Mató & Maple Syrup » Breakfast

Summer brings sweetness

alexandra — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:07:28 +0000

Reading Barry Estabrook’s Tomatoland: How Modern Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit has only confirmed the importance of eating seasonally. I’ll talk more about the book in another occasion, today I just wanted to say how excited seeing the first tomatoes of the season make me feel. The past couple of weeks have brought grape tomatoes to my vegetable basket and their sweetness have been magnified from the months of impatient waiting. This morning I caramelized a green onion from this week’s share, sprinkled some salt and petter, added chopped grape tomatoes at the end of the cooking, a bit of balsamic vinegar and voilà: the perfect base for egg on toast! Friday began well.

Eggs poached in tomato sauce

alexandra — Sat, 14 May 2011 22:05:41 +0000

One of the best sides of entertaining friends is that you get to cook recipes that work best when cooked for more than two people. I’ve been wanting to make this recipe ever since I saw it on Saveur. I love tomato sauce and I love eggs. What could possibly go wrong?? So when my Brazilian friends decided to meet for brunch, I didn’t hesitate in offering my place. I changed the recipe a bit by removing the chillis (I wasn’t sure if everybody ate spicy food), reducing the olive oil a bit, and adding some smoked paprika. The results were to die for… a huge hit!

Ingredients

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika (pimentón de la vera)
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes,undrained [I used San Marzano tomatoes]
Kosher salt, to taste
8 eggs [there were 7 of us, so I used 7 eggs]
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
bread or polenta for serving

1. Heat oil in a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

2. Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 40 minutes. Season sauce with salt. [not much since you'd be adding the feta cheese]

3. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle with feta and parsley and serve. I plated them on top of a slice of bread or a slice of polenta.

Fried eggs

alexandra — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:58:58 +0000

Before

After

A friend asked me what was the secret of my fried eggs. He found that their crust was always perfectly even. The secret is a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. Mine is this one. Inexpensive, made in North America, and very high quality. I use it nearly every day!

Monday breakfast

alexandra — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:24:43 +0000

Nothing like a scrumptious breakfast to start off another week of work. Fried polenta topped with kale (both were leftovers from a weekend meal) and a fried egg. To add some colour and a nice flavour, some Brazilian pimenta de bico, a very sweet chili variety.

My idea of breakfast cereal

alexandra — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:43:17 +0000

Rolled oats cooked with thai eggplant, cerely, kale, and topped with fresh tomatoes and olive oil

Polenta for breakfast

alexandra — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:16:49 +0000

I made some polenta for dinner the other day and purposely made more than I needed so I could have some leftover for breakfast. By the next morning the polenta was nice and firm so I cut a think slice, fried it for about 3-4 mins per side on my cast iron pan, I then pan fried some green onions, moved it to the side, fried an over-easy egg and then piled it up: polenta, tomato relish from my farmers’ market, green onions, topped by a nice fried egg. It was SO good.

Spinach day

alexandra — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:55:45 +0000

Pots had lots of fresh local Spinach this weekend so I filled a big bag and woke up this morning wondering what to do with such beautiful greens. I was all set to simply have a toast for breakfast when one look at the goat cheese in the fridge and the spinach sitting in a bowl of water on the counter was enough to make that simple toast a tad nicer. On top of a couple leaves of spinach I piled some broccoli sprouts, and topped the whole thing with goat cheese, which I had mixed with some fresh basil and olive oil. Into the toaster oven it went for five minutes and voilà:

For lunch I decided to try my hand at a quiche. After perusing four different books and two blogs, I made up my own recipe. Before making the filling, however, I made Clotilde’s Olive Oil Crust. While the crust cooled in the fridge and then baked in the oven, I prepared the filling below:

Ingredients

3/4 cup cream
1 cup Gruyère cheese
2 eggs
about 5 oz fresh spinach
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 small onions
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Wash the spinach well and chop the onions
Heat a 10″ skillet (I use cast iron) and cook the onions in the olive oil until soft and light golden
Meanwhile, chop up the spinach and add to the onion when it’s soft enough, folding it in until it begins to wilt. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Once the spinach is almost all wilted, transfer to a colander and let drain from excess liquid. Let it cool.
Mix cream and eggs until well blended and smooth, add cheese, a pinch of nutmeg (about 1/8 tsp) and mix in the spinach mixture.

Bake in a pie shell in 400 F (200 C) for about 35-40 mins. We had it for lunch with a nice green salad garnished with grapefruit and balsamic vinaigrette.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767929497?ie=UTF8&tag=debormadis-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0767929497

Baked egg

alexandra — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:07:51 +0000

Still on a baked egg kick… this one was inspired by a recipe in the recent edition of the LCBO Food and Drink magazine. Underneath the egg stir-fried tomatoes, shallots, goat cheese with peppers and chives.

Sunday breakfast

alexandra — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:48:25 +0000

Accompanied by some nice Quebec cheese and some rooibos tea.

Cornbread for brunch

alexandra — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:54:52 +0000

Ever since I got my cast iron skillet, I have been going nuts with the cornbread. Based on this sausage & onions cornbread recipe, I made my own version with spinach and then a vegetarian and non-wheat version. On Sunday I varied from that basic recipe once more by replacing the zucchini with 2 cobs of fresh corn and the kale with half a bunch of yellow chard. I didn’t have any basil around so I sprinkled some goat cheese on top at the end of baking for some extra tanginess. There was, of course, some leftover so when I woke up uncharacteristically late on Monday, a brunch was in order. So I fried an egg over easy (again, in my cast iron skillet, which is the best non-stick pan I ever had), then stir fried some small cherry & heirloom tomatoes and voilà: our brunch cornbread. Very very yummy.