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

[Blether]

Microwave-reheated rice from yesterday, and ditto yesterday's off-the-cuff fish curry. Cheap & cheerful Thai Jasmine Rice, and the curry built like this:

Leftover fish meat from a gently foil-baked Yellowtail (Inada / Wakashi). After eating it hot the first time, I took the remaining meat off and made a concentrated stock from the carcass. Foil-baking Yellowtail yields a tremendous seafood aspic, and plenty of it, and I saved that, too.

(The editors apologise for the literary merit of the following two paragraphs).

After eating more of the fish cold with mayo, I used the last in the curry. I had enough for 3, or a scant four portions. So, 4 or 5 of the last of 2008's chilli crop (yes, they do need using up !) - chillis begin to lose heat after 6 months in the freezer, hence the qty. These I chopped, and fried briefly, seeds and all. Added crushed garlic, fried. Added whole coriander seeds (unorthodox, but I couldn't be fagged grinding them); whole brown mustard seeds; whole cumin seeds. Fried briefly. Added chopped onion, fried just to soften for a few minutes. Added ground cumin and some of Pat-Chapman's-recipe Aromatic Salt (a blend of salt and ground spices that keeps forever), stirred. Added a block of the onion confit I have in the freezer (qv), stirred briefly, added a can of coconut milk and the juice of half a lemon.

Stirred and brought to a simmer. Tasted. Realised I'd forgotten how salty Aromatic Salt is (and misunderestimated the chillis !). Washed, chopped and added two spuds and a carrot. Added all the fish jelly and the fish stock. Broke the cooked fish meat up a little by hand, picked out the last bones; simmered the curry for 12-15 minutes to cook the veggies, added the meat and warmed through - 3 or 4 minutes.

Result - really, really good eating. The sweet-sour balance is good and the level stimulating; the salt good; the chilli heat forceful but mellow. Most notably there's a depth of fresh seafood flavour that you just don't stumble over when you're out and about.

And this morning, these two reheated like this are easier, and leave less clean-up than a traditional cooked breakfast. The coriander works nicely like this - every so often you chew one of the seeds and get a burst of that orangey, perfumed coriander flavour, just like when you've used whole cardamoms. But the coriander is soft enough that it's no trouble to your teeth, and you don't have to spit out the husk like you do with cardamom.

Washed down with O-i o-cha from Ito-en, a commercial brand that's 100% Japanese tea leaf, but I like because it has an almost genmai-cha richness to it; and a handful of tomatoes off the vine outside the window, which is thriving on its mulching of skin & hair, courtesy of the vacuum-cleaner dust bag

(I figure the tomato plant is the firewall in the cannibalism cycle here, but if I come down with mad fruit disease, be kind, won't you ?)

Edited August 19, 2010 by Blether (log)

[robirdstx]

I had some leftover grilled lobster tail meat that I gently reheated in butter with granulated garlic, some fresh thyme leaves and a bit of lemon zest, served it over steamed jasmine rice.

The humidity has finally given us a reprieve so I had my breakfast out on the patio and watched the hummingbirds having theirs.

[kayb]

I did a recent brunch for friends. Got behind on my cooking, and so didn't take pics until we were already digging in.

Above, from the top, chilled corn soup with shrimp seared in paprika; fruit salad with sweetened creme fraiche; caprese salads.

Below, sweet rosemary corn bread, roasted asparagus with a canteloupe/mozzarella salsa (can it be a salsa if it has cheese in it?).

And a quiche (zucchini and sausage, with monterey jack and goat cheese)

We also had pound cake with peach/amaretto sauce, chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta cheese and chipotle peppers, and, of course, mimosas.

[robirdstx]

I don't know if this dish has a name, but I love it. A fried egg (over easy) and refried beans on a warm corn tortilla topped with salsa.

[SobaAddict70]

Cheese omelette (with goat's milk ricotta cheese from Lynnhaven Dairygoats)

Fried LaRatte fingerling potatoes, with heirloom tomatoes, parsley and rosemary

[ScottyBoy]

Friend loves pancakes so she gets pancakes.

[helenjp]

Figs simmered till translucent with green ginger and sugar, cold, with plain yogurt. Split muffin. Too hot for eggs &c.

[Kim Shook]

kayb – lovely looking brunch and that is one gorgeous quiche!

Breakfast this morning:

Scrambled eggs with jalapenos, sausage gravy and (frozen) biscuits. It was 70 degrees here last night, so I’m pushing for FALL!!!

[SobaAddict70]

Scrambled eggs, with crème fraiche, lobster and lobster roe.

This was made using the double-boiler method. More labor intensive than usual, but it produces extraordinarily creamy and consistent results.

[eldereno]

Haven't posted here in quite awhile but made a nice breakfast/brunch today for my family that I would like to share. Made Dorie Greenspan's wonderful Pumpkin and Gorgonzola Flan from her new cookbook today. Served with sliced tomatoes and sliced cantelope from the local farmer's market, bacon, and 7 grain toast. Lovely meal.

[percyn]

Breakfasts over the past weekend:

Fried Egg w/Smoked Kielbasa

Fried Egg w/Home-smoked Bacon

[suzilightning]

1030 am on the hawkwatch - turkey salad with minced shallots, celery salt and miracle whip and a dollop of cranberry sauce from the can.

other days it is cottage cheese with fruit or yoghurt.

[Pilori]

I had yogurt and granola with some fermented raspberries to top it off. Yum.

[johnnyd]

I'm a big fan of fish for breakfast.

Fresh cod and garden peppers/onions/Heirloom tomato/basil today:

baguette on the side

Edited September 23, 2010 by johnnyd (log)

[heidih]

I had yogurt and granola with some fermented raspberries to top it off. Yum.

Fermented raspberries? Can you expand on that?

[Pilori]

heidih You basically take ~4 cups fresh rapsberries, 1/4 sugar, and 1/4 cup some kind starter culture (I used unpasteurized milk whey, but you could also use something like kombucha) and mash to mix. Then just put in some mason jars, cover with two piece lids, and let them sit out in a warm place for 1-2 days. You can check when they are ready by pushing down the lid seeing if it doesn't give anymore and then you can just pop in the refrigerator! This gives a nice effervescence to the berries and makes them last much longer than fresh berries would. Of course, if you leave them out longer you'll begin to get alcoholic raspberries, which isn't necessarily bad...just don't forget to burp the jar or else you'll have raspberries on your ceiling and, at worst, glass shards in your walls!

[percyn]

Picked up some tasty Saucisse de Canard al'Armagnac which I had with a Fried Egg.

[kayb]

French toast (from challah), and bacon yesterday:

And bacon, fried egg, and bran muffin with walnuts today:

[Blether]

Daube de boeuf a la bourgignonne - shank cut into 1.5" chunkc, browned and stewed in red wine together with cut-up large onions, till both collapsed even more than intended; button mushrooms added for the last hour. The stew microwaved from the fridge, the sprouts from the freezer. Skin-on mashed spuds.

[percyn]

Blether,

Did you have that for breakfast? Or like I have done many times, posted in this thread instead of the Dinner thread?

[Blether]

That was really breakfast, baby.

[heidih]

I am on the same page- leftovers for breakfast works for me.

[Blether]

I made the mash fresh, and the sprouts come flash-frozen-raw, all the way from La France. Edited September 28, 2010 by Blether (log)

[percyn]

In that case - hats off to you!!

I guess I did not recognize it as "breakfast" without an egg

[percyn]

Turkey Cheddar Sausages w/Scrambled Eggs

Edited October 3, 2010 by percyn (log)