Eggdrop Soup

And then I got sick...

I didn't feel that great when I got up in the morning, eventually I realized that I was completely useless so I came home from work early and laid on the couch for the rest of the day, got up a little bit later and went to bed. The next morning I did the unthinkable... I called in to sick. I know it doesn't sound like much but in the past 6 years I have called in sick... well when my appendix burst and one other time but it was kind of a graphic situation and doesn't belong on a food blog.

So I spent most of a day lying on the couch again... I just realized... I am just a butt load of fun lately. I hadn't eaten since the morning before so I knew that I had to eat something. I made a batch of "feelin like crap soup", now there are some rules to any "feelin like crap food"

• It has to be easy to make
• It has to taste good (not too spicy but I can't do bland)
• It has to be relatively healthy (not a good day for bacon wrapped anything)
• Most important it has to be made from stuff that is already in the house... I am not going out.

Today's choice for "feel like crap lunch" was my take on egg drop soup, face it chicken based soup feels good when you don't. Plus I had a good bunch of the things I need in order to make it, here is how it went today.

Ingredients
Some (about 1/4 cup) cut up or shredded chicken
2 1/2 cups chicken broth divided
3/4 cup sliced mushroom (I used baby Bella's)
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger*
1 egg
2 tsp corn starch
A little bit of chopped parsley to garnish

Sauté the chicken in a 2 quart saucepan until it is done (or reheated) to your liking, add your mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken broth then soy sauce and *ginger. Bring all of this to a boil then turn heat to a simmer. Beat your egg in a separate dish, then stir your soup and add the egg a teaspoon full at a time to your moving broth. It should cook in ribbons as you go. Mix your cornstarch with the last of the chicken broth to make a slurry and slowly add to your soup to thicken just a little. Garnish with chopped parsley.

*I keep a frozen hunk of frozen ginger in the freezer so I can grate off a little.bit at a time and still have the "fresh" ginger flavor.

Ok folks this one rocked it out! The chicken soup had that comforting flavor with the addition of the soy sauce and ginger that just warmed me up in time for my nap.

Breakfast Chilaquiles

Ahh, a holiday weekend which means one thing for me... I will have at least one good breakfast, I like the early morning time to poke around the kitchen.  Normally I get to work by 6:00 am add to that my hour commute and I don't have a lot of time to make breakfast before I leave.  Granted, at work I can pick a bit of bacon, get an omelet made for me or just have a bagel with cream cheese but all of those loose something when eaten at my desk with the constant chance of interruption...

"Bryan, there is a lady out front that wants to talk to you because we ran out of cream."

"Couldn't you get some?"

"Oh, I got her cream... she wants to yell at you for making her wait."

Kinda kills the enjoyable breakfast experience.  Today, however I had the chance to enjoy breakfast all around.  The Kiddos were watching Batman (with Batgirl in it) and Camp Rock while I made breakfast Chilaquiles.  This one is really good!  The ingredients for each:

A few tortilla chips

4 oz of Chorizo 

Salsa

2 Eggs

Shredded Fontina and Cheddar cheese. (why those cheeses? it is what I had, use your favorite)

Nothing is really measured here, it all goes into a small casserole dish, so if it doesn't fit you have too much of something.  Preheat oven to 350 while you cook the chorizo, once that is done build it in your dish(s) start with a few tortilla chips then chorizo then crack the eggs on top.  Being careful not to break the yolks add the salsa then the cheese.  Put it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, I like my eggs kind of soft, I don't know how to judge this you just have to use that psychic feel.  This one came out just right the perfect mix of flavors with the soft baked eggs and the melted cheese.

Wow, there is just no way to make raw eggs look good, I just wanted to give you a feel for the assembly.

Scotch Eggs

Ok, I know that I shouldn't have done it, after all the last time I stepped on the scale (two weeks ago, I haven't been able take the embarrassment since) it actually yelled at me, "Jeez, get the hell off you fat jerk!"  Ok, that isn't exactly what happened but summer is coming around and my kids like to swim which means that I like to swim too.  I have a problem though, I am pasty white... in fact Sherwin Williams approached me last summer to ask if they could patent the color of the flesh on my stomach... they were going to call it "Blinding Parchment," and use it to paint airport runways just in case the lights went out.  Add to that any weight gain and that "color" starts border on translucent.  Yes I think that with another say 25 pounds or so I would be the "Visible Man" (remember that from 4th grade science?)  Let's just say that I am getting back to my proper weight before all this happens.

Yesterday, I couldn't stop the demons though, I was looking at the hard boiled eggs from Easter, good source of protein, eat one on the way to work and you are good until lunch or add one to a salad and there is a lunch that will stick to you for the rest of the day.  My mind kept turning to the dark side though and by dark side I don't mean buttered toast on the side or real cream in my coffee.  Yesterday I got up early, before anyone else got did, and made Scotch Eggs... for the love of God don't tell a dietitian!

