Every once in a while, N and I go out to breaky on the weekend and we both enjoy a good omelet. My only complaint with restaurant omelets is that they are as big as my head (sometimes upwards of 4 eggs) and they tend to go with the “more is better” approach to fillings, which can overwhelm the subtle flavor of the egg. The one foodie solution? Come up with a good, reasonably proportioned, eggy omelet!

My favorite cooking show, America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) has a great French omelet recipe, which I’ve of course tweaked a little in my kitchen laboratory (bwa-ha-ha: evil mad scientist laugh).  It makes a great weekend breaky (or light dinner) meal.

The ATK French Omelet
serves 1

Starring:
2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk, farmers market fresh
2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon butter, cut into smallish chunks
1 tablespoon shredded Swiss
s&p
8 inch non-stick skillet with a lid
spatula

The Script:
Put about half the butter chunks in the freezer to chill out.
Put the other half tablespoon of butter into the skillet.
Heat pan on medium low for about 5 minutes until the foam from the butter has dissipated.
While the pan is heating, whisk eggs in a bowl with a fork for about a minute.
Turn up the pan heat to medium.
Take the butter chunks out of the freezer and blend into the bowl with the egg mixture.
Pour your egg mixture into the pan.
Stir with chopsticks vigorously in the pan until the egg is close to being set but still wet.
You want the eggs to come together but not brown, so turn down the heat if the pan is getting too hot.
Move the pan off the heat.
Using a spatula, spread the eggs out in the pan to form a flat-ish egg cake without holes.
Sprinkle with herbs and cheese and s&p. You want it to look like an egg pizza, where everything is evenly spaced out on the egg cake.
Cover pan with the lid. Let sit off the heat for about 2 minutes.
After 2 minutes, return pan to heat. Heat on medium for about 20-30 seconds, using the spatula to loosen the sides.
Once the egg cake is loose you are ready to plate your omelet and enjoy.

The spoiler (aka secrets to success):
1) Using the chopsticks to scramble your eggs will make your eggs coagulate into smaller chunks, which means a smoother omelet texture.
2) The non-stick plan will ensure that after all that work to cook the best omelet, it will come out of the pan without too much effort.
3) The butter chunks not only add a rich flavor to your omelet but they also help prevent pan stick-age!

My omelet rolling technique:
I hold me skillet with one hand (underhand grip) over my plate and slowly turn my wrist towards the plate, like I’m turning a door handle. Go slow and use a spatula with the other freehand if you need help coaxing the omelet out of the pan. If it’s a good non-stick pan, the omelet should roll right out. You want it to be sort of burrito shape when it lands on the plate. Use clean hands to adjust on the plate if nec (no one will ever know, I won’t tell).

Once you get the basic technique down, you can add/try other herbs and cheeses and even add a little bit of veg.  Just make sure you add less herbs if it’s a stronger flavored herb.  Some combos I like are:
Chopped fresh sage & Parmesan
Chopped fresh rosemary & provolone
Chopped fresh basil, fresh buffalo mozzarella and a tiny bit of chopped seeded tomato
caramelized shallots & chevre (or any yummy goat cheese)

The key is to not add too many ingredients, because you want to taste the eggi-ness of the eggs.

C’est si bon!!!

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to travel 2000 miles for tacos al pastor, so this foodie has had to find a substitute.  Not the same, but very tasty are the tacos al pastor at Flair Tacos, one of several taco buses that are out and about in the city.  Flair Tacos was in the ‘hood today and N and I partook in their tasty creations.  Un taco de pollo and un taco al pastor for me and un pollo burrito for N.  Muy Deliciouso!

So, what’s the sign of a good taco bus?  Fresh looking food (scope out other customers plates first if you can) and lots of customers!  A line of customers means good things.  Also, what’s true in Mexico is true here: If there are Hispanic people eating there, odds are, it’s probably pretty good.  If you are still concerned about food safety, use this tip:  Squeeze on a generous amount of the lime, which always accompany tacos – the acid supposedly helps kill any badness.  Now I’m no doctor, but I play one on TV, so don’t go suing me if you get sick-o from the tac-o, capisce?

