Posted by Ed Levine, June 28, 2009 at 8:00 AM
I was very moved recently by a Talk thread involving a member of the Serious Eats community being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. One of the many heartfelt comments mentioned in Tom Valenti's (and Andrew Friedman's) new You Don't Have to Be a Diabetic to Love This Cookbook, which has many recipes suitable for brunch. Valenti and I host a charity dinner every year that benefits the Association to Benefit Children. We hosted this year's dinner this past week, and Valenti made this incredible asparagus dish with a gribiche sauce. One of the guests asked for the recipe. Valenti said there's a version of it in his new book. Here it is.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 21, 2009 at 8:00 AM
All serious eaters know how much I love Robb Walsh's books, so why did it take me so long to discover this seriously delicious chorizo recipe, which I've adapted from Mr. Walsh's brilliant The Tex-Mex Cookbook. As Robb notes in his headnote he himself adapted this recipe from a "cookbook published by El Chico restaurants in the 1970s".Serve it with softly scrambled eggs and some good old white toast or warm tortillas, and you will be mighty happy.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 14, 2009 at 8:03 AM
Asian Shrimp Toast is one of those decadent foods I find irresistible. I even like the way it sounds rolling off my tongue: Asian Shrimp Toast. Isn't Shrimp Toast always Asian? Anyway, Tom Valenti in You Don't Have to Be Diabetic To Love This Cookbook has managed to create a shrimp toast recipe that is almost healthy. Why? He pan-fries the shrimp toast and uses eggs whites instead of whole eggs.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 7, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Springtime is asparagus time in most parts of the world, so it's a perfect moment to make an asparagus and smoked salmon frittata recipe, which I've adapted from Tom Valenti's terrific new cookbook, You Don't Have to Be Diabetic To Love This Cookbook. In his headnote Tom says that timing is key for this recipe: Drape the salmon over the frittata immediately after it comes out of the oven.
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Posted by Blake Royer, June 2, 2009 at 5:15 PM
This post isn't meant to be a take-down of good old American diner omelets: fluffy, stuffed full of fixings, oozing cheese. I happen to love omelets like that. But I also love an omelet that's done in the classical French way, a more artful affair that's thin, spare, and just barely cooked past runny. Laced with a bit of cheese, perhaps some chopped herbs, or nothing at all—what's important is that the omelet is not a vehicle for what's inside. It's about the eggs themselves.
And it's a sublime transformation from raw eggs to omelet, done in less than two minutes (unlike scrambled eggs, which are best cooked for an age over impossibly low heat), so the perfect quick pantry dinner. I found the recipe I was looking for in an old post on eGullet, a website which never fails to satisfy (and usually stoke) my curiosities. Besides offering good suggestions for salt and pepper, it also suggests a teaspoon of cold water per egg, which steams during cooking, adding some extra fluffiness to the eggs.
In the end, a good omelet is about good technique, which is really a matter of practice. But this post got me started.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 31, 2009 at 8:00 AM
In Tom Valenti's headnote to this recipe in his brand new, really smart and inspiring You Don't Have to Be Diabetic to Love This Cookbook, he says that his version of Eggs in Hell was inspired by a recipe he read in the legendary California chef Jeremiah Tower's first cookbook. Valenti calls for reduced-sugar ketchup for obvious reasons, but if you are not a diabetic, feel free to substitute regular ketchup (I like Heinz).
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Posted by Tara Mataraza Desmond, May 26, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless.
As sandwiches go, the egg sandwich earns a versatility ranking right up there with classic peanut butter. Yet it has been suppressed for so long, stereotyped, cornered by its McMuffin identity.
The potential combinations of its simple ingredients—eggs, meat, cheese and bread—are infinite. Here, salty soppressata makes its meaty mark in just one or two whisper-thin slices, and yellow cheese that’s usually paired with bacon in typical versions of an egg-and-cheese sandwich is replaced by mild, creamy, fresh ricotta. You can cook your egg any way you like it, but for a sandwich like this, I fry mine, until the yolk is just set, still bright and barely molten when I bite it. A sprinkle of chopped fresh chives sets into the white as it cooks and sheds a bright note on the richness of the sandwich.
It's easy enough to make these for a brunch spread, baking the biscuits ahead of time and letting guests dollop spoonfuls of ricotta and fold slices of soppressata and on top of short-order eggs. But don’t let the egg sandwich identity restrict it to the first half of the day. They make a meal at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
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Posted by Kristen Swensson, May 18, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Note: On Mondays, Kristen Swensson of Cheap, Healthy, Good swings by these parts to share healthy and delicious recipes with us. Have at it, Kristen.
While we may disagree on economic bailouts, abortion law, and whether cilantro is awesome or tastes like soap, Americans universally agree on a single principle: home fries are the freaking BEST. Salty, starchy, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, they’re the pinnacle of breakfast foods, rivaled in deliciousness only by bacon.
Alas, home fries are traditionally very fatty. When the Husband-Elect and I were searching for a good recipe recently, we discovered the highest rated ones tended to have at least one tablespoon of oil or butter per serving. Not good. So, I embarked on a mission: Using techniques from a few different blogs, I had to create home fries that were both tasty and significantly lower in fat.
First, I opted for Yukon gold over red potatoes because I wanted a buttery taste and texture without too much actual dairy. Second, I sautéed the accompanying onions and peppers in only a little butter, then steamed them to complete the cooking process. Finally, since I don’t own a cast iron pan, we used a large nonstick skillet. That way, I could use less oil but still get a decent brown on the potatoes. The suggestion came from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, who argued that Teflon pans are just better suited to certain dishes (eggs, home fries, etc.). She was right.
