The Art of Breakfast Hashbrowns

What makes a good breakfast potato? Ask 10 people, get 10 answers I tell you. Everyone has a favourite style! I'm not going to use this post to try and tell you I have the best way to make a hashbrown but instead I have am going to share the techniques to make a damn good breakfast potato. I have talked about this topic a lot with a lot of people. I am breakfast person and the potato is the lynch pin. Everyone can toast some bread and put some nice sausage and poached eggs on a plate but if your potatoes suck then I am going to be ticked.

The key is twofold: soft inside and crunchy outside. How do you do this? Boil first, fry second. The boiling action cooks the potato through and makes it soft. The frying brings not just the crunch but the flavour too.

Follow this method and breakfast at your house will become legend.

Method:

• Chop your potatoes into larger chunks. You don’t want shredded potatoes or even cubed ones. You are aiming for the nickel to quarter range. No golf balls but half golf balls. Does anyone understand or am I talking crazy?
• Drop the potatoes into cold, salted water. Cover, set on high and bring to a rolling boil.
• When it is boiling rapidly, count to 30 and then drain them. Let them steam in the colander until dry. If they are still moist you won’t achieve your crunch.
• In a frying pan, put equal parts butter and oil. Heat until it foams over medium high heat.
• Add in your potatoes and CAREFULLY toss them in the butter and oil. The less you touch them with a spoon the better. You don’t want them to break up.
• Fry until they start to color, flipping frequently.
• Now is the time to add some flavorings. I like to use garlic powder, dried herbs and lots of salt and pepper. I know that some of you will cringe at the garlic powder rather than the fresh stuff but you want the garlic to coat every little bit of potato. Sprinkle it all over, flipping the potatoes in the pan to make sure it is equally covered.
• Continue to cook over medium – medium high until they become deep golden.
• You can blot them on kitchen paper but don’t let them sit, serve right away so they stay CRISP.

Soups On! The Classic, The Creamy, The Delicious: Potato Leek with Bacon and Onion Salad

Tell me: Is there any better food on a cold rainy day than a steaming bowl of soup with maybe a little crusty bread to soak up all the last drips?

I have a soft spot for tomato, I grew up on cream of chicken and I feel invigorated after a fresh veggie soup. But my favorite will always be leek and potato. It’s always creamy and seems to fill you up without being heavy. The way I love to make soup is to put something delicious and crispy in the centre of the bowl so there is texture and extra flavour. It makes it more of a meal and more well rounded. In this recipe I used some crispy bacon ends that also went into flavoring the stock that made the soup. Yay dual purpose! You could use anything: some asparagus tips sautéed in butter, crispy chicken fried in garlic or perhaps some sundried tomatoes and croutons. Unbelievable. If you do decide to go a different way, simply replace the bacon and leek infusion part of the recipe with simple chicken stock.

One recommendation for a super creamy soup is to push it through a chinois. If you don’t have one of these classic cone shaped sieves, use a normal fine holed one and push it through twice. This process will make the soup have a very fine texture and send it to a whole new level.

Ingredients:

3 leeks, washed, dark greens removed and white and light green parts chopped

2 small onions, chopped rough

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 large potato (a good baker’s russet, or a couple of the medium to large gold-type potatoes), chopped rough. I like to leave the skins on cause I find they are tasty and nutritious.

A couple of Tbsp of Herbs (Rosemary is a tasty choice, I love chives or parsley)

A glass of white wine

4-5 strips of bacon (If you can, get a handful of smoked bacon ends. You can get these at good butcher shops and some grocers. They are basically off cuts from slab bacon and they are darn tasty)

3-4 green onions, minced fine

¼ cup cream, warmed slightly

Method:

