Challah French Toast

There are a lot of ways to make French toast. The simplest, which I remember my mom doing when I was a kid, is to whisk egg and milk together, dip sandwich bread into it, and grill the bread in a pan. From there, you can get all kinds of elaborate. Personally, I find the recipes that call for a lot of eggs, sugar and cream to be too rich. That approach results in what's basically an egg custard held together with bread. I'm also not a fan of deep-frying French toast. It's just too much.

My approach below is adapted from America's Test Kitchen's recipe. For years, I made their recipe faithfully, although recently I've been changing it up a bit. I wanted a little more egg (they use only one), a little less flour, and cinnamon, which goes nicely with the vanilla and is just classic in my book. Although you can use any bread, challah bread works nicely. The sugar in this gives bread just a hint of crunch. I don't call for soaking the bread a long time--just briefly. I don't want a really dense French toast (plus, you'll probably use your batter up too fast with a long soak).

Challah French Toast
Adapted in part from a recipe by America's Test Kitchen

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup milk, at room temperature (can use any kind, including skim)
2 tbsp. butter, melted but not hot
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. butter (not melted), divided
6 slices of challah bread, cut 3/4-inch thick
Warm maple syrup (optional)

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.

2. In a large shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, butter and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to create a uniform batter.

3. Add half the unmelted butter to the hot skillet. Dip three pieces of bread (one at a time) into the batter, allow it to soak for a few seconds and wiping off any excess batter with your fingers. Place the dipped bread in the skillet and cook until lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Turn over and cook another minute to 90 seconds. Set aside on a platter, add the remaining butter to the skillet and repeat with the other three pieces of bread (this should use up almost all the batter).

4. Serve French toast with warm maple syrup.

Sausage Breakfast Skillet Hash

Breakfast for us is usually simple: cereal, orange wedges, coffee. I usually make scrambled eggs once a week and there are occasionally more complicated weekend treats like omelets or pancakes.

Being snowed in as we were recently, I decided it was a good opportunity to make a special breakfast. Hence, this breakfast skillet hash, a classic combination of fried potatoes, sausage, eggs, cheese and vegetables. This is homestyle cooking at its simple best.

As a kid, my family would sometimes eat breakfast at The Village Inn, and their breakfast skillets were our favorite things to order. More recently, Chris and I ate delicious hash plates at 24 Diner in Austin, Texas. Whether you call it a skillet or hash--or skillet-hash--it's good stuff.

Since the potatoes are, by volume, the largest ingredient in the dish, it's important to get them right. They need to be firm but cooked through, browned and crispy on the edges. I used The Food Lab's recommended method of par-boiling the potatoes with vinegar, letting them drain awhile and then frying them for quite awhile until crispy. They turned out exactly as I wanted them too. The par-boiling helps cook the potatoes through, since the frying will mostly be about crisping up the edges. The bit of vinegar helps the potatoes keep their shape through all this. While frying them, I first stirred the potatoes to coat them in the oil, then smoothed them into an even layer, which I let cook for 5 minutes without being disturbed to help promote browning.

What you put in this dish besides potatoes is really up to you. Some kind of meat--sausage, bacon or ham--is good, but you could make this vegetarian too. I used Whole Foods mild Italian chicken sausage, since it's one of my favorites, half an onion and a red bell pepper. I topped the skillet with two scrambled eggs (I suggest one egg per person) and a good sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese, which I melted under the oven broiler.

Sausage Breakfast Skillet Hash
Potato technique adapted from a recipe by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for The Food Lab, Serious Eats

Serves 2 really hungry guys or 4 normal portions

1 1/2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2- to 3/4-inch cubes
2 quarts water
2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. kosher salt
4-6 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 lb. mild Italian chicken sausage
1/2 yellow onion, diced
Red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dired oregano
2 to 4 large eggs, lightly beaten (use 1 egg per person)
1 to 2 tsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Add potatoes, water, vinegar and kosher salt to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander and allow them to sit in the colander for at least a couple minutes so as much water drains out as possible.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in a large (12-inch) frying pan over medium heat (note: if using pork sausage, it will render more fat, so I don't think you need this initial 1 tbsp. of oil). Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with wooden spoon, until cooked through. Transfer the sausage to a large bowl.

3. If needed, add another tbsp. of vegetable oil to the pan, increase heat to medium-high, then add the onion and bell pepper. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme and oregano, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened. Return the sausage to the pan and continue cooking the mixture until it gets a little brown around the edges. Remove from the pan and transfer back to the large bowl.

