Breakfast! The most important meal of the day (2004-2011)

[little ms foodie]

I came downstairs for our usual quick espresso and breakfast of cerel, toast or hard boiled egg to find my husband had done this........

How cute are those melon balls in my olive dish?? Do you think he is learning some plating tips or what??

Edited May 21, 2005 by little ms foodie (log)

[ohmyganache]

percyn, you have any pix of dessert from the Ritz brunch? I know I guy there that used to work here...

[Chufi]

with oatmeal stout to drink.

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Susan, after seeing a number of your breakfasts being accompanied by some sort of stout, I finally have to ask.

So you're basically having alcohol with your breakfast? I have to say that to me that is quite unusual.. Is it a US thing? or a Florida thing? Please enlighten me!

[Susan in FL]

Yes, often we do have alcohol with breakfast or brunch on weekends -- more often on Sundays than on Saturdays. I think it's a beer lover thing, much like one would have Mimosas or Champagne or Bloody Marys with breakfast or brunch. Are those not customary in The Netherlands, either?

We have been on a big long kick for having oatmeal stout for breakfast, since we have such a good supply from my husband's last beer shopping. I expect that as soon as most of the stouts are gone, we will go back to having Champagne or Mimosas on Sunday mornings.

Can you find oatmeal stout? I would love to hear how you like it with breakfast food, if you give it a try. I know you like good beer.

[Behemoth]

So you're basically having alcohol with your breakfast? I have to say that to me that is quite unusual..

Wait, don't you people share a border with Germany?

[percyn]

Here are some Gran Marnier French Toast I made a few days ago:

and some Scrambled eggs with Mitake mushrooms with a side of short ribs and marrow

ohmyganache, sorry, no pics of the desserts, but they were sublime.

[misstenacity]

This AM, as is typical on Sundays:

2 cups coffee w/ half & half (tiny mug, so these are "actual" cups as measured by the coffee pot rather than by the oversized mugful)

....followed by:

1 bowl ugly oatmeal. Ugly in the visual sense, beautiful in the waking me up and setting up the body for the day ahead. The recipe varies, but usually includes some form of whole oat groats (the groats themselves or steel cut or irish oats), added oat bran, nuts (almonds or walnuts), dried fruit (bananas or apples, cooked with the oatmeal to get soft), and finished with ground flax seeds and a handful of granola for crunch.

Trust me when I say you wouldn't be impressed by a photo of that brownish greyish glop. Porridge rules!

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Susan in FL]

There you go again, Percy. I have said it time and time again, but have to repeat. You are The Breakfast Man!!!

After the brief discussion about various alcoholic beverages for breakfast or brunch, we decided to take a break from the oatmeal stout kick and had Mimosas this morning. The food was baked eggs with artichokes, herbs, and parmesan garnished with prosciutto and sliced tomato, and a bagel. I had butter and Johnnybird's Toast Dope on my blueberry bagel. It was a cloudy and rainy morning, but nevertheless the view from the porch was very enjoyable.

[percyn]

There you go again, Percy.  I have said it time and time again, but have to repeat.  You are The Breakfast Man!!!

Thanks Susan

In honor of the alcohol with breakfast discussion (and some left over brioche), I dediced to make some Jack Daniel's spiked french toast. These were sooo good, that I plan to add it on the menu of the next brunch I host and will also be adding some to the bread pudding I will bake tonight

Cheers

Percy

P.S: If this alcohol with breakfast trend continues, perhaps we should merge the Drinks! thread with this one

[magnolia]

1 bowl ugly oatmeal.  Ugly in the visual sense, beautiful in the waking me up and setting up the body for the day ahead.  The recipe varies...Porridge rules! 

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I agree, porridge rules. But I can never get it as creamy and lovely as the professionals seem to. I have the real thing - porridge oats. They either end up sticky, almost cement-like (maybe not enough milk?) or like hard pebbles in a soup of hot milk (too much milk?)

What's the correct milk-to-oats ratio, and the trick to getting the ideal consistency, which to me, resembles polenta or grits?