For those of you unfamiliar with the dish; Scotch Eggs are hard boiled eggs lovingly wrapped in a blanket of sausage, rolled in bread crumbs and then (this is your last chance to stop because it does get worse) fried.  Ok, padwon I will tell you how they are made but know that it may tempt you to the dark side, with a pull like you have never felt before... the ingredients:

Put these into separate bowls, the eggs go through them in steps

Dish No. 1

1/3 pound sausage

2 TBS minced onion

2 TBS fresh Parsley chopped fine

Mixed together then patted flat

Dish No. 2 

2 TBS Flour

Dish No. 3

1 Egg

1 TBS good Mustard

beaten together with a fork

Dish No. 4

Bread crumbs

Wrap the eggs one at a time in the sausage, parsley mixture then roll in flour, egg wash. and bread crumbs.  When they are all done it is time for their bath in 325 degree oil.  They cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown and beautifully tempting.  If you want to you can tell yourself that the Parsley counts as a vegetable/green and makes this dish good for you but we both know that is a lie.  

Anyway, are they good? MY GOD YES! will I make them any time soon?  Probably not, I am still pretty riddled with guilt... but then again maybe just once more, after all I can quit anytime I want.

 Here they are sitting in the oven ready to go...

Scene from Cocoon?  No I think we all know 

Scene from Alien!

Tortillas de Patatas

This dish was one that actually grew as I did in a culinary sense, until I realized that there was a name for it and people made it on purpose.  Years ago potatoes became a regular ingredient in Omelets for me really out of lazyness if I threw the "hash browns" meat vegetables and eggs into one pan, flipped it (just to show off) then served it, I got to ham it up a bit and only had one pan to wash when it was all over... great!  After a while the omelet turned to quiche (Ok it was the 80s and 90s people ate quiche).  Then Tortillas de Patatas came into being, really another word for Fritata but I didn't know that at the time.  I would start by sauteing the potatoes in my Iron Skillet adding the rest of the ingredients then finishing the dish off in the oven.   I had been making this for years, not because I am a huge Fritata fan or anything, but just because it is easy and I can use some left overs in it.  When the In laws visit Potatoes are usually part of the dinner menu and since I fear running out of food a little more than death I make way too much of everything.  The answer to that is serve the same food the next day disguised as a unique breakfast.

A few weeks ago I was reading an article on Epicurious, I think anyway, for the life of me I can't find it now. that talked about the dish that I had been making for ages Torillas de Patatas.  The article described it in an almost romantic way talking about how humble shop owners in rural Spain would bake large skillets of this dish in the morning then set it on the counter and sell it by the slice to their guests when they came in to buy coffee (or more likely whiskey).  The prose painted a very picturesque Norman Rockwell  type of scene around this dish.  It really is a winner for a lazy breakfast or brunch kind of meal because it is as good at room temperature as hot so you can eat at a leisurely pace or (often in my case) have it for breakfast and lunch.

The whole thing is so simple and the ingredients, as I so often say, are just a starting point, really put what you want to in it the one in the picture went like in this:

1 TBS butter

1 cooked potato (I usually use leftovers so guess, about a cup)

1 clove Garlic

5 eggs well beaten

1/2 zucchini sliced

1 Leek cleaned and sliced 

1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar in this one)

Salt and pepper to taste

This is all done in a 7 inch Iron Skillet.  Melt the butter then add the garlic then potatoes over medium heat and saute until warm.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well, I use my fingers but you can use a spoon if touching raw eggs grosses you out.  Then put into a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  Take it out and let it rest for a few minutes then slice it up and it is ready to go.  If you have more guests double and use a bigger skillet... I love that in a recipe.

Sausage Cheese Biscuits

As we are getting closer to the big day, Kris and I are having trouble getting some of the needed things done. It is hard to wrap gifts when your kids are stuck to you like gluesticks. Plus they never sleep, actually Miss Lu has been sleeping pretty well lately but doesn't fall asleep until after 9:30 most nights, I know that it doesn't sound hard to wait her out, but I get up a 4:00 most mornings and Mr. Man has taken to waking every 20 minutes between midnight and 3:00 am with bad dreams so he wakes everyone (except Miss LU) by SCREAMING "THAT'S MY CAR, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT," "SISSY STOP" or "NO, I WON'T EAT THAT!" So wrapping gifts while they are asleep is not easy since neither of us can stay awake long enough. So in the effort to leave Kris at home alone for at least a little bit I took Miss Lu and Mr. Man to the Mall to shop for her birthday present (Kris' birthday is Jan. 1).