4. Add the remaining 4 tbsp. (i.e. 1/4 cup) vegetable oil to the pan. When hot, add the potatoes and cook until browned and crisp around the edges, about 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

5. While the potatoes cook, scramble the eggs: heat 1 to 2 tsp. butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring frequently, until set. Remove from the pan and set aside on a small plate.

6. Preheat oven broiler. Once the potatoes are cooked, turn the heat off under the pan and stir in the cooked sausage, onion and pepper. Add the scrambled eggs on top, then cover the whole thing with shredded cheddar cheese. Place under the oven broiler to melt the cheese, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Serve from the pan.

Steak, Egg and Smoked Gouda Breakfast Tacos

As I mentioned on Monday, one of the greatest discoveries of our recent long weekend in Austin was breakfast tacos. They combine breakfast-oriented foods like eggs, sausage and potatoes with typical taco fillings and garnishes. There are taco joints all over the city that served them.

Our favorite breakfast tacos were from Taco Joint, a small taco restaurant just north of the University of Texas campus. I imagine a lot students make themselves regulars there, and who could blame them. The tacos are cheap, filling and delicious.

Our favorite combination there was the steak, egg and smoked gouda cheese taco, which I've attempted to recreate with this recipe. I garnished the tacos with some chipotle cream, which went beautifully with the gouda and steak.

Steak, Egg and Smoked Gouda Breakfast Tacos
Inspired by Taco Joint in Austin, Texas

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3/4 lb. ribeye steak
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 large eggs, lightly scrambled
1/2 cup sour cream
Tabasco Chipotle hot sauce, to taste
8 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded smoked gouda cheese

1. Heat oil in a sauté or grill pan over medium-high heat. Season steak with salt and pepper and add to hot pan. Sear the steak on both sides for 2 minutes each, then reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking steak, flipping every 2 minutes, until it is light pink in the middle, about 8 minutes total for a medium steak. Set aside on a cutting board to rest for 5 minutes, then slice against the grain into thin strips.

2. Heat 1 tbsp. butter in a medium nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, as the egg forms small curds. Season with salt and pepper and, when cooked through, remove from the pan.

3. Add the sour cream to a small bowl and stir in hot sauce until it reaches a desired level of heat and taste.

4. To assemble tacos: place a double layer of corn tortillas on a plate or taco holder. Add a few slices of steak, a couple tablespoons of egg, a sprinkle of shredded cheese and a couple spoonfuls of chipotle sour cream. Serve immediately.

Homemade Granola

I've realized recently that I don't have very much breakfast content on my site. It's probably because I don't make a hot breakfast very often. During the week, I eat cereal, fruit and coffee to get out the door as quickly as possible. Often on weekends, we do pretty much the same thing.

That's why homemade granola is perfect for us. It's a way to have something special and homemade for a weekend breakfast that doesn't require--in that moment at least--any preparation. It's easy to make and can be done way in advance. It should keep in the refrigerator for at least a week.

A coworker brought some homemade granola to the office for an informal breakfast get-together and shared with me how easy it is to make. I don't often buy granola at the store, as it's kind of expensive and you blow through the box quickly. Homemade granola doesn't require expensive ingredients--the most costly thing is the pecans and you can certainly use other nuts, seeds or omit them.

Granola is basically just roasted oats with a sweet glaze. You can put whatever else you want in it: spices, such as cinnamon or nutmeg; nuts, like almonds, walnuts or cashews; any type of dried fruit; coconut; etc. My coworker told me he used equal amounts of olive oil, brown sugar and honey, so I went with that in this recipe, along with a little cinnamon, vanilla, pecans and dried cranberries. Since toasted nuts are wonderful, I added the pecans with the oats, but the dried cranberries should be stirred in after roasting.

I tried this with both Greek yogurt and milk and liked it both ways. It's definitely a more exciting way to start the weekend than a bowl of store-bought cereal.

Homemade Granola

Makes 4 servings, about 3/4 cup each

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Milk or Greek yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.

2. Combine oats, nuts, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, olive oil, brown sugar and honey in a large bowl, stirring to evenly coat the ingredients with honey and oil. Spread mixture in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake in the oven until browned, about 20-25 minutes. Set aside to cool. Transfer to a container, breaking up clumps (if desired). Stir in the dried cranberries.

3. Serve in bowls with milk or Greek yogurt.

Spicy Beans And Pepperoni On Toast With Fried Eggs

I came across this dish as part of Food Republic's recent series on recipes for making good use of leftovers. Since I'd just made pizza, it was perfect for using up the rest of a package of sliced pepperoni. 

