Showing posts with label breakfast for dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakfast for dinner. Show all posts

Monday, May 9, 2011

Crabcakes Benedict with Mango Cream Sauce

There are few things my husband likes more than crabcakes, so I thought it would be a special treat to add Crabcakes Benedict to the menu this time around. Crabcakes and Benedict...in the same sentence!? Could it get any better than that?

Yes it can ... because mango cream sauce is delicious!

This was a late night to start cooking because we had to take Oia (the puppy) to the vet for her shots...and breakfast for dinner is usually a quicker process than other recipes so this worked out well. I gathered my mise en place

Mango Cream Sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream, warmed to room temperature
1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (I used parsley because "the man" doesn't like cilantro)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Crabcakes Benedict:
12 large eggs (I used 6, and made the portions appropriate for two)
12 crabcakes (I made 4, using this recipe: click here.)
One 9-ounce bag corn tortilla chips, finely crushed
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 English Muffins (I used 2)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley for garnish


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That came together quicker than you'd think. The first thing I did was make the mango cream sauce. In a saucepan, I melted my butter over medium heat. 


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Once the butter has melted completely, whisk in the 2 tablespoons of flour, until the mixture is smooth and fragrant...but does not change color. You don't want it to start browning.


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At this point, add the cream and whisk until the mixture is well combined.

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Add half of the mango, as well as the red pepper, cilantro (or parsley), salt and pepper to taste, and then bring the mixture to a simmer. You want the sauce to become thick, yet smooth. The recipe says to simmer for 8-10 minutes but mine was ready much sooner than that, in fact, I'll go far as saying that it was a little too thick. I'd maybe add a little less flour next time.

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Okay, let's keep the sauce warm while we do the rest of the work. I promise the rest goes pretty quickly. Whisk two eggs in a bowl with a little bit of water, and then brush both sides of each crabcake with the mixture. Coat each cake with the crushed up tortilla chips.

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Heat some oil or butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and once it's heated, add the cakes to the pan. If you decide to make a lot of them, you might need to do this in batches. Because I only made 4 crabcakes, it was fine to do them all at once. Cook them until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. I placed them on a paper towel after removing them from the pan to absorb any excess grease that might be sitting on them.

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Once the crabcakes are done, whisk up your eggs (in my case, I used 6) and season them with salt and pepper. Wipe your skillet clean with a paper towel and add some new butter to the pan. Once it's melted, pour in your eggs and scramble them.

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Once all of your working pieces are finished, it's time to plate. Toast your English Muffins and put them on the plate. I gave us each two halves as a serving since it's dinner and not just an appetizer, and I topped each half with a crabcake. Pile some scrambled eggs on top of each crabcake and spoon some of the mango cream sauce on top. Sprinkle each half with the reserved diced mango, as well as some chopped parsley. 

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Dinner fit for the beach! Welcome, Spring, we've been looking forward to your visit!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Sunny Side Up

Last night, I took some of my cuts of meat out of the freezer to prepare for the next few days of meals. I was a little disappointed when I came home tonight to find that none of them had defrosted enough. I really don't like defrosting meat in the microwave because it tends to start cooking as it defrosts, and then it doesn't cook evenly. Instead, I looked to my trusty Breakfast for Dinner option. This time around, I opted for Sunny-Side-Up Eggs on Mustard-Creamed Spinach with Crispy Crumbs. This recipe is from Bon Appetit and while the recipe says it serves 2, it only calls for 2 eggs. I doubled that portion since one fried egg and some spinach is probably not the most substantial dinner - and I set to work!

Mise en place
What we have here:

1/2 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs
5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, divided
2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 9-ounce package of fresh spinach leaves
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
4 large eggs
thyme sprigs

Just like yesterday, I had to go with the dried thyme instead of fresh - I really have NO idea where my thyme went! So the first step here is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While you are waiting for the oven to heat, mix 2 teaspoons of the mustard, 2 teaspoons of the oil and the mustard seeds with the breadcrumbs in a bowl. They will get kinda lumpy and stuck together, at which point, transfer them to a baking sheet. I used a pyrex dish instead because my baking sheets are being bogarted by some seedlings that my husband has started and laid out to get sun in front of our large window. We'll have veggies this summer, but right now, I have no baking sheets. You want to bake this for 6-8 minutes in the oven.


Meanwhile, fill a large, deep skillet with water enough to cover the bottom, and pour in your spinach. Toss the spinach over high heat, for about 2 minutes, or until it all wilts down. It looks like you've got a lot of spinach until you get some heat on it!


See?


Once the spinach is all wilted, you want to transfer it to a sieve set over a bowl, and press out most of the water. Transfer the spinach to a saucepan, and pour in the half-and-half, 3 teaspoons of the mustard, and the thyme. Stir this over medium heat until it thickens and then season it with some black pepper. The recipe says 3 minutes, but it didn't take that long for me...


