Day-after-Christmas Breakfast

Being the procrastinator that I am and the fact that The Husband was working on Christmas Day, I didn't buy groceries with the intention of making a trip on the day after Christmas. However, surprise surprise I woke up to this...

So much for grocery shopping. But because The Husband was coming home this am, I decided to whip up breakfast. I would consider this more an "organized assemblage" of food rather than "cooking."

1-inch thick sun-dried tomato bread + basil pesto spread + mild cheddar cheese + thinly-sliced honey ham + poached egg + lightly sautéed tomato slices + parmesan cheese and salt + pepper =

Of course, you can't have poached egg without capturing the delicious ooze... soooo good and easy!

Happy holidays!

Sunchoke au Gratin

Who actually knows what sunchokes are? Being the start of winter, most of the veggies at the farmers market were of the "root" variety (turnips, radishes, sweet potatoes...) and sunchokes.

At first glance, they look like mini-nubbins of ginger. However, the taste is similar to a potato, but grassier and sweeter.

I was able to practice my knife skills since I couldn't figure out how use our mandolin... doh. So after slicing what felt like a million little sunchoke nubbins... I finally had the main ingredient for this dish, which comes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything iphone app.

Ingredients:

2-3 cups cream/ half and half/milk/ or a combination

1 pound sunchokes (or potatoes) - washed, thinly sliced, and dried

1/2 cups grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions: 

1. Heat oven 375 degrees. Put the cream in a pot and heat until it's hot, but don't let it boil.

2. Layer the potatoes and cheese (with cheese as the final layer) in a large, clear ovenproof dish. I decided to use Gruyere because I simply love this cheese. Sprinkle every potato layer with a bit of salt, pepper, and thyme. Once all the layers are complete, pour enough hot cream/milk to come about 1/2 way up the dish. 

3. Put in oven and cook, undisturbed until the sunchokes are tender. A thin-bladed knife will be able to cut into the layers with little or no resistance. Bake until the top is nicely browned, approximately 45-50 minutes. 

This recipe required a little troubleshooting because the original recipe called for the milk to come up 3/4 the way up the dish. This was way too much liquid and made the gratin soupy. I had to pour the extra liquid out and return it to the oven to get rid of the liquid.  

Next time, I would also consider using another herb (or no herbs)... mostly because thyme is not my favorite. 

Regardless, the final product was tender, sweet, and savory all at once. Not bad for a first attempt at trying this interesting vegetable. 

Next up... trip to Taiwan!

Israeli Couscous

I saw this at our local Trader Joe's and decided to give it a try. After raiding my fridge, I found some yellow and orange bell peppers that were on their last leg and some spinach and acorn squash.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic - minced
1 cup Israeli couscous
chopped bell peppers
steamed acorn squash - cubed
frozen spinach
1-2 cups chicken broth
Parmesan cheese - grated

Directions:
1. Steam or microwave the acorn squash until tender, but not mushy. Cube into bite sized squares.

2. Heat oil in pan and lightly brown couscous until fragrant. Remove from pan.

3. Sauté bell peppers, garlic, and acorn squash.

4. Return couscous to the pan and pour in chicken broth. Let everything come to a full boil and then turn down to medium low heat and let simmer for 15 minutes or until liquid as been absorbed.
* You can always add more liquid if the couscous is not al dente.

5. Grate parmesan cheese into the couscous and mix well.

6. Plate and add salt and pepper to taste. Grate more cheese if desired.

Tender and chewy with great texture! Try it next time instead of your standard grain.

Happy couscous making!