Taco Al Pastor from Flair Taco (note the Sangria soda accompaniment, no alcohol)

Well my foodie friends, here’s a good place to start: homemade salad dressing.  What better palette for expressing ourselves and being creative than something as simple as salad dressing.  Not only is it easy to make (and provides endless opportunities for alterations) it’s cheap and when I’m concocting dressings in the kitchen, mixing and tasting and pulling out every condiment, herb and spice, it makes me feel like a kid again.  Or a mad scientist.  Or maybe a little of both.  So let’s start with the basics.

This is the basic vinaigrette formula:
An Acid (citrus or vinegar)
Seasoning (s&p)
Oil

Start your dressing in a medium sized bowl that you can whisk in. If you wanna show off, you can cut a clove of garlic in half and rub around the bottom and sides of the bowl first. Then put a splash of the acid in the bottom of the bowl. Less is more, people. A couple grinds of pepper and a couple pinches of sea salt or kosher. Then whisk in a little of your oil. Add a little bit at a time and taste until it has a “dressing-y” taste. If it gets too oily tasting, add a bit more of your acid. When it tastes good, spoon over your washed greens in your serving bowl and toss. If you made too much dressing, just put in a container in the fridge. It’ll keep for a few weeks easy.

So easy it’s not even funny.  This becomes a great base that you can build on, limited only by your creativity (and what you have on hand in the pantry or fridge).  Remember, the key to a great dressing is tasting it at every step along the way and adjusting as you go.

Here are some popular “Special Guest Stars” in my dressings:
Chopped fresh or dried herbs (thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary)
Somethin sweet (honey, sugar, brown sugar)
Mustard, any kind

But 1F, you say, what ratio’s? Is it 2 parts this to 1 part that??? How many teaspoons/tablespoons??? Bullocks, I say. Remember, the key here is to think like a kid.  Wing it. Fly by the seat of your pants. Be Free.  The worst that happens is your dressing is not tasty and you need to start over – what, you wasted like 50 cents and 5 minutes, it’s not a tragedy. Besides, experimenting like this helps you figure out what flavors go together and what doesn’t.

Here are a couple of my favorite combos that are a little more advanced:

Asian = Oil, a teeny bit of sesame seed oil, rice wine vinegar, honey or white sugar, a teeny bit of dry Chinese mustard, s&p

Orange Honey Mustard = Oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon, Honey, s&p, a splash of orange juice and a pinch of orange zest

Orange Honey Mustard Vinaigrette on a grilled salmon salad

So get in touch with your inner child and play dress up!  Experiment, try, TASTE and enjoy!

Potato Latke Recipes – Feeds 2 adult Peep servings (about 4 medium-sized pancakes each):

The Characters:
-Potatoes: any variety works, but I usually use russets because that’s what I have on hand.  3 small or 2 medium russets should do it.
-Onion: one small.  Your potato/onion ratio should be about 4/1.
-Dill: dried or fresh.
-Flour
-Veg oil for pan or butter if you prefer
-S&P
-4 paper towels or one clean dish towel
-non-stick skillet or griddle, bigger is better
-heavy duty cookie sheet

The Script:
-Preheat oven to 350F. Bung cookie sheet in oven

-Rinse and peel potatoes if using russets (don’t bother peeling thin skin potatoes – yukon gold, red etc)

-Using your food processor with the grater attachment (or hand grater if you want an arm workout) grate.  You may need to cut our potatoes into chunks to fit into the food processor hopper.

-Grate onion as well.

-Spread out grated contents into towel of choice.  Fold towel over if possible and press down to release liquid. Leave to hang out on paper towels

-Heat skillet or griddle to medium high.  Then drizzle some veg oil or a pat of butter) on the pan maybe a tablespoon. Swirl or use a pastry brush to coat.

