E.A.T. w/ Cheese

Egg, Avocado, and Tomato on Toasts w/ Cheese. This was one of the Greatest. Breakfast. Idea. Ever. Early Sunday morning and after a night with lots of good wine... this piece of heaven totally hit the spot. I will make this dish, again, for many many more Sunday mornings for friends and family because I know, they will love me ever more dearly after having this. Except, I promise not to overcook the egg.

Preheat your oven to broil (low).

I started with two simple slice of toasts that were toasted. What can I say, I like them extra crunchy. Add a layer of sliced ripe plum tomatoes. Make sure your baking dish is well greased with either a neutral oil or butter, if you must. :)



Top with some slices of cheese of choice. I recommend a pretty sharp cheese like sharp cheddar - and avoid low-fat and no-fat cheese since it's more rubbery than milky and won't melt well. Come on now... just go all out.




Next, top with ripe avocado.



Ignore the other slice of toast since it was obvious that I didn't keep up with the level of aesthetics with the cheese layering.



Top with even more cheese. How ingenious!



In a hot pan with canola oil (or butter, if you so prefer), cook an egg very quickly so that just the whites are slightly cooked enough for you to handle the egg onto the toast w/o it sliding right off. With a spatula, just push in the whites so that the egg appears more round. Does that make sense?



This egg didn't do as well as the other one.



Kinda' like this is ideal.



Now stick the thing under the broiler and be sure to take it out in a few minutes or you will overcook your poor egg like that I did. I should not have gone to take my laundry out of the dryer. :( I know, the focus is a bit off w/ this photo.



It was uber delicious!

East Meets West Brunch

The brunch went really well today! I'm so glad that I brought two offices together although we all work on the same floor. The best floor to be exact. We're all about the same age so it was nice that we finally had a chance to talk outside of work, got to know each other, and can finally avoid the awkward let-me-walk-by-you-quickly-smile sorta' thing.

Anyway, the idea for the theme came to be because a friend of mine recently sent me a photo of a store called, East Meets West, and shared that he immediately thought of me when he saw it. I must admit that I had so much fun playing around with the ingredients and coming up with fun dishes.

I made a bulgur wheat salad with watercress, thai okra, broccoli, summer squash, butternut squash, corn, grape tomatoes and white kidney beans. I added a moroccan spice to it + feta cheese and some balsamic vinaigrette.



Mixing it in with the bulgur wheat - pre-feta and balsamic vinaigrette. I made this the night before and cooled it overnight in the fridge. I added the cheese and vinegar later.



I also made a crustless quiche. I am known for these quiches... I love making crustless quiches. In this quiche, garlic chives, bok choy, white button mushrooms and yellow bell peppers. Of course, there were eggs and milk.



And after 20 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees - it looks like this. The texture was just right and airy. I try to set the eggs out at room temperature for about a 1/2 hour before I use it then I beat the crap out of it.



I also served a homemade strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry preserves (over non-fat plain yogurt) that I also made the night before and allowed to cool overnight in the fridge.



Yes, hot spiced cranberry cider was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Saying that reminds me of the South Park episode of awesome-o. Go check it out - great episode.



Of course, there has to be a fresh and piping hot pot of french press coffee.



This was the spread after people had start serving... oops but before the delicious banana nut bread that Heather brought. There was also baked red potato homefries with sweet basil that I've been growing.



OMG. This banana nut bread was so good! I must get the recipe and asks others to bake it for me because I am a poor baker.



Anyway, like the wise Borat would say, GREAT SUCCESS!!!

Japanese Bagels Update

The brunch went really well and because my silly iphone did not change the time - I was done an hour early and had some "me" time. Win win. I really enjoyed this theme because it definitely got my creativity going and by creativity - I mean - it helped clean out my fridge and put everything to good use.


So, less writing and more photo sharing... here is the bagel update:

i hope your oven is set to 400 degrees and you have a boiling pot of water w/ baking soda.

This is what my dough looked like when I woke up this morning. It was very light and airy. Perfect!



I lightly floured the counter and rolled it out like this. I then cut them into 2 inch thick pieces. The dough should be very easy to work with now - moist but not at all sticky - and also very bouncy (yes, i'm so technical).



I rolled the pieces into balls and used a bento cutter to make the hole. If you have a real bagel hole cutter, please use that. This is just silly business and makes the saying "necessity is the mother of all inventions" ever more true.



In my boiling water w/ baking soda, I boiled the bagels for about 35-45 seconds. I didn't use a timer but rather my acute sense of time.



Once done, I placed them on my baking sheet greased with canola oil. They're looking rustic... and by that I really mean, unique.



