Asparagus Milanese

On today’s menu we have Asparagus Milanese!

Yesterday’s trip to Central Market provided me with a bounty of fresh spring veggies, one of which pictured above. Asparagus, oh how I love thee.

I normally pass on breakfast in the morning, but today I was feeling it. This dish takes about 10 minutes to make and is jam packed with lovely vitamin c and protein to start your day. Beautiful green asparagus packed neatly in a large center stand at Central Market is a lovely sign that spring has indeed sprung. Pair that with some Parmesan-Reggiano and fresh eggs right out of the chicken’s booty and you’ve got yourself a nice little breakfast. Light, healthy, delicious.

Asparagus Milanese

• 6 or 7 fresh asparagus spears
• 2 eggs
• Parmesan-Reggiano
• salt, pepper

Remove the tough ends of the asparagus and then cook them in a pot of boiling water for 4 minutes until they’re soft. Prepare eggs sunny-side up. Sprinkle Parmesan-Reggiano onto eggs and asparagus liberally. Salt and pepper to taste.

Voila!

-Johnny

Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Since breakfast for me usually entails either scarfing down some Special K Protein Blend cereal or grabbing some sort of bar as I run out the door, mornings when I have the time to make “real food” never go unused. I’m go ga-ga for pancakes, and they seemed like a good choice. As a little kiddo, my “comfort” breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes from Bailey’s, a local cafe. My dad tried to recreate these by throwing a few chocolate chips into instant pancake batter, despite my protest that instant pancakes are nowhere near as good as those from scratch. He called me a “Pancake Snob”, but I still appreciated the gesture.

I still crave my Bailey’s pancakes from time to time, so I decided to start making my own from scratch. My older, somewhat more refined tastes have afforded me a love for blueberry pancakes as well, so I made a half batch of those as well.

There’s lots of fancy pants recipes for blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes out there, but I stick to the basics. A simple buttermilk base recipe from Cooking Light (I know their recipes are often worthless, but these are gooooddd), and then I simply toss in the added ingredients of my choice before the flip. I am my father’s daughter.

The picture isn’t the best, and you can’t see the fillings, but I was too busy scarfing them down to be bothered to take any more. I’m weak, I know.

Buttermilk Pancakes
from Cooking Light
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
Blueberries, chocolate chips, or any extras of your choosing

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl, and make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray. (Add any extra ingredients here) Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

Yields 9 (4-inch) pancakes

-Mel

Hazelnut Biscotti

On today’s menu we have a Hazelnut Biscotti drizzled with chocolate. This was actually the first thing I’ve ever really baked. Coffee is a regular thing at my place so this was a natural choice.

“Biscotti (plural of Italian biscotto, roughly meaning “twice baked”) are crisp Italian cookies often containing nuts or flavored with anise. Traditionally, biscotti are made by baking cookie dough in two long slabs, cutting these into slices, and reheating them to dry them out.” -Wikipedia (Biscotti)

I baked mine for 30 minutes initially, sliced the loaves, then put them back in the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes. Pretty simple.

I would also like to add that hazelnuts are ridiculously expensive.

Voila!

-Johnny

French Toast Love

Summer has finally come to an end, and school resumes tommorrow. I realized this morning I won’t have as many opportunities to cook up breakfast foods in the coming months, so I decided to go all out for todays brunch. I bought a loaf of French bread 2 days ago at Market Street, and it was in perfect shape for some stuffed French toast.

I simply sliced off the end of the french bread loaf and made another slice 1/2″ in, cutting not quite completely through the bread. Then another slice 1/2″ out from the first, clean through the bread, forming an inch thick slice with a “pouch” of sorts in the middle. You can make the slices as thick or thin as you like– I know my dad said he wanted his slightly thicker.

I then spread a generous amount of cream cheese and strawberry preserves into the breads’ midsections providing the wonderful fruity filing in the center. I’ve come up with my own egg mixture (below) which I soaked each side of the bread in for about a minute and a half. Then it was straight to the skillet on medium heat to toast. Topped with powdered sugar, and fresh strawberry slices. I also added maple syrup to mine because well, I can’t get enough of the stuff. However the recipe really doesn’t need it, and my dad preferred his without it.

Delicious. Spectacular. Fantastic. Truely, a food sent from Heaven.

Egg mixture:
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/4c skim or 1% milk
1tbsp granulated sugar
A couple of good dashes of cinnamon

On a side note– I thought my presentation was “awh” worthy.

Enjoy!
-Mel

Eggies and Toast

On today’s menu we have scrambled eggs with cheese and turkey topped with a little hot sauce and a few toast wedges with strawberry jelly. This dish is also known as “I don’t know how to make anything else but eggs.”

Contrary to what you may have heard, strawberry jelly is in fact the jelly authority. All other jellies pale in comparison to it’s fruity…jelly..ness.

Voila

-Johnny