This is a Vietnamese street food that you can make at home for a fast breakfast or lunch or even just a snack. The inspiration came from here.
Here’s one of the simplest topping ideas: In a non-stick pan, over medium heat, place your rice paper circle. Drizzle some chili oil over the top, break an egg onto the rice paper and scramble it, spreading it evenly over the rice paper with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle some thinly sliced green onion over the top, fold over and fry until the omelette is lightly golden and crisp. Flip over and repeat with the second side. Cut into three or four wedges and dig in. NOTE: If you don’t fold it over but eat it open faced, it more closely resembles the ‘pizza’.
Other topping ideas:
1. egg, avocado slices, shredded fake crab, Sriracha, hoisin
2. chili oil, egg, shredded cheese, mayo, Sriracha
3. egg, thinly sliced leeks, mayo, Sriracha
4. ketchup, egg, mushrooms sauteed with some fresh garlic, mayo, Sriracha, microgreens
Pepperoni and cheese omelette – I forgot to take a picture of the strips of American cheese I added to the omelette before folding it over. Next time, I’d only put in half a slice as I had some oozing out. A drizzle of Sriracha gave the omelette a nice bit of heat.
Category Archives: breakfast
Double Chocolate Stout Walnut Bread
My nephew gifted me with various interesting beers over the summer. On one delivery, I ended up with a can of double chocolate stout, which seemed a bit challenging to drink on its own. I HAVE had Guinness Stout in the past, and though I can drink the first half pint without too much trouble, by the second half, as it warms up, it’s rough going. So, I decided to search out a bread recipe that might make good use of the beer. For texture, I decided to add some coarsely chopped walnuts to the dough.
The result was an interesting bread with a bitter undertone that became wearing as I made my way through the loaf.
I ate it in as many ways as I could, including toasted and spread with peanut butter or as a base for scrambled eggs.
I turned it into French toast with a generous pour of maple syrup and served as part of a hearty brunch.
In a final move, I cubed and toasted the bread and turned it into a bread pudding served with Bird’s custard.
With time, I made my way through the loaf. It was not a failure but I wouldn’t make this bread again. PS: I took a sip or three of the extra beer in the can and it wasn’t to my taste either.
Corned Beef Hash for One
I’ve never had this dish before so I don’t know how authentic it is. But it WAS tasty. I used a recipe I found on Youtube here. I’d definitely make it again.
Sourdough Bialys
The bialy is a small roll that, according to Wikipedia, is found in Polish and Ashkenazi Polish culture. It has many similarities to a bagel. Although it isn’t boiled after proofing, just baked, it still retains the dense chewiness and flavour found in that ubiquitous bread product.
I had planned on making the usual yeast based version but recently ran across a small jar of sourdough starter at the back of my fridge. I saw the layer of hooch on top, because I hadn’t fed it since the end of October, and decided to revive it. I should have taken a day or two to bring it back but, nine hours after feeding it with a mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flour, it had doubled in volume, so I used the recipe found on the “Sourdough and Olives” website, and made a small batch of bialys.
For a topping I used some leftover sauteed onions mixed with a bit of olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper. A sprinkling of poppy seeds over the top, and I had a traditional bialy. When I ran out of topping for the last few bialys, I used a mixture of pizza sauce, grated mozzarella and julienned pepperoni sausage and made a tasty pizza bialy.
REVIEW: In spite of the less than optimal conditions for making these, including a starter that wasn’t as active as I would have liked, the results were delicious. The crust was thin and crunchy while the interior was chewy. The oven spring (baked at 480 deg F for 22 min) was amazing and I ended up with little volcanoes rather than the little frisbees I was expecting (hoping for). I would consider reducing the baking temperature on repeating the recipe or even use a fix that I found on another site … placing a sheet of parchment paper on top of the bialys and then covering with a second baking sheet to compress the rise for the first ten minutes of baking before continuing to bake them, uncovered for another ten to fifteen minutes.
Piping hot bialy ripped open to show the crumb
Potato and Leek Knish (Trial #2)
Leftover leeks in the fridge, potatoes sprouting in the basement and a four day stretch at home recovering from a cold, meant I had the ingredients and all the time needed to try a second knish recipe.
I started with Chef Bryan’s recipe on the Klondike Potato website but had to make some changes. Mostly to reflect the shaping technique I used.
