Breakfast Hash With Bok Choy Flowers

We all know by now that I'm somewhat known for "throwing things together" to make a meal. This morning's breakfast was no exception. Except that it was exceptional.

For some reason when I woke up this morning I decided to roast that half of a bag of mini Yukon Gold potatoes. Simply quartered them, tossed them with some olive oil, salt and pepper and put them in a pre-heated 375ºF oven for about 25 minutes. By then I was hungry so I started digging around.

Last week at the farmer's market, I bought something called Bok Choy Flowers. They're picked when the bok choy plants hit the flowering stage. The stems are more tender than traditionally known bok choy and the edible flowers are sweet and quite pretty in any dish.

I'd used some of the stalks in a fried rice earlier in the week but forgot about the rest of them, as is obvious by this photo. I knew if I didn't use them now, I'd let them go to waste. So, I began layering flavors...




1 small clove garlic, minced
1 stalk Bok Choy Flowers, chopped
2 large pieces of jarred Kimchi, chopped
Handful of roasted potatoes

2 pieces cooked bacon (leftover, in the fridge), crumbled
1 egg (last one from last week's farmer's market dozen)

In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbs olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add bok choy flowers, stirring occasionally until wilted.  Add in chopped Kimchi, potatoes and crumbled bacon. Season with salt and pepper.

Making a hole in the center of the mixture, gently crack the egg into the center. cooking until whites are set and yolk is as firm as you'd like, flipping once.

Carefully, transfer hash to a large plate, taking care not to break the yolk like I did. Once I stopped cursing at myself for breaking the yolk, I realized it was the best thing to do. It sure wasn't pretty but the runny yolk coated the potatoes and vegetables, making it silky and rich. I was so thrown off by the broken yolk that I forgot to take a photo of the finished product!

The combination of sweet and tender bok choy flowers, the spicy crunch of the Kimchi, the smokey bacon and the silky egg created a wonderfully balanced and delicious breakfast.

Yum!

Scrounge Dinner - Roasted Broccoli, Beans, Bacon and an Over-Easy Egg

Sometimes my scrounge dinners come from "I don't have anything to make for dinner." And sometimes I realize I have something in my fridge or pantry that is fast approaching its expiration date and needs to be used. This dinner began as the later. 

I had a bunch of broccoli that I'd nearly forgotten about. It wasn't exactly at its peak of freshness and the only answer was to roast the heck out of it. So I cut it up,  tossed it with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 375°F for about 30 minutes until crispy. 

Now... what to do with it? Bacon! (Bacon is always an answer). I pulled out one of my pre-portioned packages of bacon from my freezer (another post for another day), sliced them up browned them. 

Drained and rinsed a can of Cannellini Beans and tossed them with the bacon and roasted broccoli. 

It seemed like it was missing something so I topped it with an over-easy egg, some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some black pepper. The yolk from the egg coated the beans/broccoli/bacon mixture and made it silky and delicious. 

This could be great for any meal!

Enjoy! 

Lavender Lemonade

After a rough night up late with my sick dog, I decided I needed a little cooking therapy. Nothing quite soothes me the way lavender does, as is obvious by my blog name, right?

Friends and family have known for years about my passion for lavender and they often give me some as gifts. What’s great is there are so many sources for culinary lavender now and each one has its own unique flavor. Here’s a sampling of the packing you might see.

 
It’s a beautiful spring day here in Arkansas and I’d recently given my lavender lemonade recipe to a friend so the choice became obvious. 

2 ½ cups water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbs dried culinary lavender flowers

1½ - 2 ½ cups cold water (depending on how strong you like your lemonade and how fast your ice cubes will melt – I used 1½ today)

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice*

Ice cubes

* an average size lemon, especially this time of year will yield just under ¼ cup of juice. Sometimes it takes only 4 lemons to get to 1 cup of juice and sometimes you need up to 8. Today it took 6.

In a saucepan, bring water and sugar just to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and add lavender. Stir.

Cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Strain lavender syrup through a mesh strainer, discarding lavender flowers.

Stir in lemon juice and cold water.

Serve over ice.

This makes about 4-6 servings but is easily doubled.
Enjoy!

(I’m a little distracted today and accidentally threw the lavender in before the water boiled. No harm, no foul. It was just as delicious. Even us “professionals” make mistakes, too)

Oops! It all worked out.

