The Secret to French Toast

I wish someone had to told me this simple trick to making french toast. I came across a Portuguese french toast recipe that included sugar, vanilla and milk. (By the way, french toast is not a French food, neither are french fries, sorry to break it to you.) I had tried french toast variations with milk and vanilla before but why the heck hadn't I thought of sugar? It makes perfect sense; the sugar crystallizes, making a beautiful and delicious crust. Though this is a sweet dessert in some countries, and salty and savory in others (can you imagine topping it with mayo! ew), in America, we top it with syrup, sugar, and eat it first thing in the morning! As it should be... until I'm proven wrong.


French Toast
Serves 4
Prep and Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
4 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
12 slices of bread (preferably day old)
butter
dash of cinnamon
maple syrup

Directions
1. Beat together eggs, sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in a shallow bowl.

2. Heat butter on medium heat in a pan.

3. Dunk each side of the bread in the egg mixture and place on the pan. You'll most likely need to do this in batches if you don't have a pan that can hold 12 slices of bread. Only dunk the bread in the egg mixture just before you place it on the pan.

5. Sprinkle some cinnamon on one side of the bread before flipping.

5. Cook until it's light-medium brown on each side. Add more butter if needed.

6. Top with syrup (and powdered sugar if you like) and serve!

Biscuits

My first time making biscuits and unfortunately I forgot to add the baking soda which meant these were pretty flat, but still delicious! The second time around I made sure not to forget this key ingredient. Both times the bf and I ate them in one sitting with jams, so baking soda or not these biscuits are a great way to start the day. You can also add ingredients to the biscuit recipe such as green onions, bacon, or herbs. This recipe is adapted from another recipe I found, but without the green onions.
Interesting factoid, biscuits have been around for centuries, usually made dense, dry, and unsweetened. But around the 7th century AD, the  Persian empire started experimenting with the basic recipe by adding eggs, honey, spices, and cream. Have I mentioned that I'm Persian? Go Persians!
In addition, biscuits were very valuable to travelers and sailors because of it's long shelf life.

Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites
Makes 10 biscuits
Prep and Cook Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar

3. Add butter to bowl and rub into flour mixture with your fingertips until mixture resembles very coarse sand. The average piece should be about the size of a pea. 

4. Stir in sour cream until dough is moistened, then turn out on to a lightly floured surface and lightly knead until the ball comes together smoothly. Press dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick.

5. Use a 2 1/2-3 inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut rounds, then place on baking sheet. Dough can be gathered and rerolled once. You should get about 10 biscuits, depending on size of the biscuit cutter.

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until tops of biscuits are golden and sides are puffed and firm.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Irish Mashed Potatoes

Holy Moly August was busy! I'm sure you can tell by the complete lack of posts. I started a new job, went on a 10 day cruise to Alaska, and my best friend got married... yup... pretty busy month.

So I thought I would ease myself back in with a simple yet comforting food: potatoes!

Irish Mashed Potatoes are super easy, creamy, with little kick. Pair this with some seasonal vegetables, and a nice protein like sirloin. MMMMMM. It's 1.50am, I want sirloin and Irish mashed potatoes...

Irish Mashed Potatoes

Servings: 3-4

Prep & Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds potatoes (I used Yukon gold)

11/2- 2 cups milk

1 stick butter

1 tsp. salt

4-6 scallions or green onions

Directions:

1- Wash and halve potatoes, then cook about 30 minutes in a large pot of boiling water, or until you can easily insert a fork. Drain.

2- In a medium pot bring to boil milk, then add butter, stirring to melt.

3- Add scallions and continue to cook another minute.

4- Place the potatoes back into the pot used to cook them. Mash potatoes while adding the milk mixture until smooth. Enjoy!