In the end, this was good stuff. The recipe had all the benefits of homemade home fries with only about half the fat. And that, Americans, is something we can all be happy about.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 17, 2009 at 8:00 AM
This seriously delicious recipe comes courtesy of my friend Robb Walsh, the author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook. In the headnote in the book, Robb explains that it was actually bestowed upon him by Robert Amaya of Taco Village in Austin, Texas. Serve these babies with steamed flour tortillas.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 10, 2009 at 8:00 AM
I'm going to make this Frittata with Spinach and Cheese, adapted from Mario Batali's encyclopedic Molto Italiano, for Vicky's family today. Why not? It's perfect Mother's Day fare. It looks great, all golden brown and bubbly; it tastes great, all tangy and grassy; and it seems both healthy and hearty, with its combination of spinach and two cheeses.
Oh, yeah, one more thing. This frittata fulfills the one essential Mother's Day brunch food function: Kids and moms and grandmoms will all find it seriously delicious.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, May 7, 2009 at 1:30 PM
What’s in a name? According to Shakespeare, not a whole lot. But does Shakespeare really know everything? To me, there are two kinds of names that are of the utmost fascination in the culinary world: the dishes a nation names after itself, and the dishes nations name after other nations. It seems to me there should be some great linguistic professor like Henry Higgins raring to study this complex, absolutely loaded subject.
My story begins when I was a student in Paris when I was fifteen. Paris was easy to love. But after yet another Gruyère crêpe from the crêpe man near the Tuileries garden, I just wanted a taste of home. I found a pizza shop, and being the good New York girl that I am, I immediately went in for a slice. The pizza was rectangular, and as it does in Europe, it had been sitting under a glass case all day. The disappointment overwhelmed me. OK, I consoled myself, the shop is clean, and when in France…. I looked up at the pizza selections and spotted “Pizza Americaine” right away. "American pizza!" I exclaimed. Oh, thank goodness! Where is it? I look around and around the little shop for a great round pie, bubbling up with marinara and mozzarella, but alas, there was none. I spoke to the man across the counter in French, “Qu’est-ce que c’est, votre pizza americaine?” He then pointed to a little square slice under the glass and started enumerating the toppings: onions, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, and hard-boiled eggs. I was so desperate that I just started laughing. I had never once seen a pizza in America with a hard-boiled egg on it, much less corn.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 3, 2009 at 9:00 AM
I'm always in search of the perfect pancake recipe, so I was intrigued when I came across this one in Gale Gand's Brunch! Buttermilk, which gives these pancakes a delicious tang, is deceptively named. Buttermilk is not particularly fattening or buttery, because it's actually the liquid left behind after butter is churned out of cream.
Blueberry season is coming up in most parts of the country, so feel free to make these into blueberry blueberry pancakes. Just put a few blueberries on each pancake when they're already in the pan or on the griddle. If you put them in the batter before the pancakes hit the pan they are much more likely to bleed. And if you just can't wait until blueberry season rolls around, frozen or canned wild Maine blueberries taste great in pancakes.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 26, 2009 at 7:15 AM
Here's another recipe that I've adapted from my new favorite brunch cookbook, Gale Gand's Brunch! I like what Gale wrote in the headnote for this recipe in her book: "Peanut butter and jelly is one of my favorite classic combinations" (me too, Gale). But in the morning? Why not! Why not, indeed. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cold glass of milk is my idea of a fine, fine breakfast, so from there it's just a hop, skip, and a crimp or two to Gand's peanut butter and jelly turnovers. Gand ices these turnovers, but I don't think the added sugary sweetness is necessary. By the way, you can serve these beauties for dessert at a dinner party with a pitcher of ice-cold milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 19, 2009 at 7:00 AM
There are not all that many brunch cookbooks, so when I come across a good one I get really excited. Gale Gand's Brunch has, according to the book's cover, "100 fantastic recipes for the weekend's best meal." The recipe I have adapted here, Salami and Scrambled Eggs, is exactly what my grandmother cooked for us the rare times she didn't fill us up with her amazing blintzes. Kosher salami is the key to this dish's extreme deliciousness. Using hard kosher salami (salami that is hung to dry) ratchets up the deliciousness even more.
Sometimes I make my salami and eggs pancake-style if I'm in the mood for something with a little crunch. If you want to make them that way just don't stir the eggs in the pan.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 12, 2009 at 9:00 AM
I've adapted this recipe from TLC show host Curtis Stone's new book Relaxed Cooking (available on Amazon.com). This omelet comes out more flat than fluffy, but I like the puddles of tangy melted Taleggio that result from the filling being on top of the eggy mixture rather than folded in. Don't keep this baby under the broiler too long or the omelet will come out leathery and overcooked.
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 5, 2009 at 8:00 AM
I must admit I'm kind of a frittata freak in that I've never met a frittata I didn't like. This broccoli and cheddar frittata is another recipe I've adapted from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave.
What I like about Ellie's healthy but delicious point of view is that she understands how much flavor small amounts of high-fat food can add to simple dishes. In this recipe, for example, she calls for extra-sharp cheddar, not Alpine Lace or another meekly flavored low-fat cheese. Use Grafton Village or Cabot if you can find them. They're both reasonably priced, seriously delicious aged cheddars.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 29, 2009 at 7:45 AM
One of my favorite neighborhood brunch spots is Good Enough to Eat on Manhattan's Upper West Side, so I was thrilled to discover that Ellie Krieger had adapted Good Enough's special scramble in The Food You Crave.
Onions, tomatoes, and dill are an unbeatable combo in scrambled egg dishes. Make sure you don't cook the eggs on too high a flame. Cooking scrambled eggs at medium-low heat is essential if you want custardy, creamy scrambled eggs (and who doesn't?).
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 22, 2009 at 7:00 AM
It's officially spring, and that means serious eaters turn their attention to asparagus, which could easily be designated the official food of spring.
