chai french toast

we really like french toast. we also really like chai. so when we saw chai mix at trader joe's next to a sign that said, "great in french toast batter!" we knew it was meant to be.

we used the remains of a stale baguette for the toast and 2 eggs, beaten, and about 1/3 cup soymilk for the batter. we mixed in trader joe's chai latte mix to the batter too. you can find Oregon brand chai mix at a lot of stores, but you could probably also use chai spice plus sugar.

we heated butter in a pan, dipped our toast, and fried until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. it was still a little chewy in the middle, so we should have cut the bread thinner. we topped with a drizzle of syrup and some pomegranate seeds. delicious!

-Lola

migas

i have no idea if how i made my migas is authentically mexican [edit: just wikipedia-ed it. migas are tex mex, not mexican]. in fact, i don't really know much about migas at all. i learned to make them at the jewish community center when i was in 3rd grade, and this is the first time i've made them since. somewhere, i have a notebook from then, with the recipe written out in pink gel pen and titled "hella good chip things". whatever you want to call these, they're delicious.for one serving, i used:
*2 corn tortillas
*2 stalks (is that what they're called?) green onions, sliced
*2 eggs
*1 handful shredded cheddar and jack cheese
*1/2 an avocado, chopped
and some canola oil.
first, heat your oil in a pan. use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. cut your tortillas into sixths, and place the pieces in the pan. fry until tortillas are just starting to get crispy.
next, add your eggs and green onions. stir occasionally until eggs are scrambled. at the end, stir in cheese and cook for about 30 seconds more. top with avocado and serve with hot sauce or salsa (i used sriracha, of course).
-Lola

berry brioche bread pudding

so, we're heading off to the east coast tomorrow, then back to school! we're finally all packed (ok, not all done. but 95% packed). i think we deserve some bread pudding!

we used a recipe from food and wine magazine but subbed blackberries (fresh from a park down the street!) for the blueberries and raspberries. we also added more sugar. we'll say it was to account for the fact that blackberries are less sweet, and not because we weren't paying attention when we halved the recipe. it worked, and was not overly sweet. also, although half the recipe should have been four servings, i was able to cut it into 6 big slices.
i think everybody liked it.
original recipe, with my notes in brackets:
berry brioche bread pudding from food and wine magazine
serves 8 [to 12]

Ingredients

• 1. Unsalted butter, for greasing the dish
  2. 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
  3. 2 cups heavy cream
  4. 2 cups whole milk [we used 2%]
     
  5. 2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  6. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  7. 4 large eggs
  8. 4 large egg yolks
  9. 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  10. 2 cups blueberries and raspberries, plus more for serving [or blackberries, and if using blackberries add 1/3 cup more sugar to the cream mixture and 1-2 T more sugar to your berries]
      
  11. One 1-pound loaf of brioche, cut into 1/2-inch dice
      
  12. Whipped cream for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and coat the dish with the turbinado sugar.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the cream, milk, 2/3 cup of the granulated sugar and the salt to a simmer over moderately high heat, then remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually whisk in the hot cream until blended. Strain the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries and raspberries with 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Using a fork, coarsely mash the berries. Let stand until juicy, about 5 minutes.
5. Mix the brioche into the custard. Fold in the mashed berries. Transfer the pudding to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, until set in the center. Remove the foil and bake in the top third of the oven for 20 minutes longer, until lightly golden.
6. Preheat the broiler. Broil the pudding for 1 minute, until golden brown [be careful! we burnt the top of ours]. Transfer to a rack [we just let stand in the pan on a counter, not a rack] and let stand for 30 minutes, until cooled slightly. Cut the bread pudding into squares and serve with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream.

-lola

spanish tortilla with artichokes and roasted peppers

with greens + nasturtiums (i had to google "edible flowers to find out how to spell that. my original spelling was so far off, i didn't even get any spell check suggestions) and sauteed shrimp. yum! also with rita's owl mug, which she wanted to show off.

this is another recipe from a wonderful cookbook, The New Spanish Table.

innards.

a spanish tortilla is basically an omelet made with thinly sliced potatoes, except instead of folding the omelet in half, you dramatically flip it over mid-cooking then finish cooking until you get a big cake like omelet that you can slice into pieces. the flip is difficult...you top the tortilla pan with a plate, turn the whole apparatus upside down, then slide the plated tortilla back into the pan. the only plate we had that fit over the pan weighed approximately 10 pounds (not really, but i have no arm strength and that thing was heavy) so i ended up with egg running all over my stove. still, knowing me, the process could have gone way worse. i managed to conserve most of the egg and ended up with a successful tortilla.
-Lola

pasta with tomato sauce and egg

we've been trying to get rid of all our perishable food before leaving for spring break (yay! but we won't be posting all next week, sorry), so meals have been somewhat random. tonight, i decided that my usual pasta with tomato sauce and peas needed something extra, and all we had in the fridge was 1 egg (and pb and j of course, but that wouldn't taste so good).
i love pasta carbonara, but obviously didn't have the ingredients for that or really remember how to make it, so i figured pasta with egg would be good. and, lo and behold, it was.
deconstructed/work in progress.

i made my own tomato sauce thusly:
1. chop up one tomato into about bite sized pieces.
2. add to pan with about 1 T olive oil. stir, add sprinkles of garlic powder, italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. stir.
3. let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring and mashing tomato bits with a fork until mix is sauce-like.
et voila! le tomato sauce! (i have no idea why i'm attempting french in a pasta recipe. just go with it).
then i cooked up my pasta, stirred it with the sauce and about 1/4 cup peas, and topped with a fried egg (about 3 minutes, in olive oil).
-Lola

latkes!