Pico De Gallo

It was about 11pm, maybe even later, when I became very motivated to make pico de gallo. The tomatoes I had bought at the Farmer’s Market earlier that day were calling to me. Actually, come to think of it, all the ingredients in this recipe are from the Farmer’s Market ( minus the salt and pepper). If you have access to a Farmer’s Market I highly recommend taking advantage of the summer produce. In fact, take two minutes and find one right now: Find your local Farmer's Market! Consuming in-season fruits and vegetables gives you the most nutrition for your money since the vitamin content in the produce are at their peaks during in-season. Not to mention they are much tastier during in-season.

Pair the pico do gallo with some tortilla chips and you've got yourself a healthy midnight snack.

Pico De Gallo

Servings: 3-4

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

4 tomatoes

1 small red onion, diced

1 green chili, finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lemon (or lime if you prefer)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1- Cut the tomatoes in half and lightly squeeze out most of the juice and seeds. Dice

2- Add tomatoes and the remaining ingredients to a small serving bowl.

3- Top with lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Sopa De Fideo (Con Pollo)

My friend makes the most amazing and simple noodle soup. The fact that I initially tried the soup when she made it for her 3 year old daughter is a compliment to how this simple recipe can satisfy anyone’s taste buds. Though my initial attempt of this recipe a few months ago failed miserably (I blame it on being sick at the time!), I was able to dust myself off and try again. This time, it was delicious. I did a little bit of research and found out that what I had been calling Mexican noodle soup, is actually known as “Sopa De Fideo”. Sopa De Fideo, which translates to noodle soup, is an essential recipe of Mexican cooking, right up there with rice! While I have already mastered Persian style rice, I’m sure I’ll be playing with the Sopa De Fideos recipe to make it my own. Like you would with tomato soup, add a garnish when you serve the soup, such as sour cream (or the drained yogurt!), salsa, cheese, jalapenos, or as I did, green onions and cilantro.

Sopa De Fideo Con Pollo - Chicken noodle soup

Servings: 5-6

Prep & Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes

1 small onion

1 package of Fideo (you can find these tiny noodles in the Hispanic aisle of the supermarket) or vermicelli noodles broken into 1 inch pieces

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2 chicken breasts or 3 chicken thighs

2 cartons chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1- If you are adding chicken to the soup, then in a medium pot boil the chicken in 3 cups of the chicken stock. Flip halfway through cooking.

2- In a medium skillet, saute noodles in the vegetable oil on medium-low heat until lightly brown. Set aside.

3- In a food processor or blender, puree the tomatoes and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4- In a large pot add the tomato/onion puree, noodles, and the rest of the chicken stock. Bring to boil.

5-Reduce to medium heat, and cook with the lid on until the noodles are cooked through. If you are adding chicken, do so at the end and cook for 1 minute longer.

6- Remove from heat. Serve with your favorite garnish.

Borani Esfanaaj

Now that we have the yogurt draining technique down, let’s put that yogurt to use. My favorite way is to mix the yogurt with cooked spinach, onion, and garlic, in a Persian dish called “Borani Esfenaaj”. Most Persian restaurants serve this as an appetizer with some pita or lavash bread, however, traditionally Persian cuisine is not split into different courses. Instead everything is served at the same time on the “Sofreh” or a cloth/spread on the ground.

Usually I have this dish on the side with a main dish, but I also recommend it as a spread or dip. For those of you looking to cut some calories throughout the day (like me!) this is a healthy alternative to the traditional spinach dip made with mayonnaise and/or sour cream.

Borani Esfanaaj (or Yogurt with Spinach)

Servings: 3-4

Prep & Cook time: 15 min. + at least an hour of cooling

Ingredients:

1 tsp of olive oil, or any oil you have on hand

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups fresh spinach or a package of frozen spinach, washed

¼ tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

1 ½ cups of the drained yogurt (see previous post)

Directions:

1- Drizzle the oil into a medium pan and sauté the onion and garlic on medium-low heat until tender and the onions are almost see-through.

2- Add the spinach and cook until leaves are wilted. Add salt and pepper

3- Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.

4- In a small bowl mix together the drained yogurt and cooked spinach. Add any salt or pepper to taste.

5- Cool in the fridge for at least another 45 minutes. Then enjoy!