Individual Baked Omelets

When it comes to breakfast, I dine in the rut. It's either peanut butter and jelly sandwiched between whole wheat bread or granola and yogurt. Sometimes on Thursdays, which is biscuit and gravy day at school, I'll shuck routine and indulge

Lack of time and the fact that my brain cells don't charge until noon, keep me from deviating from my breakfast routine. Though last year I tried a recipe that allowed me to shake up my breakfast routine. The recipe is for individual baked omelets from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather. I found that I could prepare these omelets during the weekend and that they heated up nicely in the microwave. When these omelets are between a sliced English muffin, they make the perfect breakfast sandwich.

In independent studies conducted by me, eating a breakfast sandwich raises one's mojo and morning tasks are completed with 75 percent more gusto than those who eat yogurt and granola.

Don't rely solely on my scientific evidence, give this recipe a shot and tell me what you think. Be sure to adapt the recipe to fit the ingredients you have on hand and put your personal twist on the recipe.

Individual Baked Omelets
(From Rebecca Rather's book The Pastry Queen)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium potato peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes.
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 4 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
• 1 fresh tomato, seeded and finely chopped
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• dash of Tabasco

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 Texas-size (3 1/2 inches diameter and 2 inches deep) muffin cups. I found my Texas-size muffin cup pan at Wal-Mart, so you should be able to track one down. If you don't have a Texas muffin tin, simply use a ramekins.
   
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add potato, onion, and half of the salt. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the red pepper and cook for 15 minutes longer. Remove the vegetable mixture form the heat and stir in bacon and tomato.
3. Whisk the eggs, cream, remaining salt, pepper, and hot sauce together in large bowl. Stir in the vegetable mixture. Pour the egg mixture evenly into the muffin cups.
   
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until firm.

A similar recipe can also be found Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks, a book I'm currently enjoying. I encourage you to check it out.

make mine with spinach and feta,
muddy

Potato and Sausage Breakfast Popover Casserole

Last year my wife I held our first annual family summit. It's an idea we borrowed from our friend Steve, who's known as The Oracle in some far out realm of the blogosphere. Basically, the summit consists of clearing our schedules, sitting down, and spending the entire day discussing household projects, finances, personal goals, and any other relevant family matters. Yesterday we participated in the 2nd annual family summit, and since you can't discuss weighty matters on an empty stomach, I prepared a quick, breakfast casserole.

Potato and Sausage Breakfast Popover Casserole
(One of my goals for the upcoming year should be to improve the presentation of my food)

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 3/4 pound potatoes peeled and cut and diced.
• 1 (12-ounce) package sausage
• 2 tables vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Preparation:

1. Adjust oven rack to the upper-middle position and preheat the over to 425 degrees. Line a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick foil, and then spray it with a non-stick spray.
2. Whisk the eggs, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl until combined. Stir in the flour, and then whisk in the butter until the batter is smooth. Stir in the scallions and set the batter aside.
3. Toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon water in a large microwaveable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the wrap, and cook the potatoes for 3-4 minutes.
4. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage. Using a slotted spoon, spread the sausage evenly over the bottom of the springform pan.
5. Heat the oil in the skillet with the sausage fat over medium high heat. Add the potatoes and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until the potatoes are golden brown.
   
6. While the potatoes are cooking, place the springform pan with the sausage in the over for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle 1/4 cup of the cheese over the sausage.
   
7. Then pour the batter evenly over the filling.
   
8. Scatter the potatoes on top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Don't make the mistake I made and pour the batter over the potatoes. You want your potatoes a chance to bask in the glow oven, so they can develop a George Hamilton hue. My brain doesn't start working until 11:00 a.m., so I shouldn't be in the kitchen before then.
   
9. Bake until puffed and golden, 25-30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan, and let cool for 5 minutes. release the outer ring, and transfer the casserole to a serving plate.

This is the first time I've prepared this dish, but I think, it's open to improvisation. I need to invite some veggies to the party. As always, we'll keep you posted.

Don't take your guns to town,
muddywaters

Apple Walnut Caramel Kuchen

Over the past two weeks, I've tried the following new recipes:

1. a pumpkin cream cheese spread.
2. a pumpkin compound butter
3. a yeasted apple bread.

Both the pumpkin recipes hearkened me back to my diaper-changing days. Anytime a recipe reminds me of changing diapers, it's a sure sign of failure.

I stuck with the apple bread, and after three rounds of tweaking the recipe, it's still not perfect. My failures soured me on the business of trying new recipes, so I vowed to abstain from trying any new recipe for two weeks.

