Valentine’s Day at Chez Moi
Post by Alison Hein.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and you’ll be surprised that for once I will not advise you to enjoy a lazy breakfast in bed. Instead, I encourage you to get up and create your own pop-up restaurant, and offer your loved one a divine, romantic breakfast tasting menu.

My personal pop-up restaurant, lovingly named Chez Moi, appears in a quiet corner of our living room once a year. I use red tablecloths to create a lush fabric background, drag a small garden café table out of storage, and drape that in red as well.

To set the table, I arrange a few graduated cake plates to form a tower, then fill tiny dishes with delicious little bites of food. Page through prior posts for inspiration if you like. Fruit salad is a good choice – sweet and fresh – adding lovely color to the tasting array. And, mini-heart toast (cut from sliced bread with a cookie cutter) is a perfect holiday addition and  silver dollar pancakes also never fail to delight:

My tasting menu this year will include Poached Eggs with Mornay Sauce – gently simmered eggs with a soft, molten center, topped with a light drizzle of cheese and garnished with fresh parsley. Perfect for heart-y toast dipping.

And after all this work, don’t be surprised if you soon receive a Valentine’s invitation for a future divine, romantic breakfast in bed.

Poached Eggs with Mornay Sauce

Ingredients
1 sprig fresh parsley (about 1 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup milk
2 tablespoons grated cheese (gruyère, cheddar, or Swiss)
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Wash and dry parsley. Chop finely and set aside. To make cheese sauce, melt butter in small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth, thick paste forms. Whisk in milk and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add grated cheese and stir until just melted. Set aside and keep warm.

Eggs should be as fresh as possible for perfect poaching. To poach eggs, fill a heavy saucepan with enough water to cover eggs (3 to 4 inches) and heat until very hot and simmering, but not boiling. Break eggs into individual small dishes. Or you can use an egg poacher. Carefully pour the first egg into the simmering water. Immediately use a wooden spoon to wrap the cooking white around the egg yolk to prevent the white from feathering. Repeat the process with the second egg, and cook for about four minutes, until the white is firm but the yolk is still soft. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and drain. Trim edges if necessary. Place each egg in a small dish. Top with cheese sauce and garnish with a little fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with toast, if you like.

Makes 2 servings.

 

Tags: bed, Breakfast, Charles P. Rogers, family, Recipes

Post by Alison Hein.

So far this year, I’ve made no gym or diet resolutions, and I’ve done plenty of eating. Sooner or later that has to change. In the meantime, I’m enjoying some good old-fashioned comfort food on these dreary January mornings. Waffles! Nothing warms the heart like biting into a crunchy-on-the-outside-fluffy-on-the-inside batter cake, its little grids filled to the brim with melted butter and maple syrup.

Not surprisingly, waffles originated in what is now Belgium (Think freshly whipped cream and ruby ripe berries!) in the form of wafers. Unleavened batter was poured onto wafer irons – two metal plates hinged together and attached to a long handle – then held over the fire to cook. Today, delicious variations of this simple theme abound across the globe.

Waffles are easy to make, but you will need a waffle iron and a little practice. Every iron differs and requires somewhere between ½ cup and ¾ cup of batter per waffle (mine uses ⅔ cup). You may create a few skinny waffles, or spillovers, until you get it just right. Try experimenting with different types of flour (wheat, rice, chestnut), or add some chopped fruit or nuts to the batter for variety. Kids, of course, love waffles. Any extras can be wrapped and frozen for a special weekday breakfast.

If you’re like me, and have no diet resolutions, or perhaps have given up already, try these waffles for a good old comforting breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup vegetable oil, or butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ cup sour cream
Cooking spray

Preparation
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. In separate bowl, add milk, eggs and vanilla and beat until frothy. Pour oil or melted butter into liquid mixture and stir well. Using a wooden spoon or hand mixer, gradually add liquid mixture to dry ingredients until batter is smooth. Stir in sour cream.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and heat to high. Pour ½ cup to ¾ cup batter into center of iron, making sure you have enough batter to evenly spread across the surface of your waffle iron. Cook until golden brown and crisp and waffle pulls away easily from iron, about 5 minutes. Serve warm with melted butter and maple syrup. Top with fruit, if you like.

