Posted by Ed Levine, July 13, 2008 at 8:30 AM
In writing and researching Sunday Brunch all these weeks I have come across a zillion frittata recipes. Somehow, in my inimitable wisdom, I have neglected to share a basic frittata recipe. I am going to make amends this morning with a recipe I've adapted from perhaps my favorite brunch cook, Marc Meyer, chef-owner of Five Points, Cookshop, and A Hundred Acres in New York City. Meyer, along with former New York Times "$25 and Under" reviewer Peter Meehan, wrote my favorite brunch cookbook called, simply enough, Brunch.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 6, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I know some people might think I'm weird, but I like to serve fruit cobbler for brunch. It makes perfect sense to me. It's sweet and fruity like blueberry pancakes, and you don't even need syrup and butter as accompaniments. Of course a scoop of vanilla ice cream does taste mighty fine with a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler like this one, adapted from Vineyard Harvest, by Tina Miller.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 29, 2008 at 8:00 AM
There is no more popular brunch spot in New York City than the utterly classic French brasserie Balthazar. The co-chefs there, Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, along with their talented kitchen crew, manage to turn out 1,000 plates of delicious food in less than six hours. Many of those thousand are oeufs en meurette, eggs poached in red wine. At the restaurant they top it with a sauce Bordelaise, but it has plenty of flavor without it. This dish is also substantial enough to serve for dinner.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 22, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Every once in a while, usually during the onset of summer, I make fried food for brunch. If that means that the brunch has become lunch, so be it. And though my guests might miss the egg dishes or pancakes they might have been expecting, they quickly get over it when they experience that incredible first bite of fried deliciousness. This fried oyster recipe is adapted from an unlikely source, French pastry chef Francois Payard's Bite Size. I didn't think the balsamic vinegar would work with the fried oysters, but its sweet and sour notes actually work well with the brininess of the oysters and bright acidity and tartness of the lemon.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 15, 2008 at 9:00 AM
It's Father's Day, right? The best thing as far as I'm concerned about Father's Day is that I get to eat exactly what I want all day. So to start my Father's Day off right, I have my son, Will, and my wife, Vicky, make me one of my all-time favorite sandwiches, cheddar and bacon on a well-toasted English muffin. The recipe that follows is no adaptation or affectation. It's just tangy, crunchy, porky, and seriously delicious.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 8, 2008 at 9:00 AM
When the weather gets warmer I like to eat a light pasta dish for brunch. This recipe, adapted from Patricia Wells' The Provence Cookbook, is featherlight and the essence of summer. Note: I halved the amount of rosemary Wells called for. There's still plenty of rosemary flavor in this dish.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 1, 2008 at 9:00 AM
I've never met a French toast recipe I didn't like, but this bourbon vanilla French toast, adapted from Marc Meyer and Peter Meehan's terrific book Brunch, is a particular favorite. It's insanely rich, but you can lighten it a little bit by using 1 percent milk when the recipe calls for heavy cream.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 25, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I know serving corn dogs for brunch is a bit of a stretch, but I think I can get away with it on Memorial Day weekend, which in many parts of the country is the start of the corn dog season. This recipe is adapted from Jasper White's The Summer Shack Cookbook. White is the founding father of the serious contemporary Boston chef scene. His restaurant Jasper's in many ways defined chef-driven dining in Beantown. Jasper's closed many years ago, and after a stint as Legal Seafoods' corporate chef, White returned to the restaurant wars with the incredibly cool Summer Shack in Cambridge. What's really cool is that he actually serves these incredibly delicious corn dogs there.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 18, 2008 at 8:00 AM
The blue cheese adds the tang and the creaminess that elevate this Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton recipe to morning greatness, which I've adapted from one of my favorite brunch cookbooks, At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family & Friends. It's worth it to use a high-quality artisanal domestic blue cheese in this recipe. Maytag Blue, which is pretty widely distributed, will work beautifully in this recipe.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 4, 2008 at 8:00 AM
This piperade recipe is from Simon Hopkinson's terrific book, Roast Chicken and Other Stories. As Hopkinson says in his headnote, piperade is essentially a dish of savory scrambled eggs. He says what's important about a dish like this is that it should reflect the region and what is available at the time. In other words, home cooks should feel free to substitute to their heart's content without fear of retribution. To honor Hopkinson, I leave out the red bell pepper he calls for in his recipe. Feel free to add it back in if you please when you fry the garlic and tomatoes.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 27, 2008 at 8:45 AM