The recipe comes from Sophia Wright's cookbook Cook on Shoestring: Easy, Inspiring Recipes on a Budget. Wright's recipe is meant to be flexible: while written for toast with fried eggs, it could easily be served over baked potato or, I think, rice would be a good partner. Don't have pepperoni? Use another sausage, pancetta or bacon. She also suggests that with more tomatoes and broth, the spicy bean topping could make a great soup. 

Spicy Beans and Pepperoni on Toast with Fried Eggs

Adapted from a Food Republic recipe from Cook on Shoestring by Sophie Wright

Serves 2

2 3/4 oz. sliced pepperoni, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
15-oz. can navy beans, drained and rinsed
15-oz. can diced tomatoes
Seasoned salt (or plain salt) and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of sugar
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 eggs
Pinch of ground cumin
2 slices of bread
Butter, to spread on the toast
Coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1. Heat a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the pepperoni and cook for a few minutes until it starts to render fat. Add the garlic and chili pepper flakes and cook for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant. Add the beans, season with seasoned salt and pepper and stir to combine, then add the tomatoes and sugar. Cook at a simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, break the eggs one-at-a-time into the pan. Break the yolks if desired or leave them whole. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. After a couple minutes, flip the eggs over and cook another minute or so to desired doneness.

3. Toast the bread (nice easy step).

4. To serve: Butter the toast and put on a plate, top with half the pepperoni-bean mixture and place a fried egg on top. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce

The New York Times Dining section ran this recipe recently, which features two summer stars together in a breakfast dish. It's got great corn flavor and, since there is little added sugar, it's not at all overpoweringly sweet. Rather restrained actually.

I was afraid I'd ruined the dish when I realized that the pan I was cooking it in was a casserole dish rather than a gratin dish (which I don't have). In the end, it worked fine though. So if you have a gratin dish, use that, but using a casserole instead seems fine too.

Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce
Adapted from Puffy Corn Pancake with Blackberry Sauce by Melissa Clark for New York Times

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup fine cornmeal
5 eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp. honey
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
Corn kernels from 2 ears of corn (about 1 cup)
2 cups blackberries
3 tbsp. sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Add butter to a 2-quart gratin or casserole dish and bake until butter melts and starts to bubble, about 7 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together flour and cornmeal. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Whisk in the honey, salt and pepper. Stir in the corn kernels.

3. Remove the dish from the oven and add the pancake batter. Bake until the pancake is well browned around the edges, puffed up and golden on top, about 20-30 minutes.

4. While the pancake bakes, make the blackberry sauce. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat with the blackberries and sugar. Lower heat a bit and simmer ingredients until the blackberries have broken down into a syrupy sauce.

5. Serve the pancake in wedges topped with blackberry sauce.

Asparagus with Mustard Dressing, Bacon and Eggs

Breakfast on the farm means eggs, although the ingredient in this dish from the farmers market is the asparagus, which is drizzled with a shallot-mustard vinaigrette and paired with bacon, hard-cooked eggs and toast. I was inspired by the recent New York Times' recipe for Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette, to which I made a few tweaks.

For the hard-cooked eggs, I tried the America's Test Kitchen technique. They claimed their method prevented that unappetizing gray-green layer from forming between the cooked yolk and white. Turns out, they were right. No green in sight and the eggs were perfectly cooked. I'll have to remember this when I decide to try my hand at deviled eggs.

For the dressing, I pretty much followed the recipe but added some honey for a little sweetness. The resulting dish was a satisfying savory meal to begin the day.

Asparagus with Mustard Dressing, Bacon and Eggs
Adapted from The New York Times' Asparagus with Mustard Vinaigrette

1/2 small shallot, finely minced
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. honey
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 large eggs
4 thick bacon strips
1 lb. asparagus, tough root ends trimmed off
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
2 pieces whole grain bread, toasted

1. To make vinaigrette, whisk together shallots, vinegar, mustard, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside while cooking the rest, which will soften the shallots a bit.

2. To hard-cook the eggs, place the eggs in a medium sauce pan and cover with cold water until there is an inch of water above the eggs. Place pan on stove and heat over medium-high heat until the water boils. Immediately remove pan from heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Then place eggs in ice water for 5 minutes (this makes them easier to peel). Carefully crack eggs all over, roll gently on a hard surface, and then use your hands to remove the shell, starting at the less-pointy end. Rinse the peeled eggs by dipping them in the bowl with the ice water. Slice into fourths.

3. Cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain and set aside.

4. To cook the asparagus, fill a large saucepan about halfway, salt the water and bring to a boil. Cook asparagus for about 3-4 minutes. Remove asparagus from water once cooked.