This recipe is adapted from Ten: All the Foods We Love and 10 Perfect Recipes for Each by Sheila Lukins, the book we are featuring this coming week as our Cook the Book entry (you can either try to win the book starting Monday or you can order it today from Amazon.com). Serve it with the best black or pumpernickel bread you can find.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 15, 2009 at 9:25 AM
When I made last week's silver dollar pancakes I never got to sit down with Will and Vicky to enjoy them fully. I was always bouncing up from the table to pour or turn the pancakes.
What's the answer to this age-old problem? Make one big pan-sized puffy browned pancake served in a skillet, like the one I've adapted here from former Serious Eats contributor Dorie Greenspan's great Sweet Times: Simple Desserts for Every Occasion.
Word to the pancake wise: This baby deflates as fast as a pricked balloon, so serve it immediately to your already seated guests. This pancake waits for no one.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 8, 2009 at 8:00 AM
©iStockPhoto/MCCAIG
First we had the
greatest waffle recipe ever, so why not follow it up with the best silver dollar pancake recipe ever, which I have adapted from
The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham, perhaps the best cookbook ever written on the subject (order it
here, and you should). Cunningham calls these babies Bridge Creek Heavenly Hots, and boy are they heavenly when you serve them hot (and heavenly is not a word I normally use). Heavenly because they are so light they practically levitate over the plate they're put on. Who knows, one of these pancakes might keep going and end up in heaven.
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Posted by Ed Levine, March 1, 2009 at 8:55 AM
The latest issue of Esquire has a big feature on breakfast and included is a recipe for green eggs and Parma ham from Evan Funke, the chef at the Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, California. I've doubled the recipe (it only served one in the magazine). He calls for jarred or packaged pesto. I'm partial to the Cibo brand, and you can of course make your own.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 22, 2009 at 6:28 AM
Robyn Lee was the first person to tell me about this waffle recipe, and I don't think it was a coincidence that she told me about it when we were both eating dinner with her friend Greg. Greg emailed Robyn this recipe a while ago, and he found it on this blog, which found it in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. And then Robyn blogged about it. Got that? No matter. This recipe produces light, crisp, slightly moist, seriously delicious waffles. 'Nuff said.
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 15, 2009 at 7:29 AM
A few weekends ago I was headed to Baltimore for a friend's surprise 50th birthday party, so I asked our Served columnist Hannah Howard, a Baltimore native, where we should eat breakfast in what's known as Charm City. She immediately named Blue Moon Diner.
"Have the Cap'n Crunch french toast," she said. "Yum! Fast forward to last week, when I came across a recipe for the Blue Moon Diner's Cap'n Crunch french toast in Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which I have adapted below. With all the heavy cream called for in this recipe, it would not be inappropriate to subtitle it "The Blue Moon Diner and Guy Fieri Are Trying to Kill You, Part 1."
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Posted by Michele Humes, February 12, 2009 at 1:15 PM
In Scharffen Berger's The Essence of Chocolate, this mascarpone-and-chocolate-stuffed French toast is described as an "upgraded" version of the classic breakfast dish.
It's much simpler than other stuffed French toast recipes, which call for making a slit in the bread and piping in the filling. Here, you simply sandwich the chocolate-mascarpone mixture between two slices of day-old brioche, drench, and fry. The sandwiches can even be assembled the night before, making brunch run that much more smoothly.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're giving away five (5) copies of The Essence of Chocolate. Enter to win here »
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Posted by Ed Levine, February 8, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Some of the best pancakes I have ever eaten were the buttermilk beauties served at the justifiably famous Al's Breakfast in Minneapolis, so I was thrilled to find the recipe for them in Guy Fieri's best-selling book Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives. These puppies are light, fluffy, and have just the right amount of tangy tartness from the buttermilk. The recipe calls for frozen Maine wild blueberries, which are teeny, sweet, available year-round, and most definitely worth seeking out.
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Posted by Michele Humes, February 6, 2009 at 1:25 PM
In Rick Tramonto's Italian take on shakshouka, eggs are cracked straight into the spicy tomato sauce that gives them their devilish name, and baked until set but tender. With a grating of Parmesan and plenty of toast for dipping, it's the perfect brunch or light supper dish.
Though the recipe doesn't call for it, I'm tempted to add some browned Italian sausage to the tomato sauce, to make the dish just a little heartier.
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Posted by Michele Humes, February 5, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Short of la grande dame Deen herself, I doubt anyone would serve Rick Tramonto's Italian-style pancakes with extra butter. The silver dollar cakes are crammed so full of goat cheese and ricotta that all you should really need is good maple syrup.
Do yourself a cold-weather favor by making these rich, fluffy pancakes for breakfast this weekend—I certainly will be. I might just top them with a quick compote made from frozen berries with cinnamon and sugar, too.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're giving away five (5) copies of Osteria. Enter to win here »
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Posted by Michele Humes, January 29, 2009 at 1:15 PM
Essentially a fruit-studded baked custard, clafouti is typically eaten as a dessert. But its egginess, writes Nicole Rees, author of Baking Unplugged, also makes it ideal for brunch. The dish is especially suited to lazy Sunday mornings because it requires nothing more than a minute or two of whisking, and twelve minutes in the oven.
Brunch clafouti is more of a formula than a strict recipe because it will adapt to whatever fruit you have on hand, be it cranberries, blueberries, or chopped peaches. Whatever's in your liquor cabinet, from brandy to triple sec, will add a warm, boozy note, too.
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In addition to excerpting a recipe each day this week, we're giving away five (5) copies of Baking Unplugged. Enter to win here »
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 25, 2009 at 8:00 AM
This recipe, adapted from Joan Nathan's Jewish Cooking in America, comes straight from one of my favorite breakfast or brunch spots in New York, Barney Greengrass. There they make this recipe with sturgeon, nova (smoked salmon), and even whitefish. I have made it with smoked trout as well.
