I’m not sure what your usual breakfast routine entails, but chances are you occasionally get bored with it, and crave something completely different, and when that happens, it doesn’t get much more different than this fast, and easy fried cheese egg toast. Be careful though, since afterwards it’s not easy going back to that bowl of oatmeal.
While pan-frying cheese may not sound particularly healthy, as it caramelizes, it gives up a fair amount of butter fat, which stays behind in the pan. So, you could actually spin this technique as a new, fat-reducing hack – unless you use that to butter the toast, which isn’t a dumb idea.
By the way, I hope you like your yolks runny, since if you don’t, this is not going to be nearly as great. Which reminds me, why do people not like runny yolks? What’s not to like? I hope they don’t think they’re dangerous, because they’re not. Anyway, if you are a fan of the flow, this fried cheese egg toast is the way to go, so I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for one Fried Cheese Egg Toast:
1 ounce grated cheddar cheese
pinch red pepper flakes
1 large egg
1 piece of toast
sliced green onions to garnish
pinch of salt
*Note: For best results, rub your non-stick pan with a few drops of olive oil
If you Google, “Scottish Oatcakes,” you’ll see lots of pictures of what looks like thick, dense, pressed oatmeal cookies, which is the most common version of this recipe. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of those, since they tend to be very heavy, and filling, and not really something I want to feature as the centerpiece for a fancy brunch menu.
However, there is another pancake-like version, and this is my twist on that. I should’ve probably come up with my own, more appropriate name, but I really love saying “Scottish Oatcakes,” and it just sounds like something you’d want to eat for breakfast.
Once you mix up your batter, you can cook it right away, which produces something that looks identical to what we have here, except the texture will be much more toothsome. I do enjoy that approach, but if you let the mixture sit for a while, the oats continue to soften, resulting in a creamier center. I’ve also let this go overnight, which will give you a texture very similar to actual oatmeal.
Regardless, you’re still going to get a beautifully browned, crusty exterior; and it’s that contrast that makes this so unique. Some people like to add dried fruit to these, but I do not. The same goes for the traditional pinch of cinnamon, since I really don’t want these to taste like oatmeal raisin cookies. As usual, suit yourself, but either way, I really do hope you give these great oatmeal pancakes a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 6 Scottish Oatcakes:
(this is only 2 portions, so feel free to double or triple the recipe)
1 cups *rolled oats
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 large egg
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup **self-rising flour
1/4 cup melted butter for panfrying
* I used the regular kind, but if you have to use the instant ones, I probably wouldn’t cook them. I’d just mix them with the cream, and let it sit until the mixture thickened up. By the way, this is just a theory, as I’ve never attempted.
** If you don’t have self-rising flour, just add 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, plus 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder, and an extra pinch of salt.
Like most well informed, non-crazy Americans, I’m waiting for Russia to get their just desserts for interfering with our democracy; but, before we get to dessert, we need to have dinner, and that’s where these delicious beef pirozhki come in.
While not necessarily easy to make, the dough and filling are pretty simple, and the results well worth the trouble. Literally any filling will work here, but I was going for a very specific style of pirozhki, which I’ll describe as “mid-eighties, liquor store deli.” Allow me to explain.
I once worked as a bike messenger for like two days. After realizing how grueling it was, especially in hilly San Francisco, I spent my life savings ($120) to buy a friend’s scooter, which extended my career by a full 6 months. The money wasn’t great, and so for lunch I’d get a beef pirozhki from one of those sketchy delis you sometimes see in the back of big city corner stores.
They only cost two bucks, delivered a ridiculously high number of calories, and even though I knew it wasn’t the healthiest thing to eat, I grew to love the taste. So, when I decided to film this, I set out to get as close to that experience as possible. It took a few tries, but I ended up with something very similar. The only major difference is that I know for sure what meat was used.
Since you’re not trying to recapture a taste from your past, feel free to add more cheese to the filling, which will not only taste good, but also make the crumbly filling easier to work with. But, no matter what you stuff these with, I really do hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 15 Pirozhki, depending on the size:
For the beef filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, finely diced
2 pound ground beef 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried dill 1/3 cup chicken broth or water to deglaze
Even though they only require a few of ingredients, and the technique to make them only takes a few seconds to learn, homemade corn tortillas do take a fair amount of experience to master, because of all the variables. But, don’t let that stop you from trying, since the results, even as produced by a novice, are vastly superior to ones from the grocery store. They’re also significantly cheaper, but the “vastly superior” part is more than enough reason.
