be back in school. I guess I should look on the bright side and know that I am now on the downward slope of pharmacy school, year three of four. One of the highlights of this summer definitely has been our Sunday breakfasts. I tried to take the best parts from my last two breakfasts, and add another dish or two, to try something new. My sister was home from Boston, she salivated over the strawberry brown butter bettys from breakfast numero uno, and told me I had to make them. Since strawberry season was over, and we were in the peak of peach season, I decided to do peach brown butter betty's. Since I'm more of a peach guy than strawberry, I think I might be partial to the peach brown butter betty's, but I think any fruit you want to use will be just as good, I mean combine anything with brown butter and sugar, and its going to taste good. I have ideas for two other brown butter betty's that I can't wait to try, apple (in about a month or so when we will be rolling in fresh fall apples!), and a banana chocolate one. Other components of the breakfast were roasted red pepper and caramelized onion quiche, bacon and caramelized onion quiche, breakfast potatoes, pancakes (not homemade, thinking back though I'm not all that sure why they weren't), and a banana, brown sugar and chocolate galette, that didn't turn out according to plan (but still tasted great).

Peach Brown Butter Betty's

adapted from Deb at Smitten Kitchen

12 servings

12 pieces of white bread, de-crusted

1/2 stick of butter

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/3 c panko bread crumbs

5-6 peaches, cubed

1/4 tsp salt

Sweetened marscapone to top them with (just add some powdered sugar and vanilla to the marscapone until its as sweet as you want it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the crust off each slice a bread, and flatten each piece evenly with a rolling pin.

Combine cubed peaches with the granulated and brown sugar, panko, vanilla and salt.

Over medium-low heat melt the butter in a small pot. Swirl the pot and stir as the butter is melting. The butter will foam and then start to darken. When it starts to smell less like plain melted butter, and more nutty and stronger you know the butter is done, take it off the heat.

Take your cupcake pan and brush each slot with the butter, also brush each piece of bread. Then form the bread in the cupcake slots.

Fill each piece of bread with the fruit and bake in the oven, covered for 12-15 minutes, then uncovered for 10, until bread has browned nicely, and crisped up.

Breakfast Potatoes

6 servings

6-7 yukon gold potatoes, in 1/4 inch cubes

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne

2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine potatoes with the rest of the ingredients. Spread out on a baking sheet, being careful not to overload the baking sheet (if the potatoes are crammed to close together they won't brown up, and just kind of steam). Bake for 45 minutes to an hour turning the potatoes about every 15 to 20 minutes.

*I edited this recipe from what I tried when I made this dish for our breakfast. I haven't tried it out again yet, but I think I would get a better result with this recipe. When I made it, the crust was overloaded way too much (I used 4 bananas) and didn't really set right. The bananas got to watery as well so mix them with the other ingredients right before your ready to form the galette (I mixed it all together, got distracted, and let it sit for a while, and I think the sugar and salt started pulling the liquid out of the bananas). As you can see it kind of just turned into mush.

Banana Brown Sugar and Chocolate Galette

1 galette

1 frozen pie crust (or homemade if your good like that)

2 bananas, sliced in thin rings

1 good quality chocolate bar (I use Lindt), broken up in to small pieces

1/2 c brown sugar

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Defrost pie crust according to package instructions.

Mix bananas with the brown and granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt and half of the chocolate bar.

Place the banana mixture in the center of the pie crust leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inch border. Crimp the border over top the banana mixture being careful not to tear the crust.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes, then add the rest of the chocolate to the top and bake until crust is crisp.

Eat well, Live well

Caramelized Onion and Red Pepper Frittata

Here is an easy recipe, that is very basic, and just about anything can be added to it. Onions are my favorite food, and caramelizing them are my favorite way to eat them, so I add those to a cast iron skillet along with some julienned red pepper slices, allowed that to sit in the oven for a while stirring occasionally, then threw in a couple beaten eggs and about 15 minutes later dinner was ready. Since I don't eat a real breakfast a whole lot, I don't shy away from having breakfast for dinner, and this is definitely an easy way to make that happen. Its much easier than an omelet, just set and forget the eggs, and in no time at all will your frittata be ready. I used onions and red peppers because thats what I had on hand, but really anything that you would want in an omelet works in a frittata, but being able to throw in whatever you have available is another reason why this is a great, and easy dinner recipe, there's no need to make any special trips to the store or anything like that. So next time you're feeling breakfast for dinner, throw what ever you have in the fridge together and make yourself a tasty frittata.

Caramelized Onions and Red Pepper Frittata

Serves 1-2

3 eggs

2 onions, thinly sliced

1 red pepper, julienned

2 tbs oil

2 tbs milk

pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

salt and pepper

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F. In cast iron skillet, or any other oven safe pan place the onions and oil, season with a little bit of salt and pepper and place in oven. After about 15 minutes stir and add the red peppers and add a little more salt and pepper. Check on the onions and peppers about every 15 minutes giving them a stir, until they are caramelized as much as you want them to be (I'm pretty sure I let mine cook for about 1 hour).

Break the eggs into a bowl, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and add the milk. Whisk all ingredients together then pour in the skillet with onions and peppers. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Take the frittata out and serve in pizza style wedges.

