LEISURELY WINTER BREAKFASTS

                                    Leisurely winter breakfasts

 

          Winter holidays and weekends are perfect for taking a bit of extra time to prepare and enjoy breakfast, whether you are looking at a snowy scene outside your kitchen window or unseasonable rain beating against the windowpane. It is a perfect time to enjoy the warmth, comfort of home, food and people closest to you.

          The Sunday brunch offered by some restaurants exploit our need to leisurely wake up on occasion and start the day without a rushed cereal or toast breakfast as we hurry off to our chores for the day. Victorian novels love to dwell on elaborate breakfast buffets.  Modern day vacation resorts and cruises tend to do the same with elaborate spreads. Alas, the hired ‘live-in’ cook has disappeared from most homes, and the home cook is not likely to want to go to a lot of work early in the morning. The following recipes are designed to provide special breakfasts to be savored at leisure, made easier with advance preparation.

                                          Gluten-free breakfast bake

          Most breakfast bake recipes use cubed day-old bread as its base component soaked in an egg-milk blend, but a little extra effort with blanched potato slices, makes for a wonderful GF version.

          The night before, crisp 6 slices of bacon and drain on paper towels. Peel and slice a very large potato in ¼ inch slices, cook in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, drain and set aside. Beat 6 eggs in a large bowl with 1 ½ cups ricotta cheese, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. lemon pepper. Butter a 9x9x2 inch baking dish and spread the potato slices evenly over the bottom and crumble with crisp bacon. Spread with 6 oz. cubed Gruyère cheese, ½ cup julienned sundried tomatoes, ¼ cup Parmesan, ¼ cup pitted and halved Kalamata olives, and pour the egg mixture over evenly. Layer with 1 thinly sliced Roma tomato and finish with another ¼ cup Parmesan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, uncover and allow to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, cut and serve warm with a fruit salad on side.

                                              Raised yeast pancakes

          It is said that pancakes make people happy and at our house blueberry pancakes are featured quite regularly. However, a little foresight provides a very different, fluffy and delicious substitute.

          In the evening before, mix ¼ cup warm water, ¼ tsp. sugar and 1 pkg. dry yeast.  After 2 minutes, whisk in a bowl with 1 cup warm milk and 1 cup flour. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

          Next morning, in a medium bowl beat 2 eggs, 1 ½ tbsp. sugar, 3 tbsp. melted butter, ½ tsp. salt. Stir in 1 cup flour and 1 tsp. baking soda. Remove the yeast mixture from the refrigerator, stir down the foam and thoroughly mix into the egg and flour mix. Fry pancake mix in 1 tsp. oil and 1 tsp. butter using large tablespoonfuls of dough. Serve with sour cream and lingonberry jam as fit for a Swedish king. If your tastes are not Northern European, raspberry jam and whipped cream are equally colorful substitutes.

          This last recipe originated around the Mediterranean sometime around 16^th century in parts of the N. African Ottoman empire. It has evolved in Southern Italy under the name of “Eggs in Purgatory” and Morocco, Turkey and other Mid-Eastern countries under the name of “Shakshuka”. 

                                  Eggs in Purgatory/Shakshuka with Feta

          The sauce can be a bit time-consuming and can be prepared the previous day, refrigerated and reheated before the addition of the eggs.

          Sauce. In a large pan heat 2 tbsp. olive oil and sauté 1 chopped medium onion, 1 seeded and diced green pepper, 1 diced medium zucchini or fennel bulb and 2 chopped garlic cloves for 5 minutes. Stir in 2-3 tsp. mild canned chilies, ½ tsp. salt, ¼ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. oregano and 1 tsp. smoked paprika.  Add 2 cups diced tomatoes and ¾ cups liquid (or 28 oz. of canned crushed tomatoes). Cook for 10 minutes until thickened but saucy.

          Continue on medium high heat as you break 4 eggs one at a time, and slide each into a depression in the sauce, made with a spoon. Cook for 3 minutes until the bottoms of the eggs start to set and then cover the pan to set the top of the eggs while leaving the yolk runny. Remove the cover, sprinkle with ½ cup crushed Feta and serve hot with pita wedges. Fresh pineapple chunks make a delicious accompaniment.

          Let us savor the quality of time, comfort of food and good company this winter.  

 (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day:” and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

SAVORY SCALLOPS

 

                                                    Savory scallops

           Scallops, unlike other bivalves like clams and oysters, are harvested in winter months. So, from early December to March, we may expect those delicious plump bites of seafood to appear in stores and on our dinner plates. Scallops may be considered a luxury food because of their price is driven by methods of harvesting, often by hand and each bivalve yields only a small edible muscle.

Scallops are a valuable seafood harvest for Maine, the coastal waters being home to bay scallops, with trawlers and deep-sea divers bringing up the larger sea scallops to our tables. The home cook needs to look for ‘dry’ scallops that are natural and will give a flavorful texture when cooked. Cheaper ‘wet’ scallops may appear plumper at the store but are treated with artificial preservatives that make scallops difficult to sear quickly and often add ‘off’ flavors. Overcooking scallops makes them tough!

          The following recipes all use ‘dry’ scallops, can be used with both bay and sea scallops, but very large scallops may need to be cut in half before cooking. 

                                                  Scallops Grenoblaise

          This recipe was adapted from an old issue of Food and Wine and retains the strange title of a city in France notable for its leading scientific research Centre and surrounding Alps. Serves two.

          Peel the outer skin and pith from a lemon. Cut between membranes, remove the segments and cut them in ¼ inch pieces. Squeeze any remaining juice on the pieces and set aside.