[Chufi]

Yes, often we do have alcohol with breakfast or brunch on weekends -- more often on Sundays than on Saturdays.  I think it's a beer lover thing, much like one would have Mimosas or Champagne or Bloody Marys with breakfast or brunch.  Are those not customary in The Netherlands, either?

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I think it's more that big breakfasts aren't very common here.. many of the breakfasts I see on this thread would be considered dinner over here..

If you have a much lighter breakfast, alcohol seems out of place I guess.

yes, I would love to try the oatmeal stout (but maybe I'll have it in the evening instead of for breakfast).. I'll have to visit my specialty beershop soon!

[misstenacity]

I agree, porridge rules. But I can never get it as creamy and lovely as the professionals seem to. I have the real thing - porridge oats. They either end up  sticky, almost cement-like (maybe not enough milk?) or like hard pebbles in a soup of hot milk (too much milk?)

What's the correct milk-to-oats ratio, and the trick to getting the ideal consistency, which to me, resembles polenta or grits?

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The strategy is essentially to start VERY early - about an hour before you are going to be eating (I get it cooking while I'm having my coffee and morning fruit).

What I do is lightly toast the slow cooking stuff (irish oats, etc) in a dry or buttered pan, then add about 4-6x the water compared to the volume of dry grain. Either cover it or don't (you'll just need to add more fluid later), and leave it on the lowest heat possible to maintain a simmer. Check in every 15-20min and give it a stir. Taste after 30 min to make sure nothing is too chewy, and about 10 minutes before "ready", add quick-cooking things like dried fruit, oat bran, etc.

Adjust fluid to your desired degree of gloppiness, add salt/sugar/milk, and serve!

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

Edited May 22, 2005 by misstenacity (log)

[Raj Banerjee]

Sunday Breakfast (late lunch is dim sum at the local chinese, which also happens to be one of the best in London - Golden Palace in Harrow) is usually something along the lines of Aloo Paratha with a heavy, Greek-like yoghurt.

Aloo paratha is like an Indian potato pancake, spiced with cumin and methi (and the obligatory onion and garilic and some coriander leaves, maybe some curry leaves). The mashed potato mixture is rolled inside the dough, and then this is lightly toasted in a pan with a knob of ghee. Or, if we're feeling healthy, we use low fat butter and a tortilla maker. To go with this, sometimes we have tiny cauliflower florets dipped in a spiced chick pea batter and fried.

Sweets are usually an indian sweet-meat like the Bengali Shandesh.

Total calorie count - about a million

Total fat count - shhhh...dont tell your cardiologist, its the weekend!

To drink, proper Darjeeling tea, from India, brewed in a proper stainless steel pot. No sugar so you can enjoy the delicate fragrance properly.

Bliss...can just about cope with relocating to the sofa to read the papers...

[magnolia]

Sunday Breakfast (late lunch is dim sum at the local chinese, which also happens to be one of the best in London - Golden Palace in Harrow) is usually something along the lines of Aloo Paratha with a heavy, Greek-like yoghurt.

Aloo paratha is like an Indian potato pancake, spiced with cumin and methi (and the obligatory onion and garilic and some coriander leaves, maybe some curry leaves). The mashed potato mixture is rolled inside the dough, and then this is lightly toasted in a pan with a knob of ghee. Or, if we're feeling healthy, we use low fat butter and a tortilla maker. To go with this, sometimes we have tiny cauliflower florets dipped in a spiced chick pea batter and fried.

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You know, I wondered why I've seen tortilla makers at some of the Indian supermarkets in London & Southall.

Any chance of a group less on making aloo paratha??

[Raj Banerjee]

You know, I wondered why I've seen tortilla makers at some of the Indian supermarkets in London & Southall.

Any chance of a group less on making aloo paratha?? 