I had some concerns about the amount of salt called for in the dough, as well as the filling, and it turned out that my fears were warranted, as the filling was saltier than I would have liked. When cooking potatoes for mashing, I usually throw two generous teaspoons (using a disposable plastic spoon not a measuring one) of salt into the boiling water, which may have contributed to the excess salt taste. And, rather than sauteeing the leeks and the onions in butter (unsalted, though the recipe didn’t say), I used margarine. If I had been thinking, I would have added more mashed potato to the filling I was making to dilute the salt but, obviously, I was NOT thinking. In my defense, I was also trying a new meatloaf recipe at the same time so I was distracted.
Rather than making individual square knishes, I tried to replicate the beef filled version my mom used to bring home from the deli where she worked for twenty years. They made two/two and a half inch wide meat filled logs which were baked and then cut to size for serving. It turned out that I had too much dough (or conversely, not enough filling) as a result of changing the shaping method. In the recipe below, I’ve doubled the filling ingredients to accommodate this.
Aside: About half an hour after my knish roll came out of the oven, I had the curious thought that I may not have measured out three cups of flour for the dough, but only TWO.
Potato and Leek Knish
Chef Bryan’s Potato Knish – makes 16-20 pieces, serves 8-10
Dough
Dry Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
Wet Ingredients
1 cup mashed or riced potatoes
1 tsp salt (reduce to 1/2 tsp next time)
1/2 tsp pepper (reduce to 1/8 tsp next time)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cold water
Filling
2 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil, divided in half
2 medium onions (2 cups), finely diced and sauteed in half the butter above
1 stalk of leeks (3 cups cleaned leeks), chopped into 1/2 inch squares and sauteed in half the butter above
2 cups mashed or riced potatoes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Egg Wash
1 egg and 1 tsp cold water, whisked together
Prepare a half baking sheet by lining with a sheet of parchment paper.
Making the dough:
Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
Combine 1 cup of mashed potatoes, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and mix well until nice and creamy and the potatoes come together.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mash together. It won’t come together yet. Add the water to pull it into a dough by creating a well in the middle and adding the water. Mix together until it comes together into a soft dough.
Cover the bowl with a cloth or sheet of plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.
Make the filling during this resting period.
Making the filling:
In a large saute pan, fry the onions with some (1 tbsp) of the unsalted butter until softened, but not caramelized. Transfer to a medium sized bowl and set aside. In the same saute pan, fry the leeks with the rest (1 tbsp) of the unsalted butter, until just softened. Add the leeks to the onions sauteed previously.
Add one cup of mashed potatoes to the onions and leeks, as well as the salt and pepper. Stir well to combine and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 deg Fahrenheit.
Lightly flour a clean work area. Take your dough ball and cut it in two equal halves. Roll out each portion into a rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick and about 4 inches wide x 14 inches long.
Spoon half the filling into the center of one of the rectangles.
Brush some of the egg wash along one of the long edges of the dough and fold other end of the dough over the filling onto the egg washed edge. Press the dough down to seal the filling into the roll. Turn the roll over, so the seam is on the bottom and transfer the knish log onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush some of the egg wash over the top. Repeat the assembly process with the rest of the dough and filling.
Place the half sheet into the preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Let the knish cool until it’s barely warm, then cut the knish rolls into 2 inch bars.
Serve warm or room temperature with ketchup or spicy mustard.
I served my knishes with a couple of slices of meat loaf and found that the sweet, tang of the ketchup-mustard glaze paired well with the heaviness of the knish.
Sauteed Kale and Cheese Omelette
A bundle of fresh kale is quite versatile … use it to make a pot of Zuppa Toscana soup, a topping for a meatless pizza AND as a filling for this delicious three egg omelette.
Kale and Cheese Omelette
Kale and Cheese Omelette – serves 2
5-6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup onion, finely minced
2 cups kale, cleaned, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
pinch of salt and black pepper
4-6 tbsp grated or crumbled cheese of choice (ie. old cheddar, feta)
Garnish – 1 ripe avocado, cubed, hot sauce or salsa
Add the oil to a 9 inch non-stick pan, over medium heat, and saute the onion, just until lightly golden. Add the kale, tossing gently to coat the kale with the oil and mix with the sauteed onion. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over the top. Cover with a lid and let steam for 3-4 minutes until the kale is wilted. Transfer kale and the onions into a small bowl and set aside
Return the pan to the heat and add half the beaten egg egg mixture. When almost set, scatter half the sauteed kale and cheese over the top of the omelette.