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 18, 2009 at 8:00 AM
The name of this recipe, adapted from James Vilas' must-have porcine tome
The Bacon Cookbook says it all. Vilas suggest you use the purists' Canadian bacon known as peameal bacon, but any old Canadian bacon will do just fine. If you don't have Vilas' book and you love bacon, buy it here by clicking on the book title above.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, January 12, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Breakfast for dinner. It doesn't happen too often, but when the times are right, nothing seems better. Perhaps it's because the meal is so comforting or you have memories of mom and lazy mornings. It's especially great when your city is blanketed in heavy snow and you don't have the ingredients to make much else. I found this recipe on The Kitchn, and realized it would use some of the leftover ricotta I had in the fridge.
These aren't your regular dry pancakes. The ricotta makes them twice as tender and soft. But they also get a big boost from the egg whites, which are beaten until stiff and then folded in at the end. They give the pancakes height without weighing them down.
But the real reason I picked this recipe was the lemon curd that gets spread all over the pancakes. Of course, you could save time and just douse these pancakes with some top-grade maple syrup and all would be fine with the world. But for some reason, the lemon curd has a special affinity for these guys. It's the perfect tart antidote for the creamy pancake.
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 11, 2009 at 8:00 AM
If you've been following Erin Zimmer's search for the best hot chocolate in New York (here's a taste) you must be in the mood to make your own serious hot chocolate at home. I know I am, so I was thrilled to come across Simon Hopkinson's easy recipe for hot chocolate in his terrific new book Second Helpings of Roast Chicken. His recipe only made two servings, which is clearly not enough hot chocolate, so I've doubled it.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, December 31, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Editor's note: SE intern Kerry Saretsky is so considerate. Not only does she provide us all with some great New Year's Eve Champagne cocktails, she takes care of us for the morning after with some brunch recipes.
In the dead of winter, it seems like everyone is making something with pomegranate in it. Pomegranates are, according to Greek myth anyway, the reason that winter exists in the first place.
I like this salad dressing made with pomegranate molasses because it is in keeping with the season, and yet, most people don’t use pomegranate molasses, so it offers a taste of the unexpected. Pomegranate molasses is a concentrated syrup of pomegranate juice. I bought by bottle of Melasse de Pommes de Grenade, a product of Lebanon, for $3.69 at a specialty grocery store, and I highly recommend that you do the same. It is simultaneously equally sweet and tart, and not only imbues flavor into this dressing but also helps to bind it.
Mâche is a salad that I ate nearly every day in England, where it is called lamb’s lettuce. The leaves are tender and petite and ever-more popular in the United States. Whereas the rest of my New Year’s brunch is heavy and savory, this salad is a spritely contrast that lightens it up.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, December 31, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Editor's note: SE intern Kerry Saretsky is so considerate. Not only does she provide us all with some great New Year's Eve Champagne cocktails, she takes care of us for the morning after with some brunch recipes.
As I said, I like my New Year's Brunch to be lavish and full of carbs, as well as a cinch to make. This fougasse, which is like a French focaccia, uses store-bought pizza dough and dresses it up with the brunch staple Scottish smoked salmon, fried capers, and dollops of lemon-scented crème fraîche. It's easy, elegant, filling, traditional, and it goes a long way—the perfect way to dress up your every-morning bagel for the occasion.
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Posted by Kerry Saretsky, December 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Editor's note: SE intern Kerry Saretsky is so considerate. Not only does she provide us all with some great New Year's Eve Champagne cocktails, she takes care of us for the morning after with some brunch recipes
As I said before, every year on New Year's Day, I host a little New Year’s Brunch for my family and friends—whomever's in town, and awake is what my guest list comes down to.
I have three criteria for the food I serve at this brunch. The first is that it is decadent, or at least appears so, symbolic in my mind of all the good fortune that the new year will bring. The second is that it is heavy in carbs, carbs that will soak up the debauchery I imbibed the night, or the early morning, rather, before. And the third is that it is dead simple to make, so that even if I stagger out of bed at 11 a.m., I can have brunch on the table at noon.
It goes without saying that I serve it all with Champagne—hair of the dog, you know.
This Black Truffle Fettuccine fits all three bills: What is more decadent than truffles, more full of carbohydrates than pasta, or easier to make than this dish, which contains only four ingredients—if you don’t count salt and pepper?
D’Artagnan’s black truffle butter costs around $10 for a 3-ounce portion, so it is quite an economical way to be decadent. Oh, and as a side note, it tastes fabulous.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 28, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Cheese. Bacon. Potato. Three of the most beautiful words in the English language, all put to very good use by Patricia Wells in this recipe for a cheese and bacon potato cake adapted from her fantastic book Simply French: Patricia Wells Presents the Cuisine of Joel Robuchon. Wells calls for clarified butter, but regular butter will do just fine. Softly scrambled eggs are the perfect accompaniment for this wonderful creation.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 21, 2008 at 8:00 AM
We love Martha Stewart's macaroni and cheese recipe here at Serious Eats, but we're always on the lookout for other seriously delicious versions, like this one from pioneering New York Times food journalist Marian Burros. The mustard, hot pepper sauce, and the nutmeg combine to give this dish its distinctive flavor.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 14, 2008 at 8:00 AM
My friend Robb Walsh adapted this recipe from Cisco's Bakery in Austin, Texas, in his very fine Tex-Mex Cookbook. Serve these with plenty of bacon and steamed flour tortillas. I actually find this combo good for a simple, quick, and seriously delicious meal any time of day.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 7, 2008 at 10:30 AM
This unusual sweet apple omelet recipe I've adapted from Babbo pastry chef and Serious Eats pal and contributor Gina DePalma's fantastic book Dolce Italiano. I use Honeycrisp apples, everyone's current fave these days, instead of Gina's recommended Golden Delicious, Rome, or Empire varieties. No matter what apples you decide to use in this recipe you will end up with one seriously delicious brunch dish. Sometimes I cook up some chicken apple sausage to add a savory element to this meal.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 30, 2008 at 8:00 AM
All right now, it's Sunday, three days after you've stuffed yourself with turkey and stuffing. I figure you're pretty sick and tired of Thanksgiving leftovers, so for Sunday Brunch I've plucked (ha, ha) a great pancake recipe from Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, the first cookbook book written by that great Seattle chef and restaurateur.