-dump semi-dried potato/onion mixture into a mixing bowl.  Add a couple tablespoons of flour, one egg and one egg yolk, a teaspoon of dill, two big pinches of salt and one smallish pinch of pepper and mix (hands work well for this.

-This is the critical point in which you need to “assess the mixture.”  Scoop up a heaping tablespoon of the mixture.  It should hold together and look moist, but not have excess liquid dripping off it.  If it looks too wet add a little more flour until the runny pools look more swampy (thicker).  If it looks too dry, let it sit on your counter for 5 minutes; the potato and onion will leech more water and it should create some liquid for you pretty quickly. Make sure you mix well.

-scoop out heaping tablespoons of mixture onto hot skillet.  Don’t overcrowd the pan (you’ll probably have to do a couple batches).  Press down gently with back of spoon until cake is about a quarter inch thick (too thick = long cooking time but too thin = potato chip).

-cook for about 2-3 minutes a side, just until golden. Flip and cook another 2 minutes a side.

-move immediately onto preheating cookie sheet in your 350 degree oven.  Keep cookin’ cakes on the stovetop and moving to the oven.  You’ll want the cakes to cook for at least 6 minutes in the oven.

-Serve with sour cream (Applesauce?  We don’t need no stinkin’ Applesauce)!

-These cakes also work great frozen.  Cook on the stovetop, skip the oven cookin step and move cakes immediately from skillet to cookie rack to cool.  Cool completely and then layout on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for about an hour until they are as hard as hockey pucks.  Move to ziploc bags and store in the freezer.   When you want to serve them, preheat oven to 375F put your hockey pucks on the cookie sheet, bung into the oven for about 8-10 minutes and serve immediately.

Oh Vey!  These little latkes are tasty and easy!

Long story short, two steaks consumed, two steak eaters sated and nary a side effect in site.  Now, I’m not advocating everyone who has a beef allergy run out and eat some grass fed beef and they’ll be hunky-dory (dammit Jim, I’m a foodie not a doctor), but it might be something you may want to run by your Doc to see what they think of it.

I should add this caveat, we also only eat whole cuts of beef (read: no ground beef).  Some time ago, N and I both independently arrived at the conclusion that ground beef  while tasty is altogether pretty nasty stuff.  Setting aside all other factors, the only thing I see when I see a hamburger patty is a downer cow. I won’t go into details here, google “downer cow” for more info.

So many moons later, I am still enjoying a small steak maybe every 2 or 3 weeks.  I usually buy it at my local farmer’s market, which sells cuts of beef frozen, making it a great quick weeknight dinner.  Best preparation?  Well, I thought you’d never ask…

When the weather is nice, the BBQ can’t be beat.  Heat your Q up till it’s screamin hot (i.e. can’t hold your hand over the heat for more than 3 mississippi’s).  Season your steaks with kosher or sea salt and crack black pepper – be generous and both sides!   Throw your steaks on the grill.  Cook for no more than 2 minutes a side.  If you are a rare steak eater, serve immediately.  Medium rare type, move your steaks to a plate or pan and cover with foil  (this will allow for carryover cooking).  If you like your steak more done, take the steaks from the grill, put on a pan, cover in foil and bung into an oven set around 350F for about 4 more minutes for medium.

If its freakin cold outside (or you don’t wanna mess with the grill), heat a cast iron skillet on your stove top on high until it’s screamin hot.  Season your steaks well (same as for the grill) and throw onto the pan.  Sear for 1-2 minutes per side, then either serve (rare) or finish in a 350F oven for about 4 minutes for medium.

If you wish, you can finish with a little pat of butter and a pinch of cracked black pepper.  Serve with potato of choice and a veg and you are G2G (Good to Go).