This is what they looked like after 10 minutes in the oven. Not the most refined looking bagels but trust me, they were delicious. If you've never had a fresh baked bagel - like right out of the oven before - you must go find yourself one. At least ONCE in your life - you should know what a fresh baked bagel taste like.

Japanese (Noritama Furikake) Bagels

So, I'm hosting a brunch tomorrow. My theme is "East Meets West" only because my friends so often tease me about how I constantly brag that I have balanced well my east and west. One of the things on the menu for tomorrow's brunch is my inventive Japanese bagels! I pretty much started with the basic bagel dough batter and added about 3 T of noritama furikake (egg, seaweed, and other savory spices) seasoning to it. I've made bagels before, pretzel bagels to be exact, and those were yummy.

I am not baking mine tonight and letting the dough rise overnight instead. I'll bake them first thing in the morning.

You will need,

3 cups of flour + some extra for kneading
3 T of noritama furikake seasonings
2 T of sugar
1 1/4 cups of lukewarm water
1 T of instant yeast
1/2 T of canola oil or any other neutral oil to coat the dough

For boiling the bagels,

You will need a large pot with about 8 cups of water and 1/3 cup of baking soda (to give it that nice golden color). Boil for about 30-45 seconds on each side.

For baking the bagels,

Turn your oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 8-10 minutes.


In a large mixing bowl, add all your dry ingredients.




This is the kind that I used. You should be able to find it in your asian grocery market.



Combine well and then make a hole or "well" in the middle.



Pour in the water and slowly combine flour and water. The idea is to keep pressing more flour against the dough.



Will start to look kinda' raggedy like this...



Once you're done, take out the dough and put it on a floured surface then began to knead until smooth. I'm not sure what is going on with the color in this photo?!?

The dough should be moist but not sticky. Your fingers shouldn't be catching most of the dough.



Yes, those are my fingerprints.



Try to gather the dough into a ball.



Grease it well. Then allow to rise in a large bowl, covered (no breeze), and place in a warm area (maybe the oven?). Excuse the blurriness.



This is not a particular large bowl but I later moved it into one. :)

Coffee Multigrain Pancakes w/ Flaxseed Meal

It's been raining for 3 straight days in Boston w/o breaks. Addy (our dog's name), we're not in Boston anymore! What is this crap, Paris? In any case, the craving for cooking and flower shaped pancakes came to mind for brightening the day.

This recipe is for ONE. 1/2 cup of multigrain flour, 1/2 cup of water*, 1 package of Vinacafe instant coffee (has milk), 1 egg, and 1/4 T of flaxseed meal (unless you're used to this stuff to want to add more, if not - start slow, or you might experience unpleasant stomach symptoms). Do NOT over beat. Blend and let sit for about 10 minutes.

*if you choose to just add some other kind of instant coffee w/o milk then add milk instead of water

1/2 cup of multigrain flour. I mixed everything in here since it's easier to pour with the spout.



1 package of Vinacafe Instant Coffee w/ coffee, milk, and sugar. This is when knowing how to read in Vietnamese comes in handy.



Add an egg and 1/4 T of flaxseed meal.



Blend and remember, no over beating, because if you do you will end up with super tough pancakes. The color is a bit darker due to coffee mix.



Heat up your pan (low-med heat) with some butta'.



Pour slowly. Remove ring and flip once when the edges are bubbly like in this photo. Flipping more than once is one of the cardinal sins in making pancakes. You will end up with tough pancakes.



Fluffy texture that you want. Enjoy with warm Grade A maple syrup. I'm totally diggin' the slight hint of coffee.

Chewy Apple & Almond Multigrain Granola Bars w/ Coconut Milk

My other contribution to tomorrow's breakfast... This is also another recipe that I am working on so I will give you specifics when I have it all figured out. I used multigrain cereal (oats, rye, wheat, and barley), apples, roasted almonds, grade A maple syrup, coconut milk, vanilla extract, canola oil, and raw sugar.

I baked it at 400 degrees for about 2 hours. I allowed it to cool overnight and cut into it the next morning. The texture was perfect - crunchy on the outside and chewy in the inside. It was also not too sweet and the coconut milk really added something special to bars. I hope everyone enjoys it tomorrow!!!

Here's the maple syrup, coconut milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and raw sugar.



The multigrain cereal.



I diced 3 medium sized apples and threw it into the mix.



I chopped up the almonds a bit in the blender.



Here's what it looks like when the ingredients are all mixed together. Oops, I also added some sunflower seeds!



Grease your baking dish w/ canola oil and press the mix down firmly.



Once done, allow it to cool before cutting into it.



How cool is this...



Nice and packed for tomorrow.