These pancakes are named after Tom's lovely daughter Loretta. I love the little bit of tartness the buttermilk adds to these pancakes. These pancakes are light, delicious, and have that crunchy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside qualities that great pancakes should have.
Tom would have serious eaters serve these pancakes with fresh blackberries, which are wonderful when in season (not now, unfortunately, in most parts of the world), but maple syrup and butter do just fine in the meantime.
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Posted by Amanda Clarke, November 19, 2008 at 7:00 PM
After working out my biscuit recipe, waffles were the next item on my brunch menu agenda. Because we had already purchased a Belgian-style waffle maker—one with deep impressions for making thick, pleasantly crisp waffles—I decided to shoot for a Belgian-style recipe.
Belgian waffle batters generally utilize yeast for leavening. As a result, Belgian waffles tend to have a slightly yeasty flavor. I liked the idea of yeast bringing a complex flavor to the waffles. Just the same, I had no interest in a batter that would have to be made several hours or even a day in advance in order to develop the proper rise, texture, and flavor.
I wanted a waffle batter that could be whipped together, wet parts mixed into dry, in a few minutes. For that, I turned to American-style batters, leavened with baking soda and/or powder, rather than yeast. Though these batters were indeed faster to produce, the resulting waffles were slightly heavier, with a more one-dimensional, generally sweeter flavor than the Belgian varieties I'd tried.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 16, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Lately I find myself ordering fried-egg and chorizo dishes in Spanish restaurants, so I was thrilled to come across this really cool Spanish open-face fried-egg sandwich in my friend and Zingerman's cofounder Ari Weinsweig's terrific book, Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating. Though Ari's recipe doesn't call for quick-fried chorizo slices, I can tell you that a little quick-fried chorizo adds immeasurably to my enjoyment of any egg dish.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 2, 2008 at 8:00 AM
When the weather gets cooler I start craving corned beef hash. My friend Tom Douglas, perhaps Seattle's best-known chef-restaurateur (Dahlia Lounge, Palace Kitchen, and Etta's Seafood, among others), has a great corned beef hash recipe in his first book Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, that I've adapted here. I like to serve it with over easy eggs, but this hash is so good you can serve it naked.
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Posted by Ed Levine, October 5, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I adapted this simple, appealing recipe from my friend Susan Spungen's terrific, underrated book Recipes: A Collection for the Modern Cook (I know, I know, it's a terrible name). Where I live we're at the tail end of the cherry tomato season, so if you live in a similar climate, you're going to have to hit your local farmers' market this weekend. Multiseason Roma tomatoes just don't cut it in this dish.
If the cherry tomato season has passed you by, grape tomatoes are an acceptable if inferior substitute. The proper ingredients are worth scurrying for, because this is one of those intensely flavorful dishes that is simultaneously hearty and light.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 3, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Kenny Shopsin, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin has no idea how he came up with Egg Pizza, which is "just like pizza except that a normal crust is replaced by a very thin sheet of well-cooked egg." He warns that slices are difficult to pick up, and recommends that you eat it in "the 1940s way...take the wedge, fold it up into a V, and then fold the tip of the V back towards the wide part of the crust."
Serve Egg Pizza with toast for breakfast or salad for lunch. True to Shopsin's form, Kenny offers a dizzying array of toppings including crumbled meatballs, fried onions, and ratatouille: "use whatever turns you on."
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Posted by Lucy Baker, October 1, 2008 at 1:15 PM
How many dishes do you know of that were originally inspired by a Frank Zappa song? I'm guessing not many. Motivated by Zappa's lyrics from his song Jewish Princess: "I want a dainty little Jewish princess with a couple of sisters who can raise a few blisters," Kenny Shopsin, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin, went into his kitchen with no clue what to make.
What he came up with consists of corn tortillas topped with fresh arugula, rice, black beans, and a sunny side-up egg. Spice it with as much jalapeño as you like. This dish makes for a very hearty brunch, and, in my opinion, is just begging to be paired with a Bloody Mary.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 28, 2008 at 8:00 AM
In early fall I really like serving salads for brunch with some crusty bread, so I was immediately attracted to this pear salad I read about in Olives & Oranges, the Sara Jenkins book we recently featured on Cook the Book. It's pear season in many parts of the country, so listen up, locavores. Note: If finding Pecorino Romano is difficult for you, Jenkins and her co-author, Mindy Fox, say an aged cheddar or any other cheese that will keep its shape in a salad will do.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 21, 2008 at 9:00 AM
This recipe, adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style, is creaminess squared.
The slow-cooked scrambled eggs are by themselves unbelievably creamy, and when you throw in the slightly tangy fresh goat cheese, the entire affair becomes one forkful after another of insane creamy deliciousness. Hot buttered toast and some fresh-squeezed orange juice complete this easy brunch that's good enough to serve company.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 7, 2008 at 8:00 AM
There are so many bad scones in the world that it's easy to forget how good a scone can be. These scones, adapted from Lora Brody's nifty book Cape Cod Table, are light, moist, and addictive. It takes a great deal of willpower to eat just one.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 31, 2008 at 8:00 AM
On Labor Day weekend I'm always thinking hot dogs and hamburgers when it comes to food. Although I love a plain, simple grilled hot dog, this holiday weekend I have decided to make what I call serious bacon-cheese hot dogs, adapted from Jessica Harris's terrific cookbook, The Martha's Vineyard Table.
Why? Hot dogs! Bacon! Cheese! Three of the best reasons I know.
