Crepes or Palachinki (Палачинки)

Palachinki (Crepes, or Палачинки) is a popular Bulgarian brunch item. When we were growing up my mom and grandma would make them on the weekends and we would wait around the stove and just grab them as soon as they were done and devour them with either honey, jam or feta cheese! The recipe is quite simple and with the modern kitchen appliances (such as Blenders) everyone can make perfect batter and enjoy delicious home made crepes!

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 16 table spoons all purpose flour
• 1 table spoon sugar
• 1/2 table spoon salt
• 1/4 table spoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup water (sparkling water works great but if you don't have any then tap water is just fine)

Process:

Put eggs + flour + sugar + salt + vanilla + milk + water in a blender. Blend until the mixture is nice and homogeneous and there are no more chunks of flour left.
 

Put very little olive oil in a pan and heat on med/high setting.
 

Then gently add ~ 2/3 laddle of the batter and swirl the bottom of the pan while adding in order for the batter to be evenly distributed. Cook on med/high heat for ~ 1 min then flip the crepe and cook for another minute.

Serve with your favorite jam or honey or whatever else you like on your crepe.
ENJOY!

Simple but good: Breakfast yogurt parfait with golden granola and burnt caramel sauce

This simple breakfast did not disappoint. The fantastic burnt caramel sauce by Recchiuti that I picked up at the Ferry Building yesterday was just the right topping over a crunchy apple and 1/3 cup of plain Straus Creamery yogurt.

Mmm....

Faux Trahana - Happy Birthday Sweet Lokuma!

I am celebrating Lokuma's birthday with a breakfast inspired by a dish her grandmother used to cook for her.

Since I didn't have any trahana on hand, I quickly reheated 1/2 a cup of emmer farro and topped it with 1/3 tbsp of melted butter + sweet paprika and 1 oz feta cheese (French feta from Costco).


Oh my...!

More on trahana after the jump...

Breakfast Porridge with Apples and Toasted Cranberry-Walnut Breadcrumbs (double cooked!)

As most of you know my love affair with porridge has transcended the mere infatuation phase and grown into a long-lasting, caring and enduring relationship with no fatigue or boredom in sight.

                           

To find out about how it all began, read more after the jump...

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup Bob's Redmill steel cut oats

- 2/3 tbsp turbinado raw cane suggar

- 1/2 cup of Straus Creamery 2% milk

- 1 peeled and chopped apple (best to use your food processor or grate it)

- vanilla powder

- cinnamon

I cooked the oats in my rice cooker yesterday with a bit of salt and water. This morning I cooked them again (they had thickened quite a bit overnight) with the milk, sugar, apple. The aroma was amazing! I topped the creamy and sweet oats, which resembled a rice pudding, with some leftover toasted cranberry walnut breadcrumbs. This was a wonderful idea - they added texture, a bit of tartness and chewiness!

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Light and silky leek quiche

As you may have noticed I like to treat my hubby to nice brunches on the weekend. This past Sunday was no exception. I had been planning on making a quiche for a long time as evidenced by the two organic whole wheat pie shells that had been gathering dust, I mean freezer burn, in my fridge for a while.

I had even scrutinized several recipes from Cooks Illustrated and put off making the quiche on several occasions because of  how rich and decadent the recipes seemed. However, knowing SM's love for eggs and bacon for breakfast and my fascination with leeks, I decided to get creative with the Cooks Illustrated Leek and Goat Cheese recipe and adapt it to my liking.

Step 1: Defrost and prebake pie shell for 10-15 minutes according to manufacturer's directions

Step 2: Chop and saute 2 slices of reduced fat bacon (from Whole Foods) along with 1 thinly sliced large leek a bit of oil and a touch of butter

Step 3: Prepare the custard by whisking 3/4 cups milk, 3/4 cups cream (I used only milk), 2 large eggs and 2 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp salt and some ground pepper to taste.

Step 4: Spread  4 oz cheese ( I used a mix of Queso Fresco, Romano, Parmesan but the Cooks Illustrated recipe calls for goat cheese) and leek mixture on the pre-baked shell and pour the custard mixture on top

Step 5: Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes, until lightly golden brown and the center is set but soft like gelatin and a knife inserted about 1 inches away from the edge comes out clean.

I made a simple side salad with a mustard apple cider vinegar dressing, which nicely complemented the creaminess of the quiche.

Tired of breakfast cereal? How 'bout some scrambled Eggs or omelet!

Very easy recipe for scrambled eggs or omelet. If you grab the wrong sized pan, you will end up with a delicious scramble. Alternatively, with the correct size pan you will make a great omelet. Regardless of your choice of frying pan, the important thing to is to first cook the vegetables so that when you add the eggs your scramble/omelet will have perfectly cooked ingredients.

Here are the materials that yielded two hearty servings:

• 6 eggs
• 1 leek, thinly sliced
• 1/3 lb mushrooms, chopped
• 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• ~1/4 cup milk

Sautee the leeks with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and black pepper. Then put aside and in the same pan saute the mushrooms and season again with some salt, black and cayenne pepper.



In a bowl, whisk 3 eggs + 6 table spoons of milk. Pour the eggs into an appropriate size frying pan with some olive oil that has been pre-heated. Then gently stir the eggs (2-3 seconds) and let them settle. If you are lucky and the eggs don't stick to your chosen pan (i found the second time around that a 9" teflon pan worked), proceed with making them into an omelet. Let the eggs cook for ~ 5 min and then put half of the cheese and half of the mushrooms and leeks on top and cook until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the omelet is nicely cooked. Then transfer to a plate and add the tomatoes.