Makes 4 to 5 waffles.

Tags: Breakfast in Bed, Charles P. Rogers, Children, family, Recipes, Waffles

Post by Alison Hein.

Sorry everyone, I’m a little short on photos this week. What I do have is a good story, a great recipe, and some words of wisdom for the new year.

We just got back from a trip to Texas, where my sister-in-law Suzanne and her husband Randy hosted a family holiday at their beautiful ranch. There were about 20 of us – from toddlers to grandparents – spending a few days visiting, playing, and eating.

I was happy to jump into Suzanne’s gorgeous kitchen to make dinner, which would end with a sweet, creamy flan. Another sister-in-law, Lindsay, offered to help. The two of us had pots cooking, beaters beating, and timers timing. Suddenly, more guests arrived, youngsters reached across the counter for gummy bears, teens searched for afternoon snacks, a bottle fell out of the refrigerator and crashed into pieces, and then, I put my fingertips into a dish containing the caramelized sugar I had just removed from the stove!

Later, reflecting on my bandaged hand and wondering how I had managed to do such a dumb thing, I realized I had lost my focus. I may have become so comfortable with flames and knives, and so confident in my cooking skills, that I was skimming across the common sense rules of basic kitchen safety:

• Never leave a cooking pot untended
• Wear an apron
• Put away potentially dangerous cooking tools immediately after use, and above all:
• Stay focused and present at all times while cooking

My husband swore he could see my fingerprints embedded in the sugary top of the flan. We all enjoyed it anyway, and I vowed to add “be focused and present” to the top of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Flan, a sweet crème caramel popular in Latin countries, is just as delicious for breakfast as it is for dessert, and there are many variations. This recipe is an easy Puerto Rican-style custard with just the right number of eggs for a smooth, sturdy texture, and enough vanilla to add a rich, aromatic flavor. If you try it, remember to be present while preparing, and later while enjoying, your sweet, creamy breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Fresh mixed berries for garnish (optional)

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small heavy saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat until caramel forms, stirring constantly until sugar caramelizes and becomes syrupy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pour the caramelized sugar into an 8-inch round mold. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the condensed milk, evaporated milk and vanilla. Mix well with the eggs.

Pour the mixture into the caramelized mold and cover with foil. Place in a water bath on a strong cookie sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let the flan cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.

To serve, invert the flan onto a platter. Garnish top with fresh berries.

Photography courtesy of Suzanne Birdwell.

Tags: bed, Breakfast in Bed, Charles P, Children, family, Recipes

Post by Alison Hein.

My father-in-law, Neil, grew up in Philadelphia, and has fond memories of devouring sweet Sticky Buns from the Pennsylvania Dutch market at Reading Terminal. Neil can’t get Sticky Buns where he lives in Florida, so when we visit, I often pick some up at our local bakery before we travel. He says they are very good, but not quite up to Philly standards. So when we all assembled for the holidays recently and I pulled Neil’s name in the family holiday gift exchange, I thought, what better gift than homemade sticky buns?

Sticky Buns originated in Germany, where they are called Schnecken, or snails, for the coiled yeast dough. A thick sweet glaze is poured into a pan, and the coils are laid on top to rise before baking. The buns are flipped when done, and the honeyed glaze becomes the sweet, sticky topping.

If you’re used to working with bread dough this will be a snap. If not, give it a try anyway. Be prepared to spend a few hours in your kitchen, and let your dough rise in a warm quiet spot. It may seem like too much trouble, until your home fills with the aromas of freshly baked bread, toasted almonds and cinnamon, and your mouth waters in anticipation of a sweet, sticky, sinful breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
½ cup warm water
1 packet yeast
1 cup milk
¼ cup oil
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 ½ cups flour

Filling
4 tablespoons butter, melted (reserve 1 tablespoon for brushing tops of buns)
¼ cup cinnamon
½ cup raisins

Glaze
1 stick butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
¼ cup honey
½ cup sliced almonds

Preparation
Pour water into food processor. Water should be lukewarm, or slightly warmer than body temperature. Sprinkle yeast evenly on top. Set aside until yeast begins to activate, about 10 minutes.