I use all-beef natural-casing hot dogs because I like their garlicky taste, though this recipe would taste great with whatever your favorite brand of hot dogs is. You can use fancy-pants bacon like Nueske's or Niman Ranch, but good ol' Oscar Mayer will do just fine. I like to use Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese. It melts beautifully and has plenty of flavor without overwhelming the hot dog the way a fancy-pants cheddar would. Finally, using New England–style hot dog buns, which are top-sliced and have no crust on the sides, allows you to toast the buns on the grill after buttering the sides. Just watch the buns really carefully, as they will burn before you know it. (If you can't find top-sliced hot dog buns in your area, you can order them here.)
Is this a brunch dish? The brunch police have declared that on Labor Day weekend it is.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 24, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Nothing is more summery and delicious than perfectly fried fish. This recipe is adapted from Hoppin' John Taylor, author of the Fearless Frying Cookbook.
Taylor is the one of the finest fryers in this fry-happy country of ours. According to Taylor, "You can use any small cleaned fish or fillets for this dish. Corn flour is the finest grind of cornmeal; some Louisiana mills market it as 'fish fry.'"
If you can't find corn flour, you can order it here from Hoppin' John's website.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 17, 2008 at 8:00 AM
John Martin Taylor (aka Hoppin' John) is a great Southern cook, cookbook author, and food raconteur. He wrote perhaps the definitive book on frying, Fearless Frying Cookbook, but today's Sunday Brunch recipe for cornbread is adapted from another terrific book he wrote, Hoppin' John's Charleston, Beaufort, & Savannah: Dining at Home in the Lowcountry. In the headnote in the book, Taylor calls this the best cornbread you'll ever eat. Coming from Hoppin' John, that's high praise, indeed.
Ingredient note: If you don't have a source for stone-ground, whole-grain cornmeal, you can order it off Hoppin' John's site.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, August 11, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Since I had some corn and potatoes on hand that I wanted to use up, I did a quick search on Epicurious for an appropriate recipe, resulting in this one for corn, scallion, and potato frittata. I'm not sure why making a frittata sounded like a good idea—I don't make frittatas that often (or at all), and wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. Frittatas can often feel heavy and greasy, or brittle and dry, neither of which is fun. But I loved this frittata—it was wonderful hot, and even better cold. The fresh corn—a seemingly strange addition—added sweetness to this very filling dish. And since it made enough for four people, the wife and I had enough leftovers to munch on for an extra day or two.
You will need an oven-proof skillet—an iron skillet is perfect—so put away those non-stick pans or ones with plastic handles. That said, the hardest part is keeping the frittata from sticking to the pan. The recipe said to shake the pan every so often, but after two minutes I knew that my frittata had stuck. To get it out of the pan I loosened the edges with a plastic spatula and scooped it from underneath to release anything that had stuck to the bottom. it wasn't that hard, and completely worth the trouble.
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Posted by Ed Levine, August 3, 2008 at 9:00 AM
This is a ridiculously easy french fry recipe my friend Jeffrey Steingarten published in his wonderful book The Man Who Ate Everything. I have made it many, many times with absolutely splendid results. Jeffrey suggests serving these fries with dijon mustard, but ketchup will do just fine. If you want to try something different, tartar sauce also makes a superb french fry dipping sauce. I know some serious eaters might be asking "french fries for brunch?" My response: Why not?
French fries are good any time. If you want to make them a little more brunchy, serve them with Johnny Apple's crazy creamy, crazy good scrambled eggs.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 27, 2008 at 8:00 AM
My friend Arthur Schwartz wrote a wonderful book called New York City Food, which features stories and recipes from Gotham's rich culinary past. Included is this pancake recipe from the legendary Child's old-fashioned coffee shop chain. Arthur says vegetable shortening is the preferred fat to use in this recipe, but if vegetable shortening spooks you, I have found butter works just about as well.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 20, 2008 at 8:00 AM
I know that asparagus is grown in the spring in most parts of this country and it's now summer, but this recipe, adapted from the upcoming Olives & Oranges cookbook by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox, sounds so good I wanted to share it with the serious eaters right now. Is it a brunch dish? I say yes, because it's made with bacon and eggs The recipe calls for a hard-boiled egg pushed through a sieve, but if you don't have a sieve, just chop the egg as finely as you can.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 18, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Did you know there is a difference between smoked salmon and lox? Before I moved to New York, I certainly didn't. Sure, they both come from the same fish, but lox is actually pickled in brine—it's not smoked at all. The resulting flavor is exceptionally salty, perfect for pairing with doughy bagels schmeared with cream cheese.
Often substituted for lox (or worse, falsely labeled as it), smoked salmon is far less briny and has a delicate, oily texture and silky taste. The salmon is traditionally cold smoked, which means the fish is kept far enough away from the flame to absorb only the smoke and not the heat.
These days, smoked salmon is much more popular than lox, which has been mostly relegated to the few remaining appetizing shops in New York. Steve Jenkins, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, The Food Life, writes: "Lox is like a forgotten aunt who used to be beloved and prominent but is now merely tolerated, when she shows up at the house at all."
In celebration of those old-fashioned, time-honored weekend brunches, attended by ancient family members everywhere, today's Cook the Book recipe is for Lox, Eggs, and Onions. Substitute smoked salmon if you must, but true lox will provide a sharper contrast between the delicate eggs and sweet onions.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, July 16, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Last Saturday, I was delighted to find zucchini blossoms at my local farmers' market. There is just something so amusing, romantic, and exotic about edible flowers, whether they are tossed with a salad or pressed into the frosting of a cupcake.
While zucchini blossoms are expensive, their season is relatively short—it's worth splurging on them once or twice a summer to prepare something special. Their fresh, herbal flavor and subtle crunch (kind of like lamb's lettuce) pairs well a variety of dishes, from sandwiches and pastas to the popular appetizer in which they are stuffed with ricotta cheese and deep fried.