• In a saucepan, pour 5 cups or so of water and a pinch of salt. Toss in the leek ends, the bacon (whole) and some salt and pepper. Bring it to a rolling boil and then shut it off and let it infuse.
• In a large saucepan, heat a tbsp or so of oil over medium high heat and add in the chopped leeks, onions and the garlic. Sauté while stirring for a few minutes until soft. Don’t let them color.
• Toss in the chopped potato and raise the heat to high. Stir for a few minutes.
• Add in the chopped herb of choice and the white wine to deglaze.
• Drain the water from the leek-bacon infusion into the soup pot. Bring it to the boil and turn it down so that it has a good simmer and keep it going until the potatoes are fully cooked, about 30 mins.
• Remove the bacon before throwing away the leeks. Chop the bacon roughly, fry it in some olive oil, drain and toss in with the chopped green onion and a pinch of pepper. Set it aside.
• When the potatoes are fully cooked and falling apart, remove the pot from the heat and blend. I use a little immersion blender but if you are using a countertop version, do it in batches. Set up a nice clean pot on the stove and push your newly blended soup through a chinois or sieve. Add in the warm cream and heat the soup to your desired temperature. Smooth goodness.
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• In a bowl put a mound of your bacon onion salad. Go for height. Pour the soup around it. Sprinkle some soft herbs around it, like parsley or chives or some watercress. Sprinkle with a little grated hard cheese if you are feeling particularly decadent.

Best enjoyed while sitting in a warm house watching the rain or snow fall outside.

BLT French Toast, A New Classic?

I don’t know where I picked this one up. Even as I sat down to make it I was a little confused. What would you call it: Savoury French toast? Fried bread?  I must say though, the end product is simple and delicious. As is true in most recipes but especially this one: quality ingredients makes for quality flavours.

The idea is to soak bread in a flavoured egg mix and then fry in fat. Seems simple enough? That's cause it is. For this recipe I tried rye bread with a little mustard mixed in with the egg base. Tasty. I then did a multi grain with a garlic herb base. Delectable. But my favourite of all, the one pictured here, uses a sourdough bread, little smoked paprika, red pepper flakes and dried herbs and tops off the whole thing in the flavours of the traditional BLT sandwich. Wacky I know but this type of re-imagined dish with classic flavours and the ability to adapt to any ingredients around: straight out of the bistro my friends.

Start off with a good loaf of bread. It doesn't have to be fresh but it can’t be stale either. Think about the end product and then match the flavours in the base. Are you going to be topping it with a poached egg and some ham? Maybe a little hollandaise? Go with a garlic-y base. Are you going to put a salad on top with big punchy flavours? Keep the base simple.

Whatever you choose to do, whatever you call this dish and however you present it: don’t limit this to the breakfast table! This could make a great brunch dish for a group or a light healthy entrée  Experiment. Go wild. I certainly plan to.

Ingredients:

A few pieces of quality (if a bit older) bread, try to use a firmer bread like sourdough or rye or something similar, nothing that is going to come apart in a little egg

2 eggs (adjust if you are using more bread, I used 3 eggs for 4 slices of bread the other night)

A pinch of smoked paprika

A pinch of dried herbs (thyme, rosemary or the like)

A pinch of crushed red pepper

A pinch of salt and pepper

A Tbsp or so of cream or milk

A little oil and a ‘nubbin’ of butter

A handful of lettuce leaves, chopped or torn

A few pieces of sundried tomatoes, shredded or a couple cherry tomatoes chopped into quarters

3 strips of bacon

Either a few Tbsp of your favourite dressing or whip up a simple balsamic dressing (1 part balsamic, 3 parts oil, salt and pepper)

A drizzle of maple syrup (optional, see the end of the method)

Method:

• In a large flat dish, crack in your eggs, sprinkle in all your spices and whisk very well. Pour in your cream to loosen it up a little and season well.
• The length of time you should soak your bread really depends on its type and thickness but generally around the time it takes you to perform the next couple of steps is fine. Make sure when you add the bread to your egg mix you apply a little bit of pressure to sponge up a little extra mix and every few minutes you flip the bread to make sure it is all coated.
• In a large frying pan, fry your bacon in a little oil. Don’t cook it crunchy, remove it from the pan and chop up finely. Combine it in with the tomatoes.
• Don’t remove the tasty fat from the bacon pan. Toss in the butter and return it to the heat. Bring it to medium or medium high, and stir the butter until it melts and foams up. Add the egg soaked bread to the pan and fry until golden on each side.
• As the bread is frying, toss the salad with the dressing and ½ the tomato-bacon mix.
• Blot the fried bread on paper towel and plate. At this point I have grown fond of a wee little drizzle of maple syrup. It seems to add to the entire dish. Your choice. But you know you want to.
• Top the bread off with a handful of salad, sprinkle on some more of the tomato-bacon mix. Enjoy. Perhaps with a glass of white wine. Or two. 

