Pip's Plate

What to do with all of that asparagus? Roasting it will a teeny bit of olive oil and salt makes a perfect side dish, snack or, in this case, component to a delicious breakfast.

Breakfast Salad with Asparagus and Garlicky Croutons
serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2# asparagus, trimmed
olive oil
salt
2 slices bread
1T olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed from a garlic press
1/4 cup crumbled feta
4 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat broiler on high. Coat asparagus with a little olive oil and a dusting of salt (about 1 t). Place on baking sheet and broil for 8-10 minutes.
2. Cut each bread slice into 1-inch pieces. Heat a skillet over medium heat, add 1T oil and immediately add garlic. Saute garlic for 15 seconds then add bread slices. Coat bread pieces in oil and garlic. Saute on each side for about 3 minutes or until crispy.
3. While croutons are cooking, heat a medium non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Coat with cooking spray if you wish and fry eggs in two batches (2 at a time). For over easy eggs, cook about 3 minutes per side.
4. To assemble: on two plates, place asparagus, then croutons, then feta, then eggs. Dust with salt and pepper.

This breakfast sandwich is tangy, silky and salty. It’s served best on a fresh ciabatta roll, so if you can find take and bake rolls I suggest that. Quality bacon is key to this recipe – uncured, local bacon is my preference. I happen to love

Poached Egg & Bacon Sandwich
Serves: 2

Ingredients

Directions

Here is another recipe included in the menu for my friend’s baby shower last week. It’s refreshing, but make sure you are making this when watermelon is in season – the success of this recipe is heavily dependent upon a great tasting watermelon.

We served this along side the Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps as part of the first course.

served in ramekins so the juice wouldn't run into the lettuce wraps

Watermelon, Feta and Mint Salad

makes: 12 servings (about 1 cup each)

3 cups 2-inch chunks fresh watermelon

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 T chopped fresh mint

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl then serve. It’s that easy.

recipe adapted from epicurious

I’ve never made homemade sausages before, but these were very good and I will make them again. These sausages are formed into patties, so I didn’t have to bother with the casings and all of that.

I made these for a book club brunch, and they were met with rave reviews. Because these are so lean, you may need to use more breadcrumbs than what I’ve listed here – just work with the consistency until it will form a patty. I know they look somewhat like crab cakes or fish cakes, but there’s nothing fishy about them – just herby savoriness.

Turkey Sausages with Apricot Mustard Sauce

Makes: about 2 dozen 3-inch patties

Time: under 60 minutes

Get the recipe when you Read the rest of this entry »

The latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine has a ton of great recipes in it, and this Strawberry Citrus Salad caught my eye and I just had to try it. It…is…AMAZING.

Talk about simple food being the best: this recipe has only 4 ingredients and it is packed with flavor. I think this would be pretty good over ice cream too…but I’m just sayin. Plus – it’s a super healthy salad.

Strawberry Citrus Salad

from Bon Appetit May 2009

Makes: enough for a small gathering (8-10 servings or so)

Time: 15 minutes prep + 30 minutes to marinade

Ingredients

2 packages strawberries, washed, cored and quartered

3 large navel oranges, segmented and cut into large chunks

3 T fresh chopped mint

1 T brown sugar

Combine everything together in a bowl, and let it sit for about 30 minutes to marinate and get mascerated goodness. I enjoy this salad by itself or as a simple dessert. In fact, it’s really good after a plate of fried eggs and turkey bacon.

This is a perfect side dish to Garlicky Green Turkey Burgers and Chili Lime Grilled Corn on the Cob for a complete quick and easy grilling meal.

The idea of a savory breakfast muffin occured to me after a friend of mine (the pirate cupcake friend) said to me one morning a couple of weeks ago, “I just had a bacon egg muffin. It was delicious.” It didn’t occur to me right away that he was actually referring to an English muffin sandwich with bacon, egg, and cheese. Doh!

I couldn’t get the idea of a bacon egg muffin out of my head! I even had a dream about it. (I frequently have dreams about food.) So I had to see if something like this existed. You gotta love google. Sure enough, there are quite a few savory muffin recipes out there, but this one in particular caught my eye.

The consistency of these muffins is more biscuit-like, but they’re still quite good. Salty from the bacon, herby from the fresh chives – slather some butter on these babies and you’re good to go.

Bacon Egg and Cheese Muffins – the savory kind of muffin

makes 12

6 thick slices bacon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin pan or use muffin liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, chives, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Combine the egg, milk, cream of mushroom soup and vegetable oil. Mix into the dry ingredients and stir together just to moisten.

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pans and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

recipe source

Mmmmm….nothing like savory french toast to round out a breakfast-for-dinner meal. Talk about a twist on a traditional Croque Monsieur sandwich. It’s total comfort food.

This french toast recipe comes from chow.com. It’s quite simple to make but there are a few steps involved. The best part is after you fry it, you stick it in the oven to melt the cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking about this!

Savory French Toast (Ham and Gruyere French Toast)

serves 4

8 slices white bread

4 slices ham

4 slices Gruyere cheese

2 t dijon mustard

4 eggs

3/4 cup milk

salt

pepper

1 T olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread dijon on 4 slices of bread (too much dijon mustard and it’s all you’ll taste, so use sparingly). Place one slice of ham and one slice of Gruyere on each of the 4 slices of bread with mustard. Top each sandwich with the remaining 4 slices of bread. Place theses sandwiches in a shallow baking dish.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the sandwiches and let soak for 5 minutes, turning once. Soak these too long and you might have some difficulty transferring the sandwiches to the frying pan.

In a nonstick skillet, heat half of the oil over medium heat. Fry 2 sandwiches at a time, turning once – giving each side a nice golden brown color. This is just like making french toast. Move the fried sandwiches to a baking sheet. Repeat with the other 2 sandwiches.

Place the baking sheet with the 4 sandwiches into the oven. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

You can serve this with some garlicky green beans sauteed in olive oil for a light dinner.