Once that was done, I put some of my fresh Italian Parmesan Herb bread in the toaster, while I fried my eggs. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet you used for the spinach (wiped down, of course) and once the oil is warm, crack your eggs right into the pot. Fry them until the whites are sturdy and white but the yolk shakes a little...unless of course you don't like runny eggs - you can cover your pan for a minute or two to get the heat through the top of the whites (and the yolks if you want). The steam cooks them evenly without having to flip the egg and risk breaking that yummy yolk!

Still needs a minute or two!
Well, that was easy and quick, huh? I plated the spinach and topped it with 2 of the fried eggs. I then sprinkled the breadcrumb concoction on top and served with a side of Parmesan Herb toast!

My yolk broke!
It all paired together nicely and it made for a comforting Tuesday night dinner. I still haven't caught up with that hour of sleep we lost this weekend I think, because I'm exhausted! Thank goodness for quick meals! :)

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Breakfast for Dinner



Tonight, I was looking for something quick since we both got home a little later than usual. I turned to my menu and saw my Breakfast for Dinner category, and thought, that's it! So, I pulled out the ingredients for New Eggs Benedict from the Stonewall Kitchen Favorites cookbook.

"Old" Eggs Benedict is one of my favorite things, but it's pretty much the OPPOSITE of good for you, and definitely not something you'd want to consume a few hours before bedtime, but this recipe was quite a bit different. First of all, there's no hollandaise sauce - and that's where are the calories lie! The sauce for this recipe did call for some butter, but only a couple of tablespoons...along with some lemon zest, lemon juice, chives, salt and pepper. That makes a world of difference, and actually tastes really fresh, not heavy and fat-laden!

Eggs Benedict at the Maze Grill
From Flickr - by bef_

I used English Muffins as a base (I tried to find wheat ones, but they were out of them when I went to the store, so I used regular ones) and piled some sauteed spinach on top. The spinach was quickly cooked in a little olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper so, nothin' bad there! I piled on a piece of smoked salmon - mmmm....yummy! - and then, the tricky part...poached eggs.

I think people are intimidated by poached eggs but it's not THAT hard! So, crack an egg, and put it in a small bowl. In a small pot of boiling water, stir until you get a little whirlpool and then drop the egg into the middle of the swirl. Drop one egg in at a time, let it swirl for a minute, keep up the whirlpool and add a few more the same way. I wouldn't poach more than 4 at a time. You should pull them out when the whites are stiff but the yolk still looks "wiggley." Maybe 2 - 3 minutes in a rolling boil.

A perfect poach!

I piled those poached eggs on top of the English Muffin, spinach and smoked salmon and then spooned a little bit of sauce over each one...and guess what, it took me about 15 minutes, TOTAL! And now I'm here talking to all of you lovely aspiring chefs! Looking forward to Friday and the weekend - we're going to visit some friends in Vermont...and I'm hoping we'll make it to the Farmer's Diner...all local and fresh, and if we go - you know you'll be hearing about it!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Menu - The Focal Point of your At-Home Culinary Journey

When it comes to planning my meals, I make a menu, and it comes in handy for numerous reasons. First of all, never again will you ask the question, "What do you want for dinner tonight?," only to be answered by "I don't know." Yea - I know, you ALL know what I'm talking about!

Second, it makes going to the grocery store a helluva lot easier, don't you think? A list of things you'll need to make meals for numerous days in a row - it's a brilliant concept, right? More on that in a later post, I promise!

You can plan a menu by day, or by type of food, or by country of origin, you can do it anyway you like...but here's how I do it: I make a list of different main ingredients and I pick ONE recipe for each of those main ingredients. You can't get bored if you're only eating chicken once every 2 weeks! My categories are as follows: Fish, Shellfish, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb/Veal, Soup/Sandwich, Risotto, Pasta and Breakfast for Dinner. My husband especially likes that last one...

This little tip will help you plan ahead for your meals. You can prep things ahead of time if you know you are going to be home late one night. Marinating something overnight, and then just throwing it in the oven when you get home is the easiest way to get a great, home-cooked meal without all the fuss!

I normally just spell it all out on a piece of paper, which I then check off when I make one of the meals. Sometimes the menu lasts longer than other times, just based on things that come up - did we meet someone out somewhere for dinner? Did we both feel like sushi one night? Did I just SERIOUSLY not feel like cooking - because that happens once and awhile...and that's okay!

Whichever way you plan your menu, I promise you will find that it helps you immensely in the long run. It's much less stress to just know what you have to cook when you get home - and sometimes, even get excited about it! :)

I'd love to hear your feedback - if you try my tips and think they are good...or even if you hate them...leave me a comment and let me know! It will definitely help me figure out what road to take this blog on!