However, cookbook author and pastry maven Carole Walter entered my life. Her book Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More pulled me from my culinary abyss, restored my confidence, and injected me with enthusiasm. Out of all the amazing recipes, I gravitated towards the Apple Caramel Kuchen because I like to say "Kuchen" and I had a supply of apples that needed to be used.

Kuchen is German for cake, and that's all I really know about it. I first encountered kuchen last spring when I read the book Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. The book is a wonderful little read and contains an outstanding chapter on farm house cooking during the Great Depression.

When I read the recipe for kuchen, I first scratched my head because it was new to me, and then I repeated the word kuchen aloud because that's what I do when I read a word that sounds melodious to me. I do this a lot with words and names. When I'm traveling in my car alone and I hear certain NPR correspondents' names, I repeat them aloud because I like the way they roll off of my tongue: David Folkenflik, David Kestenbaum, Neda Ulaby, Corey Flintoff, and my favorite - Lakshmi Singh.

That's enough nonsense. Here's the recipe:

Apple Caramel Kuchen
**Adapted from Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More Carole Walter

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Crumb Topping

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Filling

• 3 medium Granny Smith apples (about 1 pound), peeled, halved, and cored.
  
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup coarsely chopped and lightly toasted walnut
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Position the rack in the middle of the oven. Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
   

Crust:

1. Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and walnuts in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse about 10 times. Now add the butter and pulse 10-12 times. Then process for 5 to 7 seconds until fine crumbs are formed.
2. In a small bowls, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add to the processor and pulse until the mixture begins to gather together and form a ball.
3. Remove the dough from the food processor and place it on a lightly floured surface. With lightly flours hands, pat it into a disk. Place the disk into the springform pan, and with lightly floured hands, press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Gradually work toward the side of the pan. Once you reach the side, force the dough upward to form a wall 3/4 inch high. Refrigerate the pan while you're preparing the topping and filling.

Crumb Topping

1. Simply whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the the melted butter and stir with a fork until small crumbs forms. Set aside. My four-year-old daughter assisted with this step and enjoyed the process. For the record, she enjoyed repeating the word kuchen, and giggled after saying it. She especially enjoyed taste-testing the crumb. I stress to her that good cooks always sample a dish as it's being prepared.

The Filling

1. Cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices and place them in a large bowl Toss them with lemon zest and 2 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Set the apples aside.
2. Place 1/4 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the sugar, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and the salt. Stir gently. Cook the liquid on medium-low heat until it comes to a boil. Decrease the heat to low, and continue cooking until the liquid turns a medium amber color. This took me about 10-15 minutes. When the color of the sugar begins to change, watch it carefully, as it can burn in a matter of seconds.
3. Remove the caramel syrup from the heat, and add the heavy cream. Stir until the caramel is smooth. Return to the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until big bubbles begin to form on the surface. Remove from the heat and stir in chopped walnuts and vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes.
4. Fold the caramel/nut mixture into the apples. Spoon this mixture into the dough-lined pan.
5. Take the streusel crumbs and sprinkle then evenly over the filling.

Baking

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
   
2. Anytime I use a springform pan, it seems like it leaks, so I placed the pan on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any leakage. Lady Luck was on my side when I baked because there was no messy leaks. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
3. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a rack for 20 minutes.Release and remove the side of the pan and allow to cool for 30 more minutes. To remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment, place a strip of foil directly on top of the cake, cupping the foil around the side to hold the topping in place. Cover with a cooling rack, invert the cake, and carefully lift off the bottom of the pan and remove the parchment. Immediately cover with another rack, invert again, and remove the foil. Anxiety heckled me during this process. I just knew I was doomed to fail, but the cookbook - Carole Walter's proxy - was there to calmly talk me through the process. I successfully unveiled my Apple Walnut Caramel Kuchen.

Enjoy,
muddywaters

PS. . . Later I tackle babka - another fun word to say.

I highly recommend the book Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter. Not only do you get great recipes, but you get:

• her expert advice.
• tips on freezing and reheating many recipes. If you're like me and like to stow away tasting treats in the freezer to have on hand when company drops in, you'll appreciate these tips.
  
• an entire chapter on different glazes, spreads, and streusels.

Cranberry-Upside-Down Coffee Cake

It's Sunday evening. Since I'm trying to enjoy every last drop of this beautiful weekend, I'll dispense with the words for this entry. I'll just give you the wonderful recipe for the coffee cake I prepared for breakfast this morning:

Cranberry-Upside-Down Coffee Cake

Cake:

• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/2 cup butter, softened and divided
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon half and half
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare cake, coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tablespoon flour. Combine cranberries, walnuts, and rind in a bowl. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, 2 tablespoons juice, and cinnamon; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
   
3. Pour brown sugar mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle cranberry mixture evenly over brown sugar mixture.
4. Lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to granulated sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spoon batter over cranberry mixture.
5. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; run a knife around outside edges. Invert cake onto a plate; cool.
6. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over cake. Cut cake into squares.