Pour milk into heavy saucepan. Place on stove and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until milk is scalded (when little ripples begin to appear on top). Remove from heat. Add oil, sugar and salt and let cool slightly.

Lightly beat egg with milk mixture and pour into food processor. Add one cup of flour. Gently pulse on dough setting until mixed in. Add more flour, about one cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. Gently pulse until dough is compressed and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl and form a sticky ball. Be careful not to overmix or dough will become tough.

Add about ½ teaspoon oil to a large bowl. Place dough in bowl. Turn and flip so oiled side faces up. Cover with light tea towel and set in warm, non-drafty place to rise for about one hour, until doubled in size.

Lightly grease 13×9-inch baking dish and set aside. To make glaze, combine butter, brown sugar and honey in small heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat until well blended and slightly thickened. Pour into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle sliced almonds evenly over glaze mixture.

Punch down dough. Turn onto floured board and roll out to form a 12×18-inch rectangle. Brush dough with 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Sprinkle cinnamon and spread raisins evenly across dough. Roll dough into a coiled cylinder, and pinch along seam to seal. Slice cylinder into ½ inch slices. Place slices sideways, coiled centers facing up, into casserole dish. Brush with remaining tablespoon of melted butter, cover with light tea towel, and set aside to rise until doubled in size again and buns have expanded to touch each other and fill the pan, about one hour.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes until slightly puffed up and golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Loosen edges of buns from side of pan with knife, and gently invert onto large platter or cutting board. Cut into 12 to 16 equal pieces.

Makes 12 – 16 sticky buns.

Tags: Breakfast, Charles P. Rogers, Children, family, Recipes, Sticky Buns

Post by Alison Hein.

Between the cozy flavors of toasty corn bread and creamy polenta, poor Fried Cornmeal Mush languishes, alone and forgotten. Abandoned due to its less than lustrous name? Must be. Because after your first taste of crispy golden mush, slathered with real maple syrup and accompanied by a piece or two of crunchy fried bacon, you will root for its return to popularity.

Once an American staple, fried mush was (and still is) an economical, and tasty, way to use leftover hot cereal. Corn is a delicious and gluten-free option, but wheat, rye, rice, or other hot cereals also make a gratifying fried mush.

The process is simple. Prepare hot cereal. Add any remaining cereal to a small, buttered dish and allow it to firm. Then slice and fry. If you are a real carnivore, you may want to fry your mush in bacon fat, but I prefer a simple pat of butter. Whatever you do, don’t skip the syrup. Rich maple sweetness elevates earthy corn to pure eating pleasure.

I keep searching for a solution to this whole name thing. Native Americans introduced indigenous corn to early settlers, so this dish was sometimes called Indian Mush. Other names have included suppawn, samp, coosh, and Hasty Pudding! Yikes. With choices like these, I suggest you simply let the sense of taste prevail as you enjoy a crispy, tasty, nameless breakfast in bed.

Ingredients
2 cups water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter, plus 1 tablespoon butter for frying
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal
Maple syrup

Preparation
Add water, sugar, 1 tablespoon butter and salt to heavy saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Stir in cornmeal in a steady stream, stirring continuously until smooth. Turn down heat and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently to avoid lumps, about 5 minutes.

Turn out into small buttered dish or mini-loaf pan (I use one that’s about 5×5 x 2 ½) and refrigerate until firmly set (2 hours to overnight). When ready to prepare, run knife around pan edges to loosen mush, then flip over to remove from dish. Slice mush into ½-inch thick pieces.

Melt remaining butter in heavy pan over medium heat. Add mush slices and sauté until golden and slightly crispy, five to seven minutes. Serve hot with maple syrup.

Tags: Breakfast in Bed, Charles P. Rogers, Children, family, Fried Cornmeal Mush, Recipes