Fold over and continue cooking until the egg is set.
Repeat with the remaining half of the egg mixture.
Serve with the garnish of your choice. In this case, I topped each omelette with half the diced avocado and a couple of tablespoons of spicy salsa.
Zuppa Toscana Soup
Kale Pizza …. with or without hot Italian sausage – saute two cups of sliced kale, a pinch or two of salt and a pinch of black pepper and a quarter cup of finely diced onion in a tablespoon of olive oil. Let cool and top pizza.
Bake for 15-18 min at 425 deg F in a preheated oven.
Sourdough Bagels
My sourdough starter jar was getting a bit full (relatively speaking, as it was in a BIG jar, rather than my usual 2 cup one) so I had planned on refreshing the contents by making a batch of sourdough flour tortillas.
And then I was inspired by a themed post on a FB group I belong to to make sourdough bagels. After posting a request for a recommended recipe, I decided on the simplest of the bunch, which I actually found by net-surfing. And it only made eight bagels, which was perfect as my upstairs freezer is getting VERY full, again. I used up the last drop of starter in the jar (though I’ve got a couple of jars of dried starter in the pantry) so I won’t have to do weekly starter feedings for a while.
The results were very tasty, dense and chewy in texture. Breaking out the stand mixer to knead the dough was a smart idea as that’s a tough dough to knead by hand. And, although the bagels weren’t shaped as nicely as I’d hoped, none of them came undone during the boiling step even though I used the “sealed rope” method of shaping. The hydration of this dough meant that the two ends stuck together during the shaping, especially as I didn’t use additional flour when rolling out the dough into a rope.
Fried Egg, Bacon and Cheese Bagel Sandwich
Bagel Pizzas
Sourdough Bagel Pictorial
Dough was kneaded in a stand mixer for 10-15 min on medium speed, rested, shaped and proofed at room temperature for 3-4 hrs until puffy and then cold retarded for 4-8 hrs before being boiled and baked. The cold retarding develops flavour and lets the bagels harden enough to be easily picked up and transferred to their boiling water bath without deformation. (Especially if you don’t crowd your fridge and end up dropping a container on top of a couple of your bagels.)
Even though the bagels spread during refrigeration and I was sure I was going to end up with bagel pancakes, oven spring during the baking gave them a nice lift so they were plump and lovely.
Crumb – Sliced into while still warm, because who can resist a bagel fresh out of the oven? I know I can’t.
Chirashi Sushi (Scattered Sushi) and More
Eating out at one of the local sushi restaurants is a great treat, but, when I’m strapped for cash, I make my own.
There are many rolled and shaped types of sushi but this version is one of the easiest to make and requires no special equipment or rolling skills. And nori (seaweed) is not needed.
You can serve/assemble this dish in whatever container you’ve got … a special sushi bowl, a bento box or just a pretty bowl that’s large enough to hold your rice and toppings.
Chirashi or “scattered” sushi starts with a bowl of sushi (seasoned) rice and is topped with an assortment of ingredients. Of course, you may use raw fish (dip in soy sauce before eating) or other items traditionally found in sushi rolls.
Chirashi Sushi – serves 2, 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice per person
1 cup raw sushi rice**, Calrose, Nishiki and Kokuho Rose are what I’ve tried
Cook according to package directions and then season with two to three tablespoons of seasoned rice vinegar. Each cup of raw sushi rice will give you three cups of cooked sushi rice.
** Note: This amount of rice is enough to make 4-6 sushi rolls
I decided to cut back on the rice serving size, to one cup (instead of 1 1/2), so that I could make three different sushi dishes.
Toppings
raw ahi tuna
blanched shrimp
hard boiled egg, sliced into wedges or rings
sliced avocado
sliced green onion
Condiments
wasabi
soy sauce, for the raw tuna
pickled ginger
If you can find wasabi powder, make it fresh ( 1 1/2 heaping teaspoon of wasabi powder with 1 tsp of cold water stirred in) for each sushi meal as the heat lessens as it stands. Store the powder in the freezer to keep it fresh.
Garnishes
shredded nori
masago (capelin or flying fish roe)
Ochazuke or “rice with green tea” is a great way of using up leftover cooked sushi rice, odds and ends from making sushi rolls, grilled fish and blanched fresh or pickled vegetables.