I used mine to prepare the zucchini blossom frittata from the August issue of Bon Appétit. Maybe it was the sunny afternoon, maybe it was because the large iced coffee I was drinking went straight to my head, but I was feeling especially creative and decided to take some poetic license with the magazine's original recipe.
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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 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 Hannah Howard, June 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Why should moms get sole dominion over brunch? Brunch is the perfect Sunday holiday meal. It commences after late rising and a leisurely morning and entails the best of both breakfast and lunch. Drinking a few mimosas or Bloody Marys with your latte and OJ is an integral part of the ritual. Most of all, kicking off Father's Day with a tasty, leisurely meal is a good way to say thank you to, and celebrate with, dad.
My father doesn't eat steak, but if he did, I would whip up classic steak and eggs. He wouldn't say no to Bourbon Vanilla French Toast, though. Michelada, a Mexican beer cocktail, has a Worcestershire and Tabasco fueled kick reminiscent of a Bloody Mary. And what dad doesn't love beer?
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 Sarah Wolf, May 9, 2008 at 11:00 AM
If you're wondering how to get the kids off your hands while you fix Mother's Day brunch this weekend, why not try making them your sous chefs? It'll be fun for them, it'll be less work for you, and Mom will be delighted. And if anything goes wrong, no one will think it's your fault.
Here's a possible menu of dishes that are deliciously uncomplicated to make and involve child-friendly steps like mixing and grating. (For safety's sake, just be sure to carefully supervise your kids and leave the grating and any chopping to your older children.)
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Posted by Robyn Lee, May 7, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the May 7th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Why not treat your mom this coming Mother's Day with a plate of chocolate banana waffles? This recipe from Alice Medrich's Chocolate Holidays tops chocolate flavored waffles with bananas sautéed in sugar and rum.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, May 5, 2008 at 2:15 PM
I know it's only Monday, but I'm already looking forward to next weekend's brunch. What could be better than a meal where it's practically required to eat bacon and drink bloody marys? Today's Cook the Book recipe, the first to be excerpted from Cowgirl Cuisine, is for author Paula Disbrowe's own take on the classic dish of huevos rancheros.
Her version is spiced with serrano chiles and sherry wine vinegar, and served with a shower of freshly grated cheese, fragrant cilantro, and slices of creamy avocado. The best part? The recipe makes enough sauce for 8 servings and reheats beautifully, so you can prepare it for you mom on Mother's Day and still have enough leftover for a few extra-special weekday breakfasts.
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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 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 Adam Kuban, April 10, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Continuing this week's Cook the Book series, today's highlighted recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon's Cornbread Gospels is for George Washington's Favorite Corn Cakes. How do we know they're Washington's favorite? Dragonwagon cites Nelly Custis, Martha Washington's youngest granddaughter, who gave an account of the first president's morning routine, which included getting up before sunrise, reading and writing until 7 a.m. or so, and then breakfasting on three of these cakes, "swimming in butter and honey."
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As is always the case with our Cook the Books, we're giving away a five copies of this book this week. Enter to win here »
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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 Emily Koh, March 31, 2008 at 4:45 PM
And the first of our Cook the Book recipes this week from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book is for sweet muffins. And with the variations here, you'll have at least three ways of making these treats, which are ideal for a quick breakfast snack.
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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 Adam Kuban, March 4, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Today's recipe from this week's featured cookbook, Panini Express is for a Ham, Brie, and Apple French Toast Panini. Apologies in advance for going for another ham-and-cheese variation. I was halfway through preparing this recipe when I realized I'd just done a similar sandwich yesterday. I couldn't resist this one, though, because I've been a fan of the ham-brie-apple combo since discovering it a few years ago. Add the French toast, I thought, and this recipe's a knockout.
As I found out, this recipe really is a knockout. You're essentially taking some fairly rich items—brioche, eggs, and brie—and combining them in a hot, pressed-sandwich package. It's a lot to take in, and I was pretty much "game over" a half a sandwich in. It might be the kind of sandwich you could cook up on a lazy weekend for brunch and serve as halves to family or friends with some fruit or a salad.
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If you're just now tuning in, you should note that we're giving away five (5) copies of this book here on Serious Eats this week. More details on that here.
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Posted by Nick Kindelsperger, March 3, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I must have downed dozens of variations on this dish over the past couple years, and I’ve loved nearly everyone. Because chorizo is highly spiced and ready to go from the outset, it’s a no-fuss, quick-to-the-plate breakfast standard in my household. Some people like their breakfast dishes sweet and delicate, but not me. I’m as starved as a lumberjack before 10 a.m.—at least on the weekends—and the combination of eggs and chorizo never fails.
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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 Adam Kuban, February 25, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Well, since we've already highlighted an adapted version of Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken recipe, I guess we've already ended that discussion. To play catch-up, today's featured recipe is for Oeufs en Meurette, essentially "eggs in gravy," as Hopkinson says his mother once described the dish. "[She] thought it disgusting. I love it," he says.
And, if you're just now tuning in, be aware that we're giving away five (5) copies of this book this week. Enter here to win »
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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 Robyn Lee, February 6, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The following recipe is from the February 6th edition of our weekly recipe newsletter. To receive this newsletter in your inbox, sign up here!
Although I love ordering blintzes at restaurants, I've never thought of making them until I read Alice Medrich's recipe for chocolate banana blintzes from Chocolate Holidays. She says they look more complicated than they really are, which gives me a glimmer of hope that I could make them without screwing up too badly.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 20, 2008 at 8:45 AM
I haven't made this one in a while, but it still remains one of my favorites for a quick Sunday brunch or breakfast. It's relatively quick and easy, and if you take the time to pan-fry the tortillas as specified, it's a showstopper for family or guests. After the jump, Huevos Oaxaca.