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Hey, sorry it took me so long to reply. I can of course give a group lesson on how to make aloo paratha, but bare in mind that this is a very casual family recipe and some of the more experienced Indian cooks are gonna get into a discussion over the merits of this recipe in much the same way that other cooks will wax lyrical about the best way to roast a chicken or make boeuf bourguignon!

Anyways, here is what I do - I am not going to give accurate weights and measures cos I just dont use them, but I am sure you can work it out.

Dough - couple of cups of plain flour, pinch of salt, 1tsp oil and enough water to make a dough thats just on the tight side, but ideally not too lose or too tight. You'll be able to feel when its right.

Potatoes - make mashed potato, go easy on the butter and milk, and season only very lightly with salt.

In a pan, gently fry some sliced onions(an amount appropriate to the amount of mash u make, which in turn will depend on the amount of dough you make. For a couple of cups of flour, you probably want about 500g or so of mash, which would need about one medium sized onion)) so that they are browned.

Add a healthy pinch of cumin seeds and some chopped green chilies (up to you how hot you like it).

Add the mashed potatoes to the onion, cumin and chili mixture and mix it up until it is cooked enough so that your finger comes out clean when you stick it into the potatoes (no apologies for hygiene standards in my household, this is how its always been done!)

Make the parathas - make balls with the dough (you're aiming for an overall paratha diameter of about 7-8inches).

Flatten the dough in your hand, make a little shallow cup and put some of the mash in, and fold the sides of the dough over. Roll it out to the desired thickness and diameter on a floured surface. I could not possibly give you any Thomas Keller-style 3/16 of an inch guidelines as to the thickness - I take it you have had paratha before and you basically know what you're aiming for at this stage, right?

Heat ghee (if you have arteries of steel) or low fat oil or butter substitute or whatever it is you feel like using in a pan and gently fry the paratha. Flip it when you have achieved desired done-ness. The heat should be medium, enough to cook the dough without browning it too much.

I am sorry if that is not descriptive enough, but I hope you get the general idea. This is by no means a cast-iron recipe, rather one that Mum and I have ended up using cos for us it works! Serve with nice thick cooking yoghurt, as its quite a rich dish!

Enjoy! Now, for all those who have better recipes (I am Bengali and aloo paratha isn't exactly a Bengali speciality) I am more then willing to hear you all out!

Raj

[percyn]

Croissant and coffee

[Susan in FL]

Yesterday we cooked scrambled eggs in some leftover drippings/fat from a roasted chicken, and potato cakes from leftover mashed potatoes. Straight up OJ was the drink! Mother Nature fixed us up with a hazy, hot, and humid day. It was 87 degrees on our porch when we ate this at 9:00 yesterday morning.

This morning we had ham, over-easy eggs, bagel of choice, and a Bloody Mary -- 10 degrees cooler and much more crisp and clear at the same time today.

[percyn]

Omlette with mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes and cheese. Topped with a few sprigs of cilantro.

[misstenacity]

Omlette with mushrooms, onions, spinach, tomatoes and cheese. Topped with a few sprigs of cilantro.

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Percyn,

It has gotten to the point that I have to strap on my drool cup before I take a look at ANY of your breakfast posts....

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Ling]

most of a batch of shortbread, dipped in Valrhona 64% (Manjari)

[percyn]

Thanks Andrea !!

Well, here is what I made today:

Pancakes:

Cheers

Percy

P.S: I am planning on a special breakfast tomorrow

[percyn]

Truffle Omelette: - had enough left over truffles from my truffle experiment to use them for breakfast

[Susan in FL]

MMmmm... I was on the lookout for that, Percy.

It was dark, dreary and wet from downpours and thunderstorms all day today, so we ate brunch indoors. First mushroom, onion, and Canadian bacon omelettes with tomatoes and avocado on the side, and then we had waffles for "dessert"...Bubbly with the first and oatmeal stout with the second. We ate in front of the TV, watching the start of the NASCAR race.

[Ling]

I ate some scrambled eggs, and fig and caribou pate.

[Farmer Dave]

I ate some scrambled eggs, and fig and caribou pate.

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Were you hungover Ling?