Thank you Dara over at Cookin Canuck. All I had to do was look at the title and photo and before reading any further, I left a comment indicating this would be on my breakfast table Sunday morning…and it was. This is a fabulous breakfast sandwich recipe.
Is this not right up my chipotle adobo obsessed, Mexican food fetished, breakfast crazed, runny egg lovin’ alley?
Came together in a jiff…let’s take a look.
…without the tikka or the tandoori.
I’ve recently signed up for emails from America’s Test Kitchen and so far I’m impressed and engaged with the content. The latest included a clip from a television segment featuring an easy Chicken Tikka Masala recipe. I felt the excitement and adventure of a challenge since I’ve never had Tikka Masala. Throw in the addition of Kirsten over at My Kitchen In The Rockies posting some wonderful Indian dishes over the past few weeks and I couldn’t resist the project.
Food and Wine Magazine is one of my favorite sources for reliably interesting, creative and delicious recipes. Over the years many have found their way into my database as permanent dishes I make over and over.
In a recent issue, I spotted a small photo on an obscure corner of a page within a big article naming the Ten Best Restaurant Dishes of 2010. It caught my attention because it was topped with a sunny side up egg. The piece featured FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale, and their winning dish Braised Leeks with Mozzarella and a Fried Egg.
I had to give it a try. Not really giving me a recipe, the article directed me to a television segment from a Phoenix station where chef Charleen Badman is featured and demonstrates how to make her winning creation.
The video does help with the construction of the dish, but honestly I found it somewhat entertaining on a completely different level. Along with the demonstration came the ever-annoying local television personalities hovering over the chef with their distracting antics which they think bring us entertainment.
Denver most certainly has it’s share of pretentious local celebrities, who provide us with never-ending eye-rolling, snickering moments, and after watching this clip I see every city has its ”guy”….and this one takes the “full of himself” cake. C’mon Mr. Anchorman…”take a leek”…really??? Then if you watch carefully, he further entertains himself with another devilishly clever moment by using the leek as a mock microphone while everyone on set laughs giddily. Well, at least woman in yellow. And then something about leeking on his arm??? I didn’t snicker, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or sit down and write Chef Badman a note of commiseration beginning with “oh you poor dear”.
Let’s take a look:
via How to make FnB’s braised leeks.
Even though I was warned not to, I tried this at home. (Photos from point and shoot camera.)
I halved, cleaned and braised leeks in butter, lemon slices and thyme until tender and fragrant.
Placed them in a casserole dish…
I topped with grated mozzarella cheese…
Sprinkled on some panko bread crumbs which were mixed with melted butter, Dijon mustard and a sprinkle of thyme. Popped the dish under the broiler which then transferred nicely to our breakfast plate.
Carefully topped with a sunny side up egg…
Oh look, the egg sprung a leek…… (ok, everyone in unison… snicker and roll eyes)
and the dish was a hit.
And served with a simple bowl of sliced kiwi and mangoes, it was a fun little breakfast. Even though the dish was different and tasty, I’m not sure it’s interesting enough that I’d make it again. Even though they were cooked tender, the leeks were still tough and hard to cut, coming apart and sliding all over the plate. The whole thing lacked that “wow” factor. I’m blaming it all on those heckling local “celebrities”. 
Braised Leeks…It’s What was for Breakfast.
For better or worse, welcome to my first breakfast pizza and photos with my new camera.
Eggs Ole'; a cheesy Mexican egg casserole with a side of sliced avocados and oranges sprinkled with chili powder.
Bob and I are avid bird watchers.
Wikipedia says: Birdwatching, or birding, is the observation and study of birds with the naked eye or through a visual enhancement device like binoculars. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are more readily detected and identified by ear than by eye.
Well…accurate, but also birds are detected and identified by habitat, behavior, location, elevation, weather systems, food supply and even by patterns of flight.
That’s what makes it so interesting and never boring. Always something to learn. Did you know that around 1,000 different species of birds can be seen north of the Mexico border?
I grew up on a farm in the middle of Kansas where the closest town of any size was Hutchinson. With a population of about 40,000 and known to locals as Hutch, it’s also referred to as the Salt City because it sits on miles of salt mines. It hosts the Kansas State Fair and the Men’s National Junior College Basketball Tournament. When I was growing up there, we bought our groceries and shopped for clothes from stores that were owned by people who lived in Hutchinson and we relied on The Hutchinson News-Herald to keep us connected with neighboring communities of small farming towns.
For longer than I can remember, The Hutchinson News has been faithful about providing some sort of regularly published readership submitted recipe roundup. In recent years it’s been an insert in the newspaper, and in earlier years spiral-bound cookbooks. The recipes were a compilation from ones published each day in the News-Herald ‘s Favorite Recipe column. The daily women’s page feature was started as an experiment in 1948.
Each publication was overseen and recipes were judged by local business women who held titles such as Home Service Director with the local gas company, Home Economist with the County Extension Office, or a Home Editor with the newspaper. I look forward to sharing several of the recipes from these books, recipes from a simpler time, recipes from the heartland where ingredients were few and instructions didn’t include terms like chiffonade, saute or macerate.
I have three of these old cookbooks from my mom’s collection. The recipe I’m going to talk about today is one I found in the book with recipes collected from 1952 – 1955. The oldest edition I have was published in 1949 and as the cover indicates, sold for 60 cents. Inside it states that it’s the 2nd edition in the series.
We like anything pickled, so when I spotted this recipe for pickled pineapple I had to give it a try. Incredibly easy, it simply states “serve with poultry, meat or fish“. Following instructions, a week later I had a tangy sweet and sour topping for my meat course.
I chose pork tenderloin to slice into 1 inch medallions. Using my cast iron skillet, I seared the meat well and then sautéed until just pink inside. While the meat was cooking, I fine chopped and deflamed some onion to sprinkle on the pork before topping with the pickled fruit. I learned the deflaming technique from Rick Bayless. Simply chop onion, place in a colander and then submerge the colander in a bowl of cold water to cover the onion. Let sit for a few minutes and drain. This technique takes that heat out of the onion resulting in a milder flavor. The sweet and sour pineapple was a great topping for the pork and the onion added a dimension and crunch.
Here’s the recipe as printed in the cookbook.
Pickled Pineapple Recipe
Served with a side of sautéed asparagus we had an easy and tasty dinner.
Out of interest I Googled Louise Dick. She was born in 1913 and died in 1967. She is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery.
Pickled Pineapple on Pork Medallions…It’s What’s For Dinner