The Facts. Just the Facts:
-One Oven
-One heavy duty sheet pan or broiler pan covered with foil
-Some salmon (enough for your fam). For 2 adults, around a pound should do it. Hint: I like tail pieces because they have hardly any bones!
-One Lemon or orange or lime
-Brown sugar (how come you taste so good?)
-Salt: Kosher or Sea Salt
-Black Pepper

The ‘cipe:
Turn on your broiler to high. Move a rack so it’s about 6 inches down from the top of the oven (about the 2nd rung down on my oven).

In a bowl, mix some brown sugar, salt and pepper. Stir and taste. I’m not giving exact measurements cuz this is a preference thing. Sweeter = more sugar, spicy = more pepper, saltier = you get the picture.

Once you get this taste to your liking, zest your citrus of choice into the bowl and mix. You can omit altogether if you are anti-citrus (or forgot to get it at the grocery store).

Lay your salmon, skin side down on your foil lined pan. Cut the salmon into serving size pieces if it’s too big to fit on your pan whole.

Sprinkle the salt, sugar mix on top of the salmon. At this point, if you have time, you can put the salmon into the fridge for 30-45 minutes to “marinate.” Or if it’s a weeknight and you just need to get dinner on the table, immediately proceed to the next step.

Chuck the pan o’ salmon into the oven, wait about 7-8 minutes and then take it out and check for doneness. This is personal preference again, so cook a minute or 2 longer if you like your salmon more to the well done side.

And done! Didn’t even break a sweat! It makes a great weeknight meal. I usually serve with rice pilaf or roasted potatoes and a veg dish.

Orzo-tto – serves one

I call this Orzo-tto because it kinda reminds me of risotto, except you use orzo pasta.  Put one clove of garlic minced and a pat of butter (oh maybe a ½ of a tablespoon) into a high sided pan or pot (make sure it’s one that has a lid).  After the garlic starts sizzling, add a handful of orzo to the pot (about a ¼ cups worth).  Then add about ½ can of chicken broth (low sodium) add a couple grinds of fresh ground black pepper (no salt, you’ll be adding parm and trust me it will be plenty salty).  Cover and cook for 11 minutes (the liquid should remain at a rolling boil).  Be sure to check it every few minutes and add more chicken broth if necessary if it looks dry.  This is one case where I slightly overcook my pasta, which gives the pasta a soft risotto like texture.  Once the 11 minutes are up, taste the pasta (make sure it’s the consistency of soft rice) cook longer if necessary.  Then while the pan is still on the heat, add a handful of frozen peas (more or less depending on if you more peas or less) and about 2-4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese (not the green can stuff, please).  Mix everything together in the pan until the cheese melts.  By the time the cheese melts, the peas will be cooked.  All that’s left is the eatin!  This dish also makes a great side dish to any protein.  Also feel free to swap out peas for one of these other items: shredded rotisserie chicken, sliced mushrooms, fresh or frozen broccoli florets, red bell peppers or sliced sautéed onions all work great.

Spaghetti Carbonara – serves one

This dish is so easy, it’s not even funny.  And for those of us who have issues with cream pasta sauces (either because of digestibility or fattening-ability issues), carbonara uses eggs not cream to create the richy, velvety sauce.

To make, cook enough of your favorite pasta for one (you don’t have to use spaghetti, use whatever you have on hand).  Remember to add plenty of salt to your boiling water! While your pasta is cooking, in a small skillet fry up some bacon cut into strips, about an inch wide, until bacon is crispy (2 strips per person).  If you insist, you can drain some of the bacon fat, but I like to use it.  Let the bacon and bacon fat cool slightly.  In a bowl large enough for mixing the pasta in, beat one egg with a handful of parm and some ground black pepper.  When you pasta is done cooking, move it from the boiling water directly into the bowl with the egg mixture.  Immediately stir in the egg mixture (stir vigorously, we don’t want scrambled eggs, we want a light sauce to form and this can only be obtained by stirring and mixing quickly.  Add your bacon and drizzle in your bacon fat as your stir.  To finish, grind on some fresh black pepper and some grated parm and you’re done!  N is not a big bacon fan so I sometime sub in pancetta for bacon since it has less of a smoky favor (which is what he doesn’t like).  Or sometimes I just make this without bacon and use onions sautéed in butter instead.  You can also add veggies to this dish as well.  Frozen peas are always my fave.

