Briefly, Cook the Books 2013: Mile End Cookbook

I put my library request in early, I swear. But it was Passover and it seemed like I wasn't ever going to get my hands on a loaner copy of The Mile End Cookbook for April's Cook the Books due to the number of holds ahead of me... But then a librarian friend introduced me to the brilliance that is Link+, and thanks to inter-library coordination it was ready for me to pick up at my local branch within a few days. I was over the moon pleased with myself, and I settled in to flipping through the recipes and hungry thoughts of making cinnamon buns and challah, lotsa pickles, and a bunch of different kinds of latkes, to start.

But with taxes due and a barely planned vacation to take, it turned out that for most of April I was swimming with fishes in Mexico instead of cooking at home.

So this month is short and sweet, with just two simple dishes cooked but (as usual) many more savored with my eyeballs. I was also proud because not only did I use up a lot of things in the fridge before leaving the country (greens and herbs from the swap, bacon, salami, eggs, etc.), I also did not need to buy anything specifically for these recipes, except the beans!

Mish-Mash - This recipe caught my eye immediately. Salami with eggs? Yes please. With just a few ingredients, this is great and easy-to-prepare meal which will be on the menu at our joint going forward for sure.

As I sought ways to cook anything amid the pre-trip crunch, it turned out the Maple Baked Beans were just the thing to take to a friend's BBQ. They were very tasty on grilled sausages, and we ate the leftovers as beans on toast with eggs as our last dinner at home. Breakfast for dinner, always a winner.

Next up for May is Tender by Nigel Slater. And I can sure do with some veggies in my diet after all those tacos and beer!

Finale of Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 12: Soft Gingerbread

With the close of a year, so too ends my Cook the Book adventure. Thank you so much to my fellow chefs and blog pals: Emily, Natasha, Rachel and Claudie and Sammy. Through a chance meeting at an event, we continued to bond over German sausage, Spanish tapas, drinks, lots of recipes and a love of breakfast! It's wonderful to count five new friends through a shared experience, even if we have yet to cook together. I still want to have a group gathering where we each cook or bring our favorite recipe from the book and indulge together. Who knows, 2013 is a brand new year and full of promise...

Appropriately, I feel like I am going out with a bang on this project. The Soft Gingerbread is perhaps my favorite recipe so far; mouth-watering and wholly satisfying. This dark, spicy, perfumed deliciousness is dense but airy, nicely sticky and not-too-sweet.

I know this will become a go-to recipe for me and have already touted its worth to multiple friends.

The key ingredient

Spices + molasses = magic

Bubbles begin to emerge from the start

After blending

Mixing in the dry ingredients

Air pockets galore

Freshly baked gingerbread smells really really good

Show me your best side

A born crowd pleaser

Soft Gingerbread
Makes one eight-inch square gingerbread (and then some)
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and lightly flour your baking pan. I actually ended up with enough batter for an eight-inch square plus a small loaf, so be prepared for extra.

Add the sugar, molasses, oil, and eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. From the start you will notice a lot of bubbling, which makes this project extra fun in my book.

In another bowl, combine the salt, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, flour, and baking soda and stir with a fork until well mixed. Stir into the first mixture and add boiling water. Beat briskly until smooth. Note this is a thin batter and will rise.

Pour into the pan(s) and bake 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm. For the record, it also pairs magnificently with ice cream (I suggest mint chip).

Lastly, in my opinion this is a recipe for all seasons, and many occasions. Enjoy it! 

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 11: Maple Syrup Custard

The maple syrup version of Marion's basic custard is a winner. That said, I would never make this for breakfast. For dessert, yes. For breakfast, not so much.

I had actually intended to make a different recipe from this chapter {sorry Steamed Persimmon Pudding, another time...}, but after being very tempted by some fresh flan at our favorite taqueria, I resisted, came home and made this instead.

While I appreciate that this recipe's simplicity would make it appealing for breakfast, it was just too sweet for my morning taste buds. In fact, I might lean towards reducing the amount of maple syrup in this just a wee bit, so the eggy, custardy, goodness can really stand out.