Our winter break starts very late this year, and while we were sad to miss Hanukkah at home, we had a great time celebrating with our friend I. and eating a dinner that consisted only of laktes and gelt, which are really the only foods you need on Hanukkah (well, that and jelly donuts)

it was our first time making latkes and it was very successful. We used our grandparents' recipe and we served them with applesauce.

Bubbe and Zayde's Potato Latkes (thanks to our Bubbe and Zayde, who sent not only their recipe, but also a grater. they are fantastic!)
Makes many, many latkes (or enough for dinner and a small amount of leftovers for 3 girls who really love latkes)
-6 medium potatoes, peeled
-2 large eggs, lightly beaten
-1 tsp salt
-1 medium onion
-3 tbsp matzo meal
-1/4 tsp pepper
grate the potatoes coarsely (according to our grandma, this must be done with a grater, NOT with a food processor) into a bowl of lightly salted water. Drain and press out the moisture.
Grate the onion coarsely. Stir the onion, eggs, matzo meal, salt, pepper and potatoes together.
Heat about 1/4 inch oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into the oil and flatten with back of spoon. Fry until golden brown on both sides, 3-5 min per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with applesauce, sour cream, or ketchup

and the most important part...
GELT!!! (chocolate coins...I get very excited about chocolate things)
Happy Hanukkah to all those who celebrate it! and happy holidays to all!
-Rita
giveaway time!

scrambled eggs

i have no idea how it got to be the middle of october already. it is a bit crazy round these parts, between midterms, our dorm room slowly falling apart, 8 am dentist appointments, 2 jobs (i shouldn't complain...i'm very happy with both and i work very very minimal hours), random outings and hangouts with friends, and, of course, homework. so yeah...cooking=not a priority right now. but after next week, midterms will be over and i will be free! for now, i eat scrambled eggs.
in this case, two eggs, mixed with a dash of fat free milk (i just discovered that you're supposed to add milk to scrambled eggs...what a life changing moment! it makes them so much fluffier and delicious). put it in a pan, stir a bit, add a handful of feta, a handful of spinach, and about 1/4 of a sauteed onion. stir until cooked, then top with salsa.
and now, apropos of nothing, my cats:

i miss them. but pictures of them make me happy.

yay!

tomato-pepper stew with poached eggs and harissa

in case you couldn't tell by the two times we've posted huevos rancheros, my sister and i really like poached eggs with tomatoes. this is the israeli version of that dish, and its called shakshuka.


recipe from food and wine magazine

very tasty! i would definitely make this again. we used less canned tomatoes but added 1 chopped tomato and some water. served with hummus and warm pita.

this is what i do when i get bored waiting for things to cook.
in other news, i'll be out of town until next weekend. My lovely friend C. has invited me to tahoe and reno with her family. hopefully my dear sister (who does just as much cooking but significantly less blog upkeep than me) will post a few times while i'm gone.

mother's day dinner: huevos rancheros + flan

los huevos con avocado

now that the whole family had arrived back home, it was time for a belated mother's day dinner.

Since the mom loves mexican food, and we are big fans of brennar (breakfast for dinner), we decided to make huevos rancheros.

the egg came out overcooked, so it was more hard boiled than the intended poached, but on the whole, a delicious and easy dish. next time, i would serve it with warmed tortillas, but i forgot them this time.

note: "huevos"=eggs, "jueves"=thursday. just so you don't, as the mom once did, order "scrambled thursdays" when in mexico.

and for desert, flan! this was our first time making any custard type thing--ie flan, creme brulee, creme catalan, etc.

while we panicked a bit about the time, and the fact that we had to make them in individual dishes instead of one big one, we decided to go ahead with it.


note the one perfect one in the middle of the messed up ones

they all came out weirdly flat, yet delicious. the one pictured is the least flat flan, so the rest of them were like flan pancakes, or perhaps mini frisbees. but they tasted good, which is the most important part.

and now, the moment you've all been waiting for, recipes!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=521440

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1036057

squid fried rice

Some parents send care packages with home baked cookies. My mother sends dried squid.

"Do you wanna try some?" I asked my roommate as I hesitantly lifted a piece to my mouth. "No, I'm good" she told me.

So I gave it to my lovely sister, who has the luxury of a kitchen in her dorm room. A few months later, I trooped over to her room and we created some squid fried rice. Delicious!

Squid fried rice (serves 2)

• 1 package dried squid (find in Japanese grocery stores)
• 3 cups cooked rice
  
• half an onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup bell peppers, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons curry powder

1. heat up olive oil in a skillet. once it's hot, add mushrooms and onions. cook for one minute, add peppers. cook until all veggies are soft.
2. add curry powder and rice. saute for 1 minute.
3. crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk until mixed. add to skillet and stir together quickly so egg gets incorporated into rice.
4. cook until egg is nearly done. add dried squid and a splash of olive oil. cook 1 minute more, or until egg is done and everything is heated.

et voila! le fried rice extraordinaire!