I just got a new cookbook that I think is great.  It’s by the Everyday Food people (Martha Stewart’s company).  Say what you will about Martha Stewart but the recipes on Everyday Food are easy and more importantly, tasty.  The cookbook is called Great Food Fast (I got mine on Amazon) and all the recipes are pretty much 30 minutes or less for prep time which is perfect for us working people.  I’ve tried several recipes and all have turned out excellent  (just like the pictures).  Here are a few of my favorites, with supporting pics documenting my recipe success:

Baked Shells with winter squash:  This recipe uses the “sneak in the veggies” technique.  You get frozen pureed squash in your freezer case and mix it with parmesan cheese and bake it with pasta shells.  Believe me (or believe N who hates squash) you cannot taste any “squashiness” at all!  Great when cooking for Baby Foodies!

Cod with Fennel and Potatoes: A one pan meal!  You poach the cod over the veggies with a little onion and orange zest, it’s a great, healthy combination AND you have your protein, your carbs and your veggie all in pan, can’t beat that!

Sole with Lemon-Butter Sauce:  This is a classic poached sole with a lemon butter sauce.  I served this with a braised fennel and roasted broccoli.  The braised fennel is also in the book.

Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta:  I think this is my favorite recipe in the book.  It’s a simpler pan browned chicken breast with a mushroom jus and it goes so great with the soft, creamy polenta.  This would be a great dish for a dinner party.

Since it’s just N and I at home, if I make a banana bread loaf, we don’t always finish it all and sometimes have to discard the last bits because they are too dry to eat.  So I started taking my favorite banana bread recipe and making it into muffins.  Banana nut muffins are great because they pack well (you can bring a few to work in the morning) and freeze well and they take less time to cook.  Also, it’s a nicer present to give your co-workers a few muffins than a half-eaten hunk of banana bread.  The last time I made it, I had some extra chocolate chips (in the freezer a staple in the 1F kitchen) and added those in.  Yum, yum, yum.  I don’t think I can go back to banana nut muffins without chocolate chips. 

The hardest thing about making banana bread was that when you want to make it, you don’t always have ripe bananas ready to go.  So when a banana gets too ripe in my house, we throw it in the freezer.  Frozen ripe bananas work great for banana bread, just poke a few wholes in the frozen banana’s skin and nuke them for 30-45 seconds or until they are soft enough to squish with a fork and you’re ready to go.  Oh and don’t get freaked out when the frozen banana skin turns brown in the freezer, that’s totally normal.  The banana insides are totally fine. 

So to make these muffins, just take your favorite banana bread recipe and add half a cup or so of choco chips (the darker the chocolate the better) and scoop into a pre-lined muffin tin and cook.  I’d start your timer at about half the time of the banana bread recipe, you might have to go a little longer, but better to err on the side of caution here.  Basically when the top of the muffin is brown, the inside of the muffin is done (in my oven it’s around 40 minutes at 350 degrees).  If you want to turn this into a dessert item, I’d whip up a cream cheese icing and turn your muffins into cupcakes.  And if you don’t like choco chips, feel free to sub in other items:  Nuts, dried fruit even crushed up cookies would add a nice texture contrast. 

Here’s my fave banana bread recipe:

Two ripe bananas
6 Tbs. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
two large eggs lightly beaten
1 and 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Combine all the dry ingredients.  Mash the bananas, melted butter, beaten eggs and vanilla extract together. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, don’t worry about lumps and don’t overmix (it’ll make tough muffins/bread).