…if you want to go out for brunch, it can be hard to find an interesting and creative menu in a place with nice ambience
By: Faith Bahadurian
If your weekday mornings are more of the "rise and run" than "rise and shine" variety, it is nice to enjoy a more leisurely breakfast on the weekend. But if you want to go out for brunch, it can be hard to find an interesting and creative menu in a place with nice ambience.
When I lived out West, our small-town restaurants vied to offer the most delicious and varied brunch dishes. Huevos rancheros, and other Mexican-style breakfasts, were very popular, and are still among my favorites. We had wonderful pancakes, crepes, French toast and waffles, usually with various nut and fruit fillings. Interesting flours and grains gave extra texture and flavor, and the syrup was always pure maple.
Here I’m more likely to enjoy weekend breakfast at home. Even hash is easy to make, using leftover meat (or fish like salmon). When I crave corned beef hash, I confess to using the tins of highly processed corned beef from South America, as that seems to deliver the most "authentic" restaurant flavor, yet the end result tastes much fresher. Chop the meat and combine with cooked potato, onion, a touch of green pepper and/or celery, and minced curly parsley. Fry that up, then poach a couple eggs on top (or separately if you really want to wash another pan) and you’re ready to go. For company, you might try the more sophisticated hash, below.
For the Egg Scramble, below, check out the Mexican cheeses now found in local markets. Some are meant for melting, and some, as called for here, for grating. This dish would also be good wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla with a little heated ranchero sauce (homemade or canned) on the side. Note that the pancakes and the chicken hash, which make nice company brunch dishes, can be started the night before. And if you don’t see a leisurely morning on your horizon, why not enjoy one of these dishes for dinner, instead?
POTATO, CHORIZO
AND EGG SCRAMBLE
adapted from "Cooking With Too Hot Tamales,"
Milliken, Feninger, & Siegel, William Morrow
Serves 4
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
½ pound fresh chorizo, removed from casing
1 onion, chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 large eggs, beaten until frothy
½ bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
3 scallions, sliced
Grated panela cheese (optional)
Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until barely tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a large, non-stick skillet, sauté chorizo, breaking up any lumps, until browned. Drain off excess oil. Add onion and salt and pepper to taste and cook 3 to 5 minutes, until golden. Add potatoes and cook until well-browned, about 10 minutes.
Add beaten eggs and cook, stirring with a fork to scramble, until softly set but not browned. Just before the eggs set, stir in cilantro and scallions. Garnish with cheese, if desired, and serve.
PECAN-DATE PANCAKES
adapted from "Hay Day Country Market
Cookbook,"
Rizk, Workman
Serves 4 to 6.
You can combine the dry ingredients in double or triple quantities and store in a jar in the pantry. To make a batch of pancakes, measure out two cups of dry mix, and add the eggs, milk, etc., as below. Ms. Rizk also suggests sautéing banana slices with butter and maple sugar as an accompaniment.
1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped-pitted dates
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1½ cups whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Vegetable oil, for oiling the griddle
Maple syrup (and/or sautéed banana)
Place oats in food processor and pulse to form a coarse meal. Combine oats with flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Toss, then add dates and pecans, breaking up any lumps as needed. (Store dry mix if desired.)
In another bowl, whisk eggs with milk and butter. Add to dry ingredients all at once, and with a few swift strokes stir to incorporate.
Lightly oil a griddle, and place it over medium-high heat. Ladle the pancake batter, about ¼ cup at a time, onto the griddle and cook until small bubbles cover the surface. Flip and lightly brown the other side. Keep finished pancakes in low oven while you cook the rest.
Serve with syrup or sautéed bananas.
CHICKEN-WILD RICE HASH
adapted from "A Real American Breakfast,"
Alters and Jamison, William Morrow
Serves 4
This can be assembled the night before serving and popped into the oven in the morning.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 red bell pepper, chopped
¼ cup minced onion
1/3 cup chopped hickory nuts or pecans
2 cups cooked wild rice
2 cups chopped or shredded roast or smoked chicken
Salt to taste
Sage white sauce:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ cups whole milk
½ cup chicken stock or additional milk
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/8 teaspoon freshly milled white pepper
Salt to taste
Preheat oven to 375.
Warm butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in bell pepper and onion and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in nuts, followed by wild rice and chicken; season with salt.
Prepare sauce, first melting butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook one minute, then slowly whisk in milk and stock. Cook until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Add sage, white pepper and salt.
Spoon half the chicken-rice mixture into a buttered medium baking dish. Top with half the sauce, and repeat layers. (If desired, cover and refrigerate, taking out of refrigerator 15-20 minutes before baking.)
Bake covered for about 20 minutes, then uncover and continue baking for about 10 more minutes, until sauce bubbles and begins to color.