Big Events Need Big Dishes: Double Cheese Soufflé

Almost a month has passed since I last posted! My girlfriend and I have packed up the house and moved to a new town. It has been hectic as we got everything together and made the arrangements for the move and I’m sorry to say the kitchen has been quiet. That has all changed now that we are moved in. The new stove had never been cooked on and I racked my brain on what I should make first. It had to be something special. Something that set the tone for our new home. Something I’d never made before. Soufflé. Double cheese soufflé to be exact.

At one point I whipped up some chocolate soufflés. They rose and they fell, they were a little dense but they were still tasty. Cheese is a different story. They are supposed to fluffy, airy, creamy and rich. I turned to the professional. Julia Child. She has pages and pages dedicated to the soufflé arts in her amazing cookbooks.

In the end, soufflés are actually quite easy. The reputation that precedes them intimidates people and makes them seem more complicated than they are. The key is to:

a) Make sure that everything is prepared and laid out in advance

b) The soufflé mold has to be well buttered and its edges clean so it can rise smoothly

c) The flavored base has to be strong enough

The last point is an odd one I know but as soufflé is essentially a flavor mixed in with egg whites to create puff, if the base isn’t strong enough or isn’t properly seasoned all you taste is egg. No good. Make sure that if you are making soufflé, the soufflé is going to wow.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter

Just over 1 cup finely grated cheese (I used a Grana Padano Parm with a small amount of havarti but Swiss also works nice)

3 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk

A healthy pinch of paprika

A healthy pinch of nutmeg

5 eggs (separated into 4 yolks and 5 whites, 1 yolk does go to waste)

Method:

• Start off by using a little bit of butter to grease up a baking dish. The dish needs to have straight-ish sides and be able to hold about 6 cups. When it is all greased up sprinkle about a Tbsp of your finely grated cheese in there and shake it all around. The last set in preparing the dish is to take a cloth and wipe down the edges of the dish so that the soufflé doesn’t catch. Refrigerate the dish until you’re ready for it.
• Preheat your oven to 400 and put the milk into a sauce pan over medium high and bring it just to the simmer.
• Melt the remaining butter (about 3 Tbsp) in another saucepan until it is bubbling over medium to medium high.
• Add the flour to the butter and stir with a wooden spoon for about 2 min. It’ll foam up but don’t let it brown. It will probably toast a bit and smell nice and nutty.
• Take the butter mix off the heat and slowly add in the just simmering milk while whisking really well. Beat in some salt, pepper, the paprika and the nutmeg.
• Return the sauce to the heat and stir constantly while letting it boil for about a minute.
• Take the pan off the heat and while beating with a whisk, slowly, one at a time add in the yolks.
• In the bowl with the whites, add a pinch of salt and beat with either a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form.  It may take a while, test if you’re done by lifting the beaters up and see if it is forming little mountain style peaks. Don’t do this by hand unless you are heavily muscled. I’m not. If you are, I applaud your dedication to fitness.
• When your peaks are peaked, stir a big spoonful into the yolk mixture with the cheese to loosen it all up. When it is all folded in add in the rest of the whites and gently fold it all together. DON’T MIX IT TO MUCH. DON’T MIX IT TO HARD. This is what will make it fluffy.
• Scoop it into the prepared mold and tap the mold on the counter a couple of times to settle it all. Sprinkle a little bit more cheese on top. Just for kicks.
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• Put it into the oven and immediately turn it down to 375. Bake it for about 30 mins before you open the door. It should be nice and brown and puffed up over the bowl.

Serve it immediately with a nice green salad.