Chorizo, Potato and Egg Bake

I saw this recipe in Bon Appetite a couple of years back. They featured this recipe at this family's chalet in some ski resort in North America. It's a great big breakfast meal to share with friends or the family. Just watch the eggs, I like mine runny but tend to overcook them in the oven.

Chorizo, about half a roll

2 russet potatoes

1 onion, sliced thinly

2 cloves of garlic

3-4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375C.

Pan fry chorizo that has been crumbled for 8 minutes until crispy, then remove from pan.

Preboil potatoes for 15 minutes until soft but not mushy, then slice thinly.

Saute onions and garlic in pan till soft, 8-10 minutes, then remove.

Add potatoes and saute in batches until golden, about 10 minutes per batch.

Stir in onions and chorizo to potato mixture, then make 4 indentations and add eggs. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake skillet in oven for 8-10 minutes (runny) or 12 minutes (for fully-cooked eggs).

French Toast

Both suffering from a debilitating case of jetlag, Shane came over at 830am this morning for breakfast. While Shane had only arrived the night before, I was going on day 5 of irregular sleeping patterns. For breakfast, I made us some french toast with stale rye bread I found in the pantry (in addition to home fries, fried eggs, leftover bourguignon and mimosa's). To use up the leftover apple slices from the galette the night before, I served the toasts with a side of sauteed apples that had been flambeed with cognac.

The view from the dining room. Good Morning New York!

2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of all-spice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 thick slices of 2-day-old bread, better if slightly stale
Butter

Maple syrup

2 apples, peeled cored and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon calvados or cognac

For Toast:

Beat eggs, milk, cinnamon all-spice and vanilla together. Pour into a shallow bowl.

Dip each slice of bread into the egg mixture, allowing bread to soak up some of the mixture. Melt some butter (or use vegetable oil) over a large skillet on medium high heat. Add as many slices of bread onto the skillet as will fit at a time. Fry until brown on both sides, flipping the bread when necessary.

For Apples:

Melt butter in skillet, add apples and brown sugar and saute on medium heat until soft, about 3-5 minutes . Remove skillet from flame, add calvados or cognac and ignite with fire. Once aflame, return skillet to stove till the alcohol has evaporated, then transfer to serving plate.

Serve the french toast hot with butter or maple syrup, apples on the side.

Serves 1-2. Double the recipe for 4 people.

Poached Eggs

On the day I arrived in New York, I had Jon demonstrate how to make a poached egg for me, which he had successfully made the day before. I hadn't recalled poaching an egg properly, least not in the past 3 years. It was simple as ABC and the yolks were cooked to perfection: wet but not too runny, slightly under-done. Here, the poached egg is served atop a prosciutto, provolone and pesto panini (our brunch).

Fresh Eggs

Vinegar

First bring water in a saucepan to almost boiling. If the water is already boiling, lower the heat until it is no longer boiling. At this point, you can add one or two teaspoons of vinegar to the water, if you want. The vinegar will help the egg whites to congeal more easily. Jon used apple cider vinegar (it was all that we could find at Alex's).

With a chopstick, swirl the water gently so that it resembles a gyre or cyclone. Working with the eggs one by one, crack an egg into the pot of water, and slowly drop the egg into it.

With a spoon, nudge the eggwhites closer to their yolks. This will help the egg whites hold together.

Let sit for 4 minutes under low-medium flame, until the egg whites come together and are cooked.

Lift eggs out of pan with a slotted spoon. Serve immediately with bread, in a salad, on a sandwich, mixed in rice...

Maple Bacon

I first tried this recipe when Daniel's friend from Princeton, Justin Goldberg, came up to New Hampshire to visit Alex's grandparents. He whipped this sweet-salty dish up so fast I didn't even have time to spread butter on my toast. Did I mention no second-degree oil splattering is involved?

8 slabs of bacon, thawed

1/4 cup maple syrup

Turn on broiler. Spread bacon on flat baking sheet, then brush both sides with maple syrup.

Bake in oven till brown and crispy, about 5-10 minutes.

Home Fries

2 large Russet potatoes, quartered and boiled for 12 minutes in salted water until just cooked through, drained

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp of grapeseed oil, canola oil, peanut oil, or other high smoke-point oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 slices bacon, chopped into cubes
• 2 tablespoons fresh Rosemary, chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

In a skillet, fry the bacon till crispy, then drain and place on paper towels to dry.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat, then add add sliced onions to pan and cook until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the potato pieces and rosemary, spread out as much as possible along the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook until nicely browned on the bottom, without stirring for about 7-8 minutes.

Add 1 Tbsp bacon fat, or more oil to the pan. Gently flip the potatoes and cook until the bottom of the flipped potatoes are nicely browned.

Serves 4 as a side.