Other excellent things about this basic custard recipe include that you can make it out of ingredients you are pretty much always bound to have on hand, and it undeniably begs for experimentation. Nutmeg, cardamom or vanilla all seem like obvious potential flavor additions. How about lavender? Or jasmine, or orange? Something savory like curry? I plan to experiment with custardizing this winter for sure. And oh! I bet an eggnog version would be phenomenal.

Maple Syrup Custard
Four servings
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream, or 1 cup milk, or 1 cup half-and-half
4 eggs
Salt to taste
1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375°. Fill a shallow baking dish large enough to hold all the ramekins halfway with hot water and place in the oven. Butter the 4 ramekins.

Beat the milk, cream, eggs, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the maple syrup and stir to mix.

Pour custard mixture into the ramekins and place them carefully in the water bath in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the custard is barely set. Remember it will firm up more as it cools, so don't overcook. 

Remove from the oven and serve hot or cold. 

For more goodness from the Custards and Puddings chapter, check out the posts from my Cook the Book pals: Emily, Natasha, Rachel and Claudie.

Cooking The Breakfast Book: Chapter 10: Breakfast Sausage Patties with Applesauce

As we've worked our way cooking through this book for the past five months, somewhat unintentionally the chapters have been lining up nicely with the seasons and the weather.

It's starting to really feel like fall is here lately in San Francisco (we spent this evening weatherproofing our old Victorian flat windows, for example), so a heartier breakfast is just the thing.

When contemplating what to serve this savory sausage with, simple seemed best. Whole grain sourdough toast and homemade applesauce is a menu pairing that will absolutely be repeated. And, I froze most of the patties from this batch, so it will be extra easy to whip up again.

The simplicity of the sausage is key too; by not over-complicating the ingredients, they truly shine through. I used fresh thyme, but had recently dehydrated sage from the last food swap. It still had a sharp and strong odor and flavor, so I was happy to put it to good use here.

Breakfast Sausage Patties
Twelve patties
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

This recipe can also be made into links if you feel so inspired. Instead of buying pre-ground pork, ask the butcher to grind it for you on the spot. If the pork is too lean to provide the necessary proportion of 1/3 fat, ask to buy additional fat and have it added in. If you are grinding the meat yourself at home, make sure it is well-chilled.

2 pounds pork butt (1/3 fat to 2/3 pork), coursely ground
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh sage, or 2 1/2 teaspoons crumbled dried sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon crumbled dried sage

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, thoroughly but gently mixing together. You want to avoid having the meat become to "creamy", which won't pose a problem if the meat is chilled. If it is too sticky to form into patties, wet your hands slightly with cold water.

For each patty, use about 1/4 cup of sausage and pat into a round, flat patty. 

In order to brown the meat, place the patties in a hot pan and cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Then reduce the heat and finish cooking for another 4-5 minutes, or until done. Blot off excess fat with paper towels and serve hot.

I highly recommend applesauce as a classic accompaniment to these pork sausages. I just happened to have made some a couple days prior from gifted apples off a friend of a friend's trees. (Thanks Pamela!) They were so perfectly flavorful, I didn't even add any sugar, so the applesauce was an ideal compliment to the richness of the meat.

My Cook the Book partner-in-crime Natasha made the Trout Fried with Oatmeal, a recipe that had also caught my eye. It looks beautiful! If I ever do this again, need to figure out a way of sharing the meals we make among the chefs, or at least inviting more friends over to eat.

Cooking The Breakfast Book: Chapter 9: Oven Fries for Happy Times

French fries are my power food. Looking back I think it's because growing up we never really ate out at restaurants very frequently, nor were we allowed to eat anything remotely like junk food...except while traveling. Which luckily for me was pretty much every summer, all summer. So when in Germany visiting my mom's side of the family, oh how I loved to say "Mit pommes frites" when placing my own order! And while summers in Montana visiting my dad's side were more likely to feature Indian fry bread, french fries made regular appearances too: at the Havre Dairy Queen after swimming, or while on the road of course.

They remain one of my favorite foods, and probably my ultimate comfort meal. But making them at home for breakfast? OK, Marion, I'm with ya.