If you love pancakes (who doesn't?) and you love rice pudding (some people don't, I do) you'll appreciate Campanile chef-owner Mark Peel's recipe for breakfast rice pancakes, which I've adapted from an out of print book he wrote with Nancy Silverton, At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family & Friends. Brown or white rice work equally well with this dish.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 20, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Passover always puts me in a Moonstrips frame of mind. What are Moonstrips? They're onion and poppy-flavored matzos made by Streit's and they are the tastiest matzos ever. They don't make a kosher for Passover version, but this matzo brei (matzo pancake-style omelet) tastes good any time of the year. This particular matzo brei recipe is adapted from The Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 13, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Grits, cheese, and eggs are a combination utilized most often in the American South, but its satisfying appeal is universal. This casserole needs a really sharp cheddar to amp up the flavor intensity. It's adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook, and, as is noted there, beating the egg whites separately will lighten this dish considerably.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 6, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Here's a perfect spring Italian brunch dish from one of my often-used cookbooks, Cucina Simpatica, by George Germon and Joanne Killeen, chef-owners of Al Forno, a wonderful restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island. According to the headnote in the book, "this recipe is an adaptation of the asparagi Bismarck served at Bagutta, a wonderful old restaurant in Milan." I serve it with thick slices of toasted rustic bread brushed with olive oil.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 30, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I don't know what it is, but lately I've been thinking a lot about my dear departed friend Johnny Apple. Eating with Johnny was a fantastic experience. He loved food and wine and life and politics and a zillion other things equally. He loved a perfectly char-grilled bratwurst as much as he loved foie gras.
His love of perfectly executed humble foods extended to scrambled eggs. But not just any scrambled eggs. Nah, Johnny had standards. The scrambled eggs that he loved the most are made at Bill's Cafe in Sydney, Australia. These eggs call for a half cup of cream per two eggs, but I have found that a quarter cup will still result in the best scrambled eggs ever. When I want to make a special breakfast for my wife, I turn to these eggs, which I always refer to as Johnny Apple's Crazy Creamy, Crazy Good Scrambled Eggs.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 23, 2008 at 8:00 AM
As today is Easter Sunday, I thought it only appropriate to publish a big ol' roast pork recipe that could be substituted for the big ol' ham you might usually make. This recipe, adapted from the great French butcher cookbook Pork & Sons by Stéphane Reynaud, takes less than 2 1/2 hours from start to finish, so you can start cooking at 10 and have it on the table by 12:30, perfect time for an Easter brunch (or so they tell me). Plus, it's a great, festive one-pot meal.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 16, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I've never come across a French toast recipe that I didn't want to try, but I must say that Nigella Lawson's orange French toast recipe sounded particularly yummy. Any old white bread will work fine, but using slices of challah will result in a fluffier, eggier dish.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 9, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Today's Sunday Brunch recipe is adapted from James Villa's excellent Bacon Cookbook. It makes a stack of thick, intensely flavored griddlecakes—especially if you use pure maple syrup. And if you do use pure maple syrup for this, make sure you don't use maple-cured bacon—as Villas says, the resulting effect is just too intense.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 2, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Even the creamiest scrambled eggs aren't exactly loaded with flavor, so when I came across this Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel recipe for scrambled eggs with porcini mushrooms, I got very excited.
Dried porcini mushrooms are one of those flavor intensifiers I crave especially when I'm watching my weight. These eggs get their desired creaminess through constant stirring and serving them immediately.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 24, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I know I'm going to get hammered by the nutrition police for advocating eating pound cake for brunch, but really, when you think about it, what's the difference between eating pound cake and eating pancakes or French toast or cereal?
And this pound cake, adapted from a recipe in the current issue of Saveur by James Villas, is so light and moist it's better than many pancakes I have eaten. I am telling you, a slice of this pound cake with a glass of milk makes for a mighty satisfying breakfast or brunch. And if you want to round your meal off with a little bit of protein, drape two slices of bacon on top of each slice of pound cake. Now that's good.
Note: Villas is by his own admission a pound cake fanatic. As a result, this recipe may seem a little obsessional and overly precise. But if you follow the directions to the letter, you'll be amply rewarded with the finished product—a perfectly golden brown and ridiculously delicious pound cake.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 17, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Finding good brunch dishes when you're trying to watch your weight is not easy, so I was thrilled to come across this delicious scrambled egg recipe in The Breakaway Cook, by Eric Gower. Once I added in an ounce of grated sharp cheddar as a flavor intensifier these eggs totally rocked.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 10, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Adapted from At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family and Friends by Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton. Think of this dish as a delicious savory pudding instead of a soufflé. It's easy to make, much sturdier than it sounds, and utterly delicious.
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