Enjoy,
muddywaters

Cornish Splitters (English Batter Bread)

I’m currently reading A Baker’s Odyssey by Greg Patent, which is an outstanding book that explores the baking traditions of various U. S. immigrants. The book contains a wide range of recipes that I could showcase in this blog. I could have prepared an elegant Gâteau Basque. Or a jaw dropping Hungarian Walnut Torte? However, I chose to make Cornish Splitters, a traditional English batter bread because I’m a bread man. I know it's not a flashy recipe, but I like the alchemy of taking simple, ordinary ingredients – water, flour, yeast, and salt – and morphing them into something complex and extraordinary. I also chose it because the one hour prep time fit well into my busy weeknight schedule, and since the recipe only made 6 rolls, I could experiment without having an excessive surplus of bread on hand.



Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup whole or low-fat milk, heat until 110 degrees.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, blend the flour and butter with a wooden spoon until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in yeast, sugar, and hot milk. Beat with spoon until you have a thick batter. Add salt, and beat for 1 or 2 minutes more, until smooth. (Note: The cookbook insisted that I would have a thick batter. I don't know if this stiff mixture technically constitutes a batter. It seemed much to0 thick for me. Shouldn't you be able to pour a batter? I tried to find online references to Cornish Splitters, but I couldn't find any. Maybe the cookbook author is just pulling my chain.)
   
2. Let batter stand uncovered at room temperature for 45 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees while the batter rests. Coat a large baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.
4. When the batter is ready, spoon 6 larges gobs onto the prepared pan, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Each gob will be 3 inches across. (It was difficult to spoon gobs because this batter isn't really a batter.)
   
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the splitters are pale golden brown and srping back when pressed gently in the center.
   
6. Serve and enjoy

I didn't care for the overly yeasty flavor of these rolls. The rolls weren't bad, but if you want bread in a jiffy, stick to biscuits. This recipe won't supplant any bread or roll recipes already in my repertoire, but it satisfied my craving to bake and gave me some more experience. You never know when Cornish Splitters might pop up in a conversation. If they do, I'll be able to contribute more than a blank stare.

Pass the jam,
muddywaters

Canyon Granola

I go ga ga for good granola. Since my frugal nature hated paying big bucks for good granola, I set out to find the perfect granola recipe. After two years I found the Holy Grail of Granola Recipes in the book Cowgirl Cuisine by Paula Disbrowe. This recipe possessed everything I looked for in a good granola: great flavor, a good crunch, quality ingredients, chunky bits of goodness, and a nutritional mix of grains.

The milk powder, whole wheat flour, and flaxseed meal help the granola clump together, and they help boost the nutritional value of this granola by providing valuable protein and fiber. The original recipe called for adding dried fruit after the granola cooled, but I found that the dried fruit eventually hardened after a few days. I simply add my dried or fresh fruit right before I'm ready to eat my granola. Also I didn't have any pepitas the first time I tried the recipe, so feel free to substitute any combination of nuts. Finally, I tried substituting honey for molasses once and the granola was more apt to burn in the oven, so I now stick with molasses.

I hope you seek out Ms. Disbrowe's book because it contains other top-notch recipes and some great essays about transitioning from being a New Yorker to a Texan. Currently the book is listed at a bargain price at amazon.com.

Canyon Granola

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup pecan or walnut halves
• 1/2 cup pepitas (roasted, hulled pumpkin seeds)
  
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/3 cup ground flaxseed meal

1. Place the oven racks on the upper and lower third of the over and preheat to 300 degrees.
2. Combine the maple syrup, brown sugar, oil, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook until the brown sugar is dissolved. Stir in the vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, combine the oats, pecans, pepitas, sunflower seeds, flour, milk powder, and flaxseed meal. Pour the syrup mixture over the dry ingredients. Combine and mix well.
4. Divide the mixture between two baking sheets.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, and then stir granola with spatula. Rotate the sheets to ensure even baking.
6. Bake another 20 minutes. Stir and rotate pans again.
7. Bake until the mixture has a fragrant, toasty aroma - about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool the granola in the pans.
8. When the mixture is cool, store in an airtight container.

Mahnomin Porridge

At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.

"This porridge is too hot!" she exclaimed.

So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.

"This porridge is too cold," she said

So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.

"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," she said happily and she ate it all up.