Ochazuke – serves 1
1 cup leftover cooked sushi rice (unseasoned), reheated in the microwave
1 cup of hot green tea
toppings ie furikake (rice seasoning)
If you stir your raw fish into the hot tea, it will poach quickly.
And with my third cup of sushi rice and the last of the raw ahi tuna I had thawed, I made these two traditional sushi rolls. The spicy tuna roll was topped with masago (capelin roe) while the other roll just had strips of the tuna and avocado so that the flavour of the tuna could be appreciated ‘naked’.
Flour and Blueberries (Muffins and Pancakes)
I finally replenished my stock of all purpose flour but, for reasons I won’t go into, ended up buying two 10 kg bags about a week apart, instead of my usual 20 kg bag.
In any case, it all ended up in five pound bags in the freezer, except for what was used to fill my tin flour canister.
Among the many things I made with the flour were blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes. Fresh blueberries sometimes go on sale, and, if I can, I buy a couple of clamshells full and bag and freeze them since no preparation is needed and they can be used straight from frozen.
The muffins were from a basic recipe which can be adapted with whatever additions are desired. You may find the combination of brown and white sugar a bit less sweet than a regular muffin recipe. In that case, use all white sugar.
Carole L’s Basic Buttermilk Muffins – makes a dozen large muffins
2 cups (254 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (if desired)
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a large muffin tin with paper liners or coat with nonstick cooking spray (or both).
In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugars, salt, and baking powder.
In a liquid measuring cup beat together the buttermilk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir JUST until combined, do not over mix. Divide evenly among the muffin tin cups.
Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 400 deg Fahrenheit (don’t forget this!!). Continue baking until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about another 12 minutes.
Mix Ins:
Add 1 cup chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, candy, etc.
For Fruit Muffins:
1 1/2 cups fruit (such as berries, apples, etc.), finely chopped and well drained
If using fruit, add in with the dry ingredients to make sure the fruit stays evenly distributed and doesn’t sink to the bottom.
Banana Muffins:
3/4 cup mashed overripe banana (from about 2 small bananas) Add in with the wet ingredients.
The pancakes themselves, from a King Arthur Flour recipe that used an equal combination of all purpose flour and barley flour (home ground from some pot barley in my pantry) were a great success, taste wise, even if the blueberry version was a disappointment.
All purpose and barley flour pancakes
The second side, with the blueberries sticking out, didn’t make contact with the frying pan, and the surface didn’t really brown properly but looked almost wet and gummy when done. When cooled, I didn’t even bother eating one (of the three I made) but bagged and froze it until I have a pancake craving and buy some more maple syrup.
Pantry/Freezer Clearout – Hash Brown Patties
During the summer, my monthly discretionary budget is pretty strict, but I recently had to “borrow from Peter to pay Paul” due to some unexpected expenses. Which means that the pantry clear-out is even more important.
There was a large bag of frozen hash brown patties in the freezer with a paltry six patties left. What to do … what to do?
Bake the patties off first (20 min at 400 deg F) and then use your imagination.
If you’re cooking for a family of two to four, you can make all kinds of casserole dishes. Replace lasagna noodles with the patties for a potato lasagna and fill with sauteed veggies for a tasty Italian vegetarian option. However, the patties are also convenient for singles who don’t have a lot of time to whip up something filling.
I decided on Eggs Benedict (eggs are relatively cheap) on a potato patty with leftover Hollandaise. The sauce stands up to refrigeration far longer than the experts advise and with gentle reheating in the microwave just until you can spoon the sauce, you’ve got a great breakfast or lunch dish. Instead of ham, I used the last couple of slices of peameal bacon from the freezer. I had bought a peameal bacon roast on sale, a while ago, and sliced it myself into eight 3/8-1/2 inch slices and then portioned them for easy thawing, as needed.
Another option for the leftover Hollandaise: Add a couple of tablespoons of the cold Hollandaise to a serving of hot pasta. The heat of the pasta will melt the cold sauce creating a rich and creamy sauce. I like linguine, fettuccine or spaghetti.
The potato patties also make a tasty base for a pizza. I had some grated mozzarella cheese in the freezer and spooned on a couple of tablespoons of that spaghetti sauce that I got such a great deal on. A couple of fresh basil leaves from my sturdy Italian basil plant … and you’ve got a hash brown potato pizza Margherita.
Three patties down and three to go.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 