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Posted by Ed Levine, January 13, 2008 at 8:00 AM
Today's Sunday Brunch recipe, Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, comes from the fertile imagination of one of our 2007 Most Serious Eater award winners, Dorie Greenspan. In her headnote she describes this bread as "lightly spiced, fruit-speckled, almost pudding soft." Yum.
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Posted by Jenn Sit, January 6, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Have you had enough bacon yet? Here’s another bacolicious dish to add to the growing collection—bacon and egg pie from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. For almost a year when I was abroad at Oxford, I was sadly deprived of “streaky bacon” and given only British “back bacon,” which is basically Canadian ham (so not bacon!). Every bacon cheeseburger and Full English was delicious, but always a little sadder without the smoky crispiness of its streaky cousin. Now back at my home college, the house I live in is named The Rectory and our religious idol of choice is the Almighty Bacon. Whether it’s center-cut, turkey, or soy bacon, the smell of the sizzling stuff always finds its way upstairs to my bedroom on Sunday mornings. If the blessed bacon spirit finds you, too then you have to try this recipe, which can’t go wrong with a supporting cast of goat cheese, mushrooms, and peppers. I’ve been sending our #1 bacon-fanatic of the house so many bacon-related links from Serious Eats that she’s convinced that bacon is now the “in” thing. So what are you waiting for? Jump on the baconwagon and welcome to salivation...
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 23, 2007 at 9:45 AM
There's everyday humdrum deviled crab, which is still pretty good, and then there's Edna Lewis' deviled crab recipe, which is as good as good gets. Serve this with a simple green salad with a mustard vinaigrette and you will have a fine brunch, lunch, or even supper.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 9, 2007 at 9:11 AM
Writers James Villas and Alexandra Grablewski have provided the friends of bacon lovers everywhere with a perfect holiday gift opportunity, The Bacon Cookbook: More than 150 Recipes from Around the World for Everyone's Favorite Food. We'll be featuring recipes from it all this week in Cook the Book, but I figured I'd give you a preview today with this yummy-sounding Southern Corn and Bacon Souffle. Villas and Grablewski acknowledge in their headnote that this recipe is more pudding than souffle, but I don't think it really matters what they call it. I call it delicious.
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Posted by Ed Levine, December 2, 2007 at 8:39 AM
Oh, how I do love fritters for Sunday brunch. In fact, it's safe to say I've never met a fritter I didn't like, for Sunday brunch or any other meal, for that matter. If I see fritters on a menu, be they savory or sweet, bam, I have to order them. So when I discovered Susan Spicer's recipe for Cinnamon-Dusted Banana Fritters in Crescent City Cooking (featured all this week in Cook the Book) I knew immediately that it was destined to be a Sunday Brunch entry. Bananas in particular take to frittering (if frittering isn't a word, it should be) because of their soft, creamy texture.
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Posted by Dorie Greenspan, November 22, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Every Thursday, Dorie Greenspan stops by with a delicious baking recipe. Here's one you can print out for tomorrow morning's breakfast.
Tonight, after you've washed the platters and dried the endless glasses, you may have had your fill of stuffing and sweet potato casserole, brussels sprouts, cornbread, and maybe even turkey, but if you're like me, you'll be happy to give pumpkin one last fling. And if you are, I'd suggest these pumpkin pie pancakes to end the holiday weekend.
The pancakes have all the spices—and rum—of a holiday pie and can be served at brunch with a slick of maple syrup or savored as a dessert, in which case I'd certainly top them with great ice cream.
If you're making these for brunch, make it easy on yourself: the night before, whisk all the dry ingredients together and keep them covered at room temperature; whisk all the wet ingredients together and keep them covered in the fridge; and measure out the pumpkin puree and keep it covered and chilled as well. If you're flipping for the masses, you can easily multiply the recipe.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 11, 2007 at 9:39 AM
A fritter is a beautiful thing, no matter who's cooking it. Because even a bad fritter, a crunchy, fried, hunk of batter, is still probably going to be pretty good. Marc Meyer, executive chef-restaurateur of three terrific New York restaurants, Five Points, Cookshop, and Provence, makes truly delicious ricotta fritters for brunch. These babies are supremely crunchy, light, crisp on the outside and meltingly soft on the inside.
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Posted by Ed Levine, November 4, 2007 at 8:50 AM
I was all set to give you a biscuit recipe for today's Sunday Brunch post, but then I happened to read Deb's Smitten Kitchen post on the lemon ricotta pancakes with sauteed apples recipe from Gourmet Magazine in 1991. Yum!
Here's the recipe, complete with Deb's annotation. For Deb's great photos you'll have to click through to her post.
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Posted by Ed Levine, October 28, 2007 at 7:00 AM
If there's a better egg sandwich than the truffled egg toast made at 'ino in Greenwich Village, I haven't found it. The soft, runny egg, the crunchy white toast, the tangy fontina chesse, and even the usually evil truffle oil combine to create an open-faced sandwich that is decadently rich and filling.
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Posted by Ed Levine, October 21, 2007 at 8:45 AM
At our house Sunday brunch or breakfast (depending on how early my wife gets up) is the perfect excuse to whip up a batch of featherlight pancakes with a crispy veneer and tender insides. This recipe is adapted from Pam Anderson, a really fine cookbook writer. You'll find it after the jump, along with some terrific variations. (The chocolate chip pancakes rock.) If you've got a great pancake recipe we'd love to hear about it.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 30, 2007 at 7:30 AM
I usually just get great bagels, whipped cream cheese, and some smoked salmon (either Norwegian or Western Nova) for brunch, but every once in a while I like to have something sweet. This recipe for Baked Brown Sugar Pancakes is from one of my favorite brunch cookbooks, Brunch: 100 Recipes from Five Points Restaurant
, by Mark Meyer and Peter Meehan. Some people call this pancake-cum-popover a "Dutch baby." Serve it with warmed real maple syrup, homemade apple sauce, or even your favorite jarred chunky applesauce.
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