Oven Fries
Serves 3
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

These are identical to french fries, but made in the oven instead of by deep frying.

2 russet potatoes, peeled
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt and lots of pepper

Preheat the oven to 425°. 

Cut the peeled potatoes into pieces measuring 1/2 inch wide by approximately 3 1/2 inches long. Pour the vegetable oil into a 10-inch square pan. Toss the potatoes in the oil, coating the completely on all sides. Apply salt and pepper liberally. 

Put the potatoes in the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Turn them over and apply more salt and pepper on the second side. Pour off any liquid, and return them to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes or until the fries are golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and eat them while they're hot.

Top your breakfast fries with an egg! It will taste excellent even if you do a crap job of cooking said egg because it's election day and you're trying to both cook and get out the door to vote before work. (I ended up voting after work, but at least I started the day right, right?)

For more potato goodness from my Cook the Book pals visit: Emily, Natasha and Claudie.

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 8: Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish

In case you are just tuning in to this Cook the Book project, the first and third Tuesdays of the month deliver recipes from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book to your mornings — brought to you by myself and four blogger pals: Emily, Natasha, Rachel and Claudie. Chapter 8 is titled 'Fruit Fixing' and includes a range of fresh and cooked fruit preparations.

Marion's Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish appeals to me in all kinds of ways. I love the literalness of the name, I really love grapefruits, and I appreciate how these ingredients you might not normally expect to be together actually marry well for a fresh, bright and surprisingly tasty side dish.

  

Pink Grapefruit Apple Dish
Serves 2-4
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

3 pink grapefruits
2 sweet, firm apples
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
A sprinkle of sugar, as needed

Peel two of your grapefruits, removing as much white pith as possible. Then break into sections and remove the fruit from the membranes and skin. Put the grapefruit sections in a bowl. Slice your third grapefruit in half and squeeze the juice out it, straining out the bulk of the pulp if that is your preference.

Next peel and core the apples, slicing them into thin slices. 

Immediately add the apple to the grapefruit, gently stirring to coat them with the acidic grapefruit juice to keep them from browning.

Chill the fruit and top with a tablespoon or more of chopped fresh mint. If your grapefruits are not sweet enough, sprinkle a small amount of sugar over the top and serve in fancy dishes.

Cooking notes: I modified the quantities of the original recipe as I found that just one grapefruit and one apple were enough for single servings for two people. The use of an additional grapefruit just for juice was needed though, and the mint is really the secret weapon here, so I increased the amount. Also, since my grapefruits were actually quite tart, I sprinkled just a tiny bit of sugar over each dish before serving.

Cooking The Breakfast Book, Chapter 7: Buttermilk Baked Eggs

I adore eggs. I like them all ways, any time. Especially soft boiled, or poached, or in what I call "egg things" and most others call egg-in-a-hole. I also recently started a new job and have been trying to eat breakfast before I leave the house in the morning, which is far from easy for this night owl. But, this is my kind of recipe, and it makes breakfast extra easy. I made these Buttermilk Baked Eggs yesterday before work even.

The things I like best about this dish are the following: (a) it's an effortless way to fancy up a favorite dish, (b) it's an ideal use for that leftover buttermilk you inevitably end up with from some baking project or another, (c) aside from super simple prep, it's mostly cooking time, so this is a breakfast that you can make quickly and while doing other things, and (d) the buttermilk makes this humble dish surprisingly luscious and creamy. Thumbs up for eggs transformed.

Buttermilk Baked Eggs
Serves 2
Adapted from from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham  

2 slices sandwich bread
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly toast the bread slices, and cut a hole in the center of each one using a 1½-inch circular cutter (or a small glass). Butter the bottom of an ovenproof dish and place the toast in it. 

Break the egg directly over the center, so that the yolk fills the hole. Add salt and pepper to taste, and then spoon 1/4 cup of buttermilk over each egg and bread slice.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Clamoring for more eggs? Of course you are! Find them among our society of Cook the Bookers: 

Rachel from Ode to Goodness

Natasha from Non-Reactive Pan

Emily from The Bon Appétit Diaries

Claudie from The Bohemian Kitchen

Sammy from Rêve du Jour