Understand that this means going to Woodfield Mall the Saturday before Christmas, For those of you that aren't from the area, Woodfield Mall was the biggest indoor mall until the Mall of America was built in Minneapolis. To me though Mall of America is more of an attraction than a mall, Woodfield is a 2.7 million square foot Goliath boasting nearly 300 stores on 3 or 4 levels (hard to count) connected by a bizarre series of ramps, stairs and escalators. It is a nightmare on a good day. So in order to take squawky and the shopper there I needed enough breakfast to get me through. I had some sausage in the freezer so I made Sausage Cheddar Biscuits with egg.

Preheat the oven to 450 then here is how the biscuits go:
1 cup Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 TBS Butter softened but not melted
1/2 cup Milk (or a little less)
4 oz of Sausage browned
1/4 cup shreaded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 tsp Fennel Seed
Brown the Sausage (if there are casings discard) add the Fennel while cooking when done set aside. Sift the Flour, Baking Soda and Salt together then add the softened Butter. Using two knives cut them together until well mixed... I have to say here, Grandma's cookbook aside, I get bored and use my fingers to evenly mix the ingredients. When well blended form a bowl in the center and add the cooked Sausage and Shredded Cheese then about half the milk. Stir until well blended and add the rest of the milk a little at a time until it is just moist enough to pull from the side of the bowl and form a nice ball.

Now I am a sucker for Drop Biscuits so I stop while they are almost blended and pull the dough out about 2 TBLS at a time and put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet then bake for 12-14 minutes.

I had two biscuits topped with a very easy egg, yes the drink you see above is what you are thinking. By the way on the way home from our adventure I think I made the comment to the kids that will win me the father of the year... "If you two will be good in the Liquor Store daddy will buy you a bag of M&Ms for the trip home."

Roast Beef Hash and Eggs

I am finding that I like a hearty breakfast more that I thought I did. I was off from my day job one day last week and wanted to have another bigger breakfast. Luckily a couple of days before Kris had made a Pot Roast in the slow cooker. That is one of the dishes that she prepares (instead of me) She has an established ratio of meat, to potatoes to liquid and other ingredients that works well. I think I have mentioned before that slow cooking isn't my thing anyway, I am far too much of a poker and worrier so I tend to open the slow cooker too often and check, which really defeats the slow cooking process, actually I have found it really kills the process. Luckily for me I cut this piece of meat a little too big so there was more leftover meat than potatoes, in our house the kids stop eating roast ofter the potatoes are gone.

I got up on Thursday morning and found a chunk of well seasoned, tender beef a little bigger than a computer mouse sitting in the refrigerator. I thought that hash would be perfect so I peeled and diced a large potato then put it into a pan to boil, while that was going I diced up an onion, minced a clove of garlic and tore the meat in shreds. This is such a simple dish (making it perfect for breakfast) once the potatoes are done (by done I mean cooked until they are just a little bit firm when you poke them) you are ready to go.

Melt 1 TBS butter in a pan, I used my iron skillet, something about that pan feels right for Hash Browns Then started the Onions and Garlic. Once they are done, the onions are translucent put in the diced up Potato and Saute until the potatoes are almost done to your taste. I like to cook them over high heat so they get a little crispy at the edges and stay soft in the middle. For the last few minutes put in the shredded meat and add some salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes until the meat is hot, then turn off the heat and cover.

Cook your eggs in another pan and serve, I like my eggs really runny and set right on top.

Breakfast Tacos

This weekend, my Mom came to visit before school starts. My Mom's visits tend to follow the same pattern when she comes. She gets up here Saturday afternoon we play in the pool for a while then have dinner, then play in the pool some more. On Sunday we usually play in the pool again then have brunch at our house. This all means that on Saturday morning I have time to make a big breakfast, one that can be my only meal until dinner because it often is. Kris was kind enough to point out, while I was making my breakfast this morning, that I tend to cook Chorizo often when I do make myself a big Breakfast. I am a fan of Mexican Chorizo it is spicy enough to accent a meal and sticks with you for a while. Today I made Breakfast Tacos, probably an abomination for an authentic Southwest, Mexican Chef, but fun and really good.

The ingredients for 2 tacos were:

1/4 pound Mexican Chorizo

1/2 Small Onion Julienned

3 Eggs

1 TBS minced Cilantro

2 Roma Tomatoes diced

a small hand full of Cheese

2 6" Flour Tortillas

I cooked the Chorizo and Onions together in one pan, while they were cooking I diced the Tomatoes and Chopped the Cilantro for later. When the Chorizo and Onions were about done I scrambled the eggs in another pan. While the eggs were cooking I put the Flour Tortillas, one at a time, on top of the Chorizo to soften. When everything was done I assembled them. I laid out the Tortillas then added the Eggs, Onions, Chorizo, Tomatoes, Cilantro and Cheese then put a spoon full of Salsa on the side.