That’s because a bag of Maseca, which is the most commonly found brand of masa flour in U.S. grocery stores, and the one I used, is very inexpensive, and will make hundreds of tortillas. So, the instant corn masa flour isn’t a variable, but pretty much everything else is. From the amount of water, to how much salt, to how hot a pan to use, to how long to cook them; everyone seems to have a little bit different system.
When it comes to the water, you’ll know you have the right amount, if your tortillas press out to a nice round, relatively smooth-edged shape. If the outside edge of the tortilla has cracks once pressed, then you need more water. On the other hand, if the tortilla sticks to your fingers, or breaks apart getting it off the plastic, then it was too wet. Adjust accordingly. And like I said, give yourself a few years to experiment.
As far as the pan, I go with a cast-iron skillet, which I get nice and hot over high heat, and then I’ll back it down to about medium while I cook my tortillas. I also tend to cook mine a little longer in the pan than is traditional, but I enjoy that nice, lightly-toasted corn flavor you get when a little bit of browning occurs. A few extra seconds in the pan is fine, as long as they are stacked, and wrapped in the towel, which is probably the most important step in the entire operation.
In fact, eat one of these right from the pan, and then compare it to one that you’ve let steam together with the rest of the tortillas in the towel. You’ll be truly amazed at the difference. So, if you enjoy store-bought corn tortillas, but always wondered what the real stuff was like, I hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!
Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the Year of the Dog (and not the Manatee), and to celebrate I thought I’d show you my take on Chinese scallion pancakes. These fun-to-make flatbreads are a common fixture on menus around here, and while they all feature the same few ingredients, they come in a variety of thicknesses, which really affects the texture.
The thinner you make these, the crispier they’ll be, but you won’t get that nice, layered, oniony inside. On the other hand, if you make them too thick, they can be a little doughy inside, so I try to shoot for something in between. Speaking of inside, feel free to add pepper flakes or other appropriate embellishments before you roll these up.
Ideally, you leave the dough overnight before using, but I’ve always had great results with just a couple hours rest on the counter. If you do leave overnight, you’ll probably get a better flavor, and maybe texture, but the dough will be more elastic, and slightly more difficult to work with.
As far as the dipping sauce goes, I like to mix equal parts seasoned rice vinegar, and soy sauce, flavored with a shot of hot sauce, and maybe grating of fresh ginger. Toss in a few sliced green onions, and you’ll have yourself a very basic, but perfect condiment for these savory pancakes. Regardless of how you serve them, I really hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy, and gung hay fat choy!
Ingredients for 2 Chinese Scallion Pancakes:
one bunch green onions, mostly green parts, sliced thinly
For the dough:
2 cups bread or all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup hot water
- adjust with more flour or water to form a smooth, but sticky dough
For the oil mixture:
3 tablespoon veg oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour
- serve with dipping sauce, as described in the blog post
I’ll admit to being pretty underwhelmed the first time I had a chocolate croissant, or “pain au chocolat,”as I’d mispronounce it; but eventually I realized the relatively sparse amount of chocolate wasn’t any kind of stinginess, but rather the true secret behind this amazing pastry.
Properly done, this should ride that line between sweet pastry and a savory bread, so don’t overdo it with the chocolate chunks; otherwise you’ll lose that beautiful balance. Other than that, not much can go wrong. Just be sure to bake them until nicely browned, and let them cool before enjoying.
While this will work with that dough in the tube, I’d like to think you’d make a batch of your own dough using our recently posted croissant recipe. Don’t worry, it only seems like a lot of work. Either way, I really do hope you give these chocolate croissants a try soon. Enjoy!
I’ve never tried to make panettone before, mostly because of how notoriously difficult it is to make, or so I was told. Turns out that wasn’t the case, unless people are factoring in the time, as this does take three days to complete, but other than that, I thought it was a pretty straightforward bread recipe.
I think bakers like us regular folks to believe everything is super hard to make, so as to elevate their standing in society; or, maybe this is difficult, and I just got lucky, but regardless, I was thrilled with how this came out.
I may add a bit more vanilla next time, and possibly a few extra tablespoons of sugar, as it wasn’t quite as sweet as I imagined, but other than using all the fruit, I don’t think I’d change much else. Speaking of the dried fruit, there are so many other things you can include, such as nuts, and chocolate chips, just in case this seems too healthy.
You'll find the panettone baking molds at places like Sur La Table, or other kitchenware stores at the mall, but they're also inexpensive and easy to find on Amazon. You'll see both in this size, and also the more traditional, tall, coffee-can shape. It might be a little late to start this, and finish by Christmas, but I would try it anyway. Just don’t let your guests know how easy it was to make, unless they’re professional bakers, then do. I really hope you give this special occasion bread a try soon. Enjoy!