Mini Whoopie Pies

Living in a new city and state means meeting lots of new people. On my first real dinner party at a friend’s house, I offered to bring dessert.  Knowing my new friend lived in New England for years, I opted for an old favorite, Whoopie Pies. I also knew her 4 year old would be there and long ago I determined that sweet treats are more often eaten if made in smaller sizes, especially for little ones. So… the Mini Whoopie Pies.

I learned something when I made these. Apparently, what I know as Fluff – that gooey marshmallow stuff that you put on peanut butter sandwiches (Fluffernutter), is only known as Fluff on the east coast. The rest of the country calls it Marshmallow Crème. It’s the same thing, just called something else. Oh, and the rest of the country doesn’t know of Fluffernutter sandwiches. How sad!

Cakes:

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup cocoa powder (if you have Dutch process, us it. I had plain old Hershey’s cocoa powder and it worked splendidly)

1¼ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp Kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken well

1 tsp good vanilla extract

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light packed brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

Filling:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup powdered sugar (or to taste)

2 cups marshmallow fluff (or crème!)

1 tsp good vanilla extract

Cakes:

Preheat oven to 350˚F

Whisk or sift together the flour, coca powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

Stir buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup (you have to measure the buttermilk anyway, why dirty another bowl?!)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and brown sugar with the paddle attachment, at medium high speed (3 or 4) until pale and fluffy. (Should take about 3 minutes). You can use a hand mixer, too, but it’ll take a little longer.

Add egg and beat until combined, about another minute. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go. 

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture and then the remaining buttermilk mixture and then the remaining flour mixture. You can stop the motor as you add in each addition so you don’t make a mess. Make sure the stand or hand mixture is on low for these steps or you will be covered in flour and cocoa powder. Beat until the mixture is smooth. It should be a light and airy batter – not thick.

Spoon 1 Tbs mound of batter onto baking sheets covered in either buttered parchment paper or silicone mats (Silpat), spacing the mounds about 2" apart. 

Bake about 10 minutes, switching positions halfway through, until the mounds are puffy and spring back when touched lightly.

Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

You should get about 40 cookies, if you don’t nibble on the batter. 

Filling:

Using the cleaned out bowl of your stand mixer, beat together the softened butter, powdered sugar, marshmallow fluff (crème) and vanilla with the (cleaned) paddle attachment until it’s smooth and shiny.

Tip: Measuring the fluff is the hardest part because it’s so sticky. Spray the inside of a 1 cup dry measure (or 2 cup if you actually have one of those!) before filling it with the fluff. This will prevent it from becoming a sticky mess.

Assembly:

Using a small offset spatula or piping bag, spread a thick layer of filling on the flat side of one cookie. Then gently press another cookie on top of the filling to make a sandwich. 

Store in between sheets of wax paper for up to 3 days. Enjoy!

Scrounge Dinner - Stuffed Hash Browns

On a recent Friday night, I found myself just home from traveling all week and in the midst of a strict Gluten-Free trial run and had "no food" in the house.  As we know, that's when I tend to shine...

I knew I couldn't fall back on any of my quick pasta creations thanks to the GF trial so it was time to scrounge.

I cooked up a few slices of bacon in a non-stick pan. When thoroughly crispy, I pulled the bacon out of the pan and drained it on a few paper towels.

Added about 2 cups of frozen shredded potatoes (Gluten-free!) to the pan with the bacon drippings and started cooking over medium-high heat.  (A number of companies make prepared frozen shredded potatoes now. Mine happened to be from Trader Joe's.)

While those were starting to cook, I beat one whole egg and mixed in some Parmesan cheese (about 3 Tbs), very similar to what I'd do for Spaghetti Carbonara. I wasn't looking to scramble the eggs but make them act as a binder for the potatoes. I poured the egg over the potatoes and continued to cook.

I'd pushed the potatoes all towards the middle so it was looking like one big panake.

After a few minutes, I was able to flip the whole thing but in about 3 sections.

I squirted a healthy amount of Sriracha sauce on top of the potato/egg mixture (Sriracha is a type of hot sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. You could use Tobasco or any other favorite hot sauce)

I flipped the potato "pancake" one more time, crumbled the bacon on top and covered the top with shredded cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar, monterey jack and mozzarella) I found a cover from a pot large enough to over the "pancake" and continued to cook covered until the cheese melted.

Slid the entire thing on a plate and ate it too fast to remember to take a picture. If I'd had some sour cream or Greek yogurt and a few scallions, it would have been a perfect version of a stuffed potato skin. That's certainly what it tasted like! So they became Stuffed Hash Browns. YUM!