5. Serve eggs, bacon and asparagus over toast topped with a few spoonfuls of vinaigrette.

Omelet, Step-by-Step

Omelets are a satisfying and versatile breakfast food that can be as simple as just eggs or as complicated as you want, providing a foundation for innumerable combinations of vegetables, herbs, meats and cheeses. With this step-by-step guide, I'm seeking to make omelets as foolproof as possible.

Omelets can also be a bit scary. For many home cooks, what begins as an omelet often ends as a scramble. Tasty for sure, but not the desired finished product. Many experts have weighed in on omelet-making, and while the techniques from chefs like Julia Child and Jacques Pépin are interesting, they aren't simple to master. All that shaking and tapping probably gets you perfect results, but my simpler method, while not perfect, does a satisfying job with more ease.

Step 1: Prepare the fillings

For this example, I made a simple omelet of bacon, sautéed onion and cheddar cheese. I sliced two strips of bacon into lardons (i.e. little strips about 1/4- to 1/2-inch wide), diced a small yellow onion and shredded and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese with the larger shredder. Using a 10-inch nonstick frying pan, I browned the bacon, set aside the cooked bacon and removed most of the bacon fat from the pan and then sautéed the onion with seasoned salt and fresh-ground black pepper (you could also completely drain off the bacon fat and sauté the onion in olive oil, if you prefer).

Step 2: Prepare the pan and eggs

For making an individual, two-egg omelet, an 8-inch nonstick frying pan works best. A larger pan will spread the egg out more, making it thinner and thus more difficult to handle. I begin by heating the pan over medium heat with 2 teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil, which should be enough to coat the bottom of the pan. I beat 2 eggs in a 1-cup glass measuring cup using a fork (about 70 beats). If you're making multiple omelets, you could beat all the eggs together and portion them out into the pan, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's simpler to go two eggs at a time.

Step 3: Cook the eggs

The eggs will cook quickly, so be sure to have all your equipment ready before you start (the spatula, the larger wedge spatula and the plate). Pour the eggs into the center of the hot oil in the pan. Don't pour the eggs into the frying pan until it's hot. When the air above the pan feels hot and the oil swirls around the pan as easily as water, you know it's ready. Putting the eggs in too soon will make it soak up more oil and possibly stick to the pan.

Let the egg set on the bottom and then, using a rubber or silicone spatula, stir the center a little bit so it doesn't cook too much while the outer parts of the omelet are cooking. Use the spatula to lift one side of the omelet while tilting the pan about 30 degrees toward the spatula. This allows uncooked egg to run down around the spatula to the pan, filling in underneath the cooked egg. I start on the right side, then do the top, then the left side and then the bottom. If there is still runny egg on top, I keep repeating the process. The egg should look like this now:

Here's the trickiest part: the flip. This is the least foolproof and probably scariest step. And to be honest, there's no substitute for practice. So if at first you don't get it, keep at it and eventually (hopefully) you'll have it down. The action should come from your wrist, flicking the pan at a slight angle and making sure you keep the pan underneath the egg. Don't try to "throw" the egg up into the air or you'll have a mess for sure. It shouldn't be airborne much at all. Here's the results after a successful flip:

If you're too hesitant to try the flip, there are alternatives. First, you don't need to flip at all if you like (or don't mind) a slightly uncooked center. It't not my thing though. Second, you can use the broiler, which I did for many years. While you're preparing the fillings and starting the eggs, heat the oven broiler with the rack in the highest position (about 3-4" from the broiler). After the step to lift the cooked omelet and allow the runny parts to set under it, put the frying pan in the oven under the hot broiler to set the top. Watch it carefully--too long under there and it will puff up like a frittata. Like the failed omelet that becomes a scramble, this isn't a taste issue so much as not the desired product.

Step 4: Finish the omelet

After flipping (or broiling) the omelet, add the fillings. Be sure not to overfill it. It helps to put the filling more on one side of the omelet, which makes it easier to fold the other side over it.

Using a wedge spatula, fold the omelet in half over the fillings.

Then, using that same spatula, slide the omelet onto the plate. Voila! A tasty omelet that can be served by itself or with toast, fruit, potatoes, etc. To make another omelet, repeat the process, adding another teaspoon of olive oil in step 1.

What you fill the omelet with is up to you. In addition to bacon, onion and cheddar, other combinations I like include:

• Caramelized onion, thyme and gruyere.
• Asparagus, onion and goat cheese.
• Cheddar and scallions.
• Tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil (i.e. Caprese omelet).
• Chicken or steak fajitas (great use for Tex-Mex leftovers).