NOTE: If you don’t have sourdough starter, mix 3/4 cup flour with about 1/3 cup cold water, or enough to simulate the thickness of the one seen in the video, and add a pinch (1/16 teaspoon) of yeast. Mix, cover and leave overnight, just like the one in the video.
I wouldn’t describe homemade croissants as an easy recipe, since there are multiple steps, and it does take a least half a day, but it’s really not that hard either; and certainly simpler than flying to Paris, which is the only other way to enjoy these amazing pastries.
Sure, some of you may live near an authentic French bakery, maybe even one of the few that still use pure butter, but for the sake of this post, let’s assume that you don’t. Besides, sitting next to a basket of homemade croissants raises your foodie street cred like few other things.
Despite taking a fair amount to time, this is actually the quick version, in that we’re not leaving the dough to rest overnight, before laminating with the butter. I don’t think there’s a huge difference, but I did want to mention in case you’d prefer to start the dough at night, and do the rest of the work the next day.
The technique is pretty straightforward, but be sure to pay attention to the temperature of your butter.If you’re slab is too soft, it will just blend into the dough, and you won’t get the gorgeous layering seen herein. And if it’s too cold in firm, it won’t spread between the layers of dough like it needs to. It should basically have the firmness of clay.
So, take your time, and when in doubt, pop the dough in the fridge for a few minutes to chill it down as you’re working. You’ll notice I didn’t serve anything on my croissants when I did the final shots, and if you make these, you’ll understand why.I really do hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!
I originally planned for these sweet potato biscuits to be this year’s Thanksgiving leftover recipe, but they came out so well, I decided to upgrade them, and I’m now officially suggesting you make these as one of the centerpieces for your feast. The downside of that plan is that you’ll have to share them with your guests.
Adding things like mashed sweet potatoes can cause all sorts of issues in a biscuit recipe, since they need to take the place of some of your “wet” ingredients, and considering how much thicker they are than something like buttermilk, over-mixing the dough can occur. By the time the potato mixture is incorporated, you can develop too much gluten, which can make biscuits tough.
So, to protect against that, we’ll do most of the mixing while we form and fold our dough on the work surface. Not only does this make for a tender biscuit, but as you saw, we also get lots of beautifully buttery layers.
These are amazing with just plain butter, but for a little seasonal twist, I made a pomegranate spread, and have explained how to do that below. No matter what you serve this with, I really do hope you give these amazing sweet potato biscuits a try soon Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 large or 12 normally sized Sweet Potato Biscuits:
1 1/2 cup mashed orange sweet potatoes (cooked in well-salted water, drained thoroughly)
3 1/4 cups *self-rising flour (*if using all-purpose flour, add 4 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 tsp fine salt)
1 rounded tablespoon brown sugar
12 tablespoons ice cold butter, grated in
1/2 cup buttermilk
For the pomegranate spread:
4 tablespoons room temp butter
1 teaspoon pomegranate syrup, aka pomegranate molasses (you can make your own by reducing juice until it thickens)
1 teaspoon fresh pomegranate juice, for a better color
I’ve wanted to do a Canelés de Bordeaux video forever, but just never got around to buying the specially designed molds that they require. After seeing a picture of them online a few days ago, I decided this would be the week, and headed out to the one store near me I knew carried the necessary hardware.
Since it was actually a hardware store that also carries lots of kitchen equipment, I figured they would have the beeswax, as well. I’ve been in that store at least a hundred times, and I would anyways see the canelé molds beckoning me, but never pulled trigger, since I was usually looking for something else.
So, you can imagine my shock when I walked down that aisle, as I’d done so many times before, only to find they were no longer stocked. Thanks a lot, Amazon. Anyway, purely out of spite, I decided to make them anyway, using a regular muffin pan, and the results were pretty amazing.
As long as you cook them long enough, the muffin tin works great, assuming you don’t care about getting the classic shape. Since this was an experiment, I only did six, but I’ve scaled the recipe below to make 12. I’m not sure how many real canelé molds this recipe will fill, but it’s probably close to that. Either way, I really hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 12 Canelé de Bordeaux:
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon unsalted butter
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/8 teaspoon of fine salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup rum
For greasing pan:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons beeswax
- Bake at 450 F. for 10 minutes, then at 375 F. for about 50 minutes more, or until well browned.
-- NOTE: These only stay crispy for about 8 hours. So, fair warning if you plan to make them a day ahead. I've never tried to re-crisp.