          Sprinkle 12 large scallops with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat and sear scallops for 3 minutes, turn and cook until barely opaque for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a shallow bowl and cover to keep warm.

          Melt 2 tbsp. butter in the same pan on medium high heat, add 2 tbsp. drained chopped capers and 1-2 tbsp. chopped mild chilies. Cook until fragrant for 1-2 minutes, stir in lemon segments and 2 tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley, ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. lemon pepper. Cook to heat and pour sauce over scallops. Serve on wide pasta with steamed snow peas for added color.

                                              Scallops with pine nuts

          Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Generously butter 4 shallow ramekins. Divide 1 lb. scallops among the dishes. Serves four.

          In a small skillet melt 1tbsp, butter and cook 4 finely chopped scallions on medium heat for 2 minutes with stirring. Melt 3 more tbsp. butter and add 2 tbsp. pine nuts, 1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill, 1/3 cup fine breadcrumbs and 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Mix all well and spread over the scallops in the ramekins. Bake for 10 minutes until bubbling at edges. Serve with lemon slices and a side of pasta, rice or just crusty French bread.

          For dessert, here is an interesting apple pie with cranberries, that would grace any holiday table.

                                             Dutch apple-cranberry pie

          Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare the streusel topping by blending ½ cup plus 1 tbsp. flour, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. nutmeg and ¼ cup brown sugar, packed. Blend in with a pastry cutter or 2 knives ¼ cup butter until it forms small crumbles, then stir in ¼ cup Grapenuts.

          Lin a 9-inch pie pan with one ready made rolled pie crust. Fit it well in bottom and flute on the edges of the pan. Blend ¼ cup sugar with 1 tbsp. flour and sprinkle over the bottom crust. Wash, pare, quarter and thinly slice 2 apples over the sugar, sprinkle with ½ cup dried cranberries and another layer of 2-3 sliced apples, making sure the pie mounds a bit in the middle. Sprinkle all with ½ cup sugar and the streusel mix. Bake 15 minutes at 450 degrees, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Remove pie to a rack to cool for 2-3 hrs. and serve.

          Scallops may be pricey, but winter is a good time to savor these delightful morsels at their best. “All good things come in small packages!”

 (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day:” and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

QUICK MEALS TO THE RESCUE

                                    Quick meals to the rescue

           Our warm fall and late November Thanksgiving have conspired to shock me with the sneaky approach of December and its holiday activities. It is not a case of ignoring the calendar on my refrigerator. It is rather a refusal to rush any holiday before its time that now finds me facing decorating, shopping, writing cards, Christmas baking and entertaining crammed into just three weeks. It is difficult not to leave everyday meals to become an afterthought to all these other activities, allowing our nutrition to suffer under stress.

          One solution is to prepare something nourishing that can be served for multiple meals and the other is to find recipes that combine a number of ingredients and are quickly cooked. Nourishing soups are wonderful for both lunch and dinner and made in a large quantity can be quickly reheated as needed. Mild Portuguese sausage linguica and Swiss chard give my soup additional flavor.

 

                                     Lentil-Swiss chard and linguica soup

          In a large pot heat 2 tbsp. olive oil to shimmering and stir in 2 oz. prosciutto sliced in ¼ inch strips. Fry to crisp with occasional stirring and set on paper towels to drain. This will make an elegant garnish for the finished soup.

          Stir in 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped stalk of celery in the same oil plus 1 diced parsnip and 1 carrot. Cook vegetables with stirring for about 8 minutes without browning.  Add 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1 large bay leaf, 1 tsp. thyme, 2 tsp. smoked paprika and cook until fragrant for 1 minute. Add 1 cup red wine, 6 cups chicken broth, 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with basil, 1 ½ cups rinsed French lentils and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover pot and cook for 45 minutes.

          Remove from heat, discard bay leaf and after cooling, purée 1/3 of the soup in the blender and return to the rest in the pot to boil. Add 3 cups of washed and torn chard leaves. Remove casings from 2 linguica sausages, dice and add to the soup. Cook for 3 or more minutes until the chard is soft. Serve hot garnished with some of the crisped prosciutto.

          Quickly browned meat in an interesting sauce, served over rice or pasta makes for an easy and quick supper. The next recipe is for chicken but could be used as well for leftover turkey’s second act, without the necessity to brown the meat. 

 

                              Chicken velouté with artichokes and sundried tomatoes

          Cut up, depending on size, 1-2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts in ½ inch strips, stir fry to brown in 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter in a large pan and set aside. You should have at least 2 cups of cooked chicken. Add 1 tbsp. butter to the same pan and sauté 2 sliced large shallots for 4 minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp. flour and ¼ tsp. ground cloves to make a roux, slowly add 2 cups chicken broth to make the sauce. When sauce is thickened, stir in 2 oz shredded Gruyère cheese and ¼ cup shredded Parmesan and ¼ cup sundried tomatoes cut in thin strips. Simmer for 2 minutes. Drain 1 can of artichoke hearts. Stir artichokes and the chicken in the sauce and heat for 2 minutes. Stir in 3 tbsp. heavy cream and when heated serve on pasta.

           Desert can still be a part of a quick meal. Instant pudding mixes that require only 2 cups of milk and 2 minutes of whisking can present an appetizing choice when garnished with fruit or nuts as found with a pistachio pudding with grape and pistachio nut topping.

          “I’m late, I’m late for a very important date. No time to say hello, good-bye …” sings the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland and the holiday season may sometimes seem just like that. Instead of being overwhelmed and distracted by tasks at hand, one could try to take a deep breath and appreciate the joy of the season imbued in those same tasks done with love.

 (I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day:” and “Uncharted Journey from Riga”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)