***From "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"

I always found this story disturbing, especially the part about her sleeping in their beds. That's downright creepy. I bet she rifled through their underwear drawers also. However, her greatest atrocity came when she ate their breakfast. Eating another man's (or bear's) breakfast just ain't civil.

This story first introduced me to porridge. I had no idea what it was, but I thought it was similar to oatmeal. It turns out I was right. According to wikipedia, porridge is a simple dish made by boiling oats and sometimes a mixture of other grains in milk or water. I also learned the following interesting facts about porridge

1. In parts of Asia porridge is fed to horses and donkeys (This fact just makes me smile. "Honey, I'm going out to the barn to feed the donkeys their porridge.").
2. Gruel is a form of porridge, but it's usually a thinner consistency, so that people can drink it (I might make some gruel for my daughter because I think it would be fun to scream, "Drink your gruel, or you'll get no dessert!).
3. Every October Scotland hosts the World Porridge Making Championships, where contestants battle for the Golden Spurtle Trophy. A spurtle is a special spoon used to stir porridge. For you curious souls, here's a picture of spurtle (I won't comment on the phallic nature of it. I'd be embarrassed to whip this out of my kitchen drawer):
4. Many cultures use porridge to nurse the sick back to health.

When I read on roadfood.com about the Mahnomin Porridge served at Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis, I thought it sounded interesting, but something I'd never try. For the record, I've never craved porridge. I've never been fan of hot breakfast cereals like oatmeal, mush, or grits. However, I think some of it has to do with its unappealing name. I think the name porridge turns most people off to the dish. In fact, very few people ordered it when it first appeared on Hell's Kitchen's menu. Then they started giving it away, but people still balked at trying it. Eventually, people tried the dish, realized it was heavenly, and now it's a popular menu item.

Last week I had the privilege of eating at Hell's Kitchen, and I was still reluctant to try it. However, the snowy weather and my lumberjack attitude prompted me to give the porridge a try, and when I tried the first bite I was a porridge convert. At that moment I wanted to be porridge's new PR man, spreading the gospel of this great dish. So here I am blogging about it.

Like most restaurant dishes that bring a glint to my eye, I'm always inspired to replicate the dish at home. This drives my wife nuts. She doesn't understand why I would go to all the trouble. She doesn't understand why I just can't enjoy the dish at the restaurant, where it's something special, a treat. Now my wife is partially right. For some reason she's always right and I'm wrong. This is the gospel truth. However, believing that I'm right, I usually respond with a two-pronged response:

1. I could make this dish for a fraction of what they're charging me at the restaurant.
2. What if someday we live somewhere like Moscow, Kansas, where there's not a wide range of restaurants.? Wouldn't it be nice to have a husband, who can prepare a huge repertoire of dishes?

In which she responds:

1. We'll never live in Moscow, Kansas.
2. We can afford to occasionally eat a meal at a restaurant. There's nothing wrong with occasionally treating ourselves.

She's probably right, but I still insist on replicating recipes I encounter on restaurant menus.

This morning I made the Mahnomin Porridge.

Mahnomin Porridge

(Photo from roadfood.com)

Ingredients

4 cups cooked wild rice

¼ cup pure maple syrup

¼ cup dried blueberries

¼ cup craisins

½ cup roasted, cracked hazelnuts

1 cup heavy cream



Preparation

1. In a heavy non-stick sautee pan, add the cooked wild rice, heavy cream, and maple syrup, and warm through.
2. Add the blueberries, craisins, and hazelnuts, and stir to mix well.
3. Serve in a bowl with sides of warm heavy cream and maple syrup.
   

Now my attempt at Mahnomin Porridge wasn't quite as good as Hell's Kitchen, but it still was pretty darn good. I think, there are three things I could do to improve the porridge:

1. I used half and half, and using heavy cream would improve my porridge.
   
2. I could toast my hazlenuts in a skillet. I stepped this step, so I could stuff my face. Toasting or roasting nuts would definitely give the nuts a more pronounced flavor.
3. I could use a better quality maple syrup. I don't really know anything about maple syrup, so I just grabbed the cheapest bottle, a $3.50 bottle of Maple Grove Farms: U.S. grade A Dark Amber. I've been cooking long enough to know that sometimes the quality of ingredients does matter, so I'll research maple syrups and find a better one to use with this recipe. This might be the most important thing I could do to improve the recipe.

I also think you could experiment with the ingredients a bit. Pecans would work in place of hazlenuts. If you don't have wild rice, you could probably use a white rice. Also, you could add a little cinnamon, nutmeg, or vanilla to change the flavor of this recipe. Overall, I'm happy with my results, and I look forward to enjoying this porridge on a cold, snowy, day.

Happy eating,
muddywaters