Eat well, Live well

A Walk in the Park

A few weeks ago my brother, two of our friends and myself went backpacking/camping for the weekend in Allegheny National Forest. This isn't pay 10 bucks for a campsite, buy some firewood and set up a tent next to your car. We pack up our backpacks with hopefully enough supplies to last us the weekend, hike in to the forest, say this random spot looks good for a campsite, and don't look back until the end of the weekend. Over the whole weekend we hiked about 7 miles, and our resident woodsman friend, Arko, claims the change in elevation from the lowest part of the trail to the highest part is over 1000 feet. I love a weekend like this. For me there's nothing like leaving behind everything for a weekend and just being in nature, out in the wild. We had a great time, got way to drunk Friday night, didn't think we would move from our first camp site Saturday morning, but had reviving swim in the a river and actually ended up hiking for 3-4 hours Saturday afternoon to a new campsite.

One of the best parts of going camping like this is, cooking over an open campfire. Who said you can't cook well in the wild, on Friday we had deer burgers (the deer caught and butchered by Arko last fall) prepared by Boz, and a deer stew that I threw together (I brought 2 onions, some baby yukon gold potatoes, garlic and some beef stock), oh yeah and a chocolate peanut butter cake that I brought, that as I was opening dropped icing side down on the ground. Saturday was a more traditional camp food day with hot dogs, bratwurst, and beans. I know for sure that the burgers were some of the best burgers I ever had, but by time the stew was ready I think I as well as everyone else were a little too drunk to know what the stew really tasted like (from what I can remember though it was pretty tasty).

One funny story, on the car ride to the forest we talked about how we had to hang all of our left over food and anything an animal (bear, bobcat, mountain lion, other carnivorous animals) might come around to forage, in a tree. My brother who worries about those kinds of things says there is no way he would get drunk enough or too tired to make sure everything was secured in a tree before we went to bed each night, well take a look how he passed out Friday night,

yeah he was ready for an attack (that is quite a spear, eh), that is if he would even be able to hear and be roused by anything in his drunken stupor. Somehow we did at least all manage to make it in to our tents that night. I guess a whole bottle of goldshlager, some Jim Beam Red Stag, vodka, some more of a different kind of whiskey and a 12 pack of Natty can have that effect on four campers.

The most amazing tank top ever (nothing better than a goofy outfit a manly camping trip)

The weekend was great though, we didn't run into much of any wildlife (we saw a salamander and a deer), ended up making a the whole 7 mile hike, and got to check out an absolutely amazing look out over the whole forest. This was my second time doing this camping trip in the summer, now were planning a trip for the late fall as well as a winter trip. We want to see how different the forest is in each of the different seasons.

Chances of encountering a ghost if brave enough to stay a night in this creepy old shed/barn/house 85%

Wildlife!

Eat well, Live well, while not becoming bear food

Vietnamese Pork Chop Sandwich (Banh mi)

The recipe for this sandwich looks like it has a lot of ingredients and may be a lot of work to put together, but most of the ingredients used are things you probably have on hand already (I only needed to buy the fish sauce, which is a good sauce to have in my pantry anyway). It's actually really easy to make, all it takes is mixing a few things together, marinating and grilling. I had one of these sandwiches when I was in New York City recently, at Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches, and thoroughly enjoyed, I knew I had to try and make it at home. Then when I came home I saw what looked to be a great recipe for the banh mi, on Food52, another one of the food blogs I follow, and knew it was time to give it a try. I don't know what was better about this recipe, the flavor of the pork, or the pickled carrots and jalapenos that are used to top the sandwich. These pickled vegetables were a real revelation and will be a technique that I will use a lot, because of how good they were, I think it is what makes this sandwich stand out. If you're in the mood for a sandwich and want something a little bit different, then definitely give this one a try, and you'll probably be making this all the time.

Vietnamese Pork Chop Sandwich

adapted from Caramelized Pork Banh Mi by monkeymom on food52

makes 1 large baguette sandwich

4 pork chops

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp sriracha, or other hot sauce of your choosing

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 french baguette

lettuce to top sandwich

pickled carrot and jalapeno

1-2 tbsp mayonnaise

Pound the pork chops to about an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch thick.

In a bowl, mix fish sauce, maple syrup, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, black pepper, and sriracha. Then add the pork chops and allow to marinate for at least 10 minutes and up to a couple hours.

Bring grill up to medium high heat. When ready to grill the pork, allow excess marinade to drain off and brush pork with the vegetable oil. Since the pork is thin it will only need 2-3 minutes per side.

Assemble the sandwiches, spread the mayo one side of the baguette, top with the pork chops, then add the pickled carrots and jalapenos and some lettuce. Enjoy.

Pickled Carrots and Jalapenos

2 large carrots, chopped into matchsticks

4 jalapenos, chopped into matchsticks

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Seed and de-vein the jalapenos and chop them as well as the carrots into matchstick sized pieces.

In a bowl, mix the water, vinegar, salt and sugar.

Toss the carrots and jalapenos in the water and vinegar mixture and let sit for at least an hour.

Eat well, Live well