However, if the eggs end up sticking to the pan (my first attempt was to use an 11" cast iron pan), just start stirring the eggs and make a scramble. Add the cheese, mushrooms, leeks and tomatoes and stir for ~ 5 min and then enjoy!

Green Breakfast Smoothie + Almond Milky Oats

Here's to a healthy start of the day: Green smoothie

• 1 grapefruit
• 1 tangelo orange
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 collard leaves (not pictured)
• 1/2 lemon
• ginger powder
• 2 tbsp yogurt

Almond milky oats

• Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats
• Kirkland's dried mangoes and berries
• Almond milk
• Madagascar Bourbon vanilla powder
• Topping: Kirkland's wholesome fruits & nuts

Easy breezy cream biscuits on a Sunday morning

I am convinced that Sunday morning always calls for a treat (especially after a week filled with mostly vegetarian meals)...The heavy cream in my fridge, which by the way was a few days post its expiration date, was calling my name. My initial thought was to use it in a quiche since I have two frozen Whole Foods tart shells on hand but I realized that I had ran out of eggs.

One of the quickest and easiest recipes that uses cream that I know of is the Cooks Illustrated cream biscuits recipe. It takes 20 min tops - you mix the ingredients, make the dough and cut the biscuits in the amount of time it takes your oven to heat up to 450 degrees. Then you pop them in the oven and 15 minuts later you have light and airy delights that melt in your mouth...

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour ( I have modified the Cooks Illustrated recipe and use a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flour)
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (sans aluminum of course!)
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Step 1: Make the dough

Mix the dry ingredients well and pour the cream slowly while stirring with a spoon until a dough forms (gather it into a shaggy ball)

Step 2: Knead the dough

Once you have formed a shaggy dough, sprinkle your countertop with a bit of flour, place the dough on it and knead it for 30 sec...

...until its relatively smooth

Step 3: Form the biscuits

Press the dough into an 8 inch square pan or simply shape it into a 3/4-inch circle

Cut the biscuits with a cookie cutter - I don't have one so I use a small wine tumbler:

Step 4: Bake

Put in the oven and rotate the baking sheet halfway through. Bake until golden brown (15 min)

I served the biscuits with the last of Plodova Salata's cranberry relish...

...and the obligatory stilton and Straus Creamery sweet butter

Fruity Friday Morning

Here's our fruity start of the day:

• 1/4 of a giant Asian pear
• 1/2 orange
• pinch or two coconut flakes
• dozen raisins
• dollop of Straus Creamery yogurt
• a couple of Duchily hazelnuts (they are oblong, not round)
• Uncle Rumen's honey

Can you help me figure out which variety of honey this is? It's thick, bright yellow and very aromatic...

Sweet and Salty Oatmeal for Breakfast

I have quite a busy morning. The storm is raging outside and it might take longer than usual to get to to the office, no time for cooking.
For breakfast, I fixed two bowls, using the oatmeal, I cooked over the weekend.
Sweet flavour for GP:

I used:

• Blue Agave sirup
• Chia seeds
• Peanut butter
• and slivered almonds for crunch

Mine was very simple, just chia seeds and feta:

Have a nice day, Ladies!

Leftover faro for breakfast

I have a busy day ahead but that doesn't mean breakfast is off the menu. After a string of creamy banana oat concoctions, I was ready for a savory grain start of the day.

I nuked some of the leftover faro, moistened it with a bit of soy butter, sprinkled a bit of parmesan and ground some coarse black pepper on top. Something was still missing...A touch of the sweet-and-salty Tamari soy sauce solved the problem.

I am packing my lunch + some fruit for an afternoon snack.

Have a nice day!

Oatmeal Sunday Morning

We had a terrific Saturday night hanging out with the 'rents, sipping cocktails and noshing on South East Asian apps at the E&O Trading company down south (my first visit of their SJ outpost). I have to say that while the food was good overall, the copious amounts of salt that dominated almost every dish managed to make me extremely thirsty overnight. What better way to counteract the salt overload than treating my tastebuds with a dose of velvety, sweet goodness (a.k.a creamy banana steel cut oats)?

I measured a cup of Bob's Red Mill organic whole grain steel cut oats (also known as Irish or Pinhead oats) that I had bought at Costco and sliced a very ripe banana on top of them. I then poured a cup of water and a cup and a half of 2% milk (I am a Straus Creamery fan) and sprinkled a tiny bit of salt (for extra creaminess), cinnamon (for extra complexity - you wouldn't even be able to taste it at the end) and Madagascar Bourbon pure vanilla powder on top.

While the oats are simmering ( it should take about 20 minutes), I am sipping my mini Nespresso latte and getting ready to tell you about our quick, home-made Saturday lunch...

The oats are ready, they bubbled for about 20 minutes and reached a pretty creamy consistency. I never cook them with milk so I was pleasantly surprised by the texture, not mushy at all, just smooth and thick, the oat kernel' shape intact but not crunchy.

Crisco's toppings: coconut flakes, goji berries, raisins, peanut butter, honey

My toppings: raisins, kamut+ spelt berries, peanut butter, honey