What's for Lunch/Brunch?

[Menolly]

You gotta try the shallots sometime. They are amazing.

I think the nearest TJ's is seven hours away, in Atlanta.
Are they that amazing?

[Harbinger]

You can also get them at some of the other Whole Foods type stores- but not Whole Foods Market. I also just found them at Amazon.com for $15 for 4 oz. They are at least that amazing. 4 oz will last you a looong time.

[Menolly]

mmm...
...plus shipping?

[Harbinger]

The Spice Shop has 1 oz for $8.59. That's the size I buy and it lasts for months.

[Menolly]

Today's lunch is a roll-up consisting of a "low carb/high fiber" tortilla spread with Sabra brand roasted garlic and rep pepper hummus that I "doctored" by adding a squeeze of fresh lime juice, a dribble of extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkling of granulated garlic and fresh cracked pepper before rolling...

...now if only I had some tabbouleh to add to it.

[stonemaybe]

We had the best lunch ever yesterday, definitely the best meal we've had so far in Korea. We're on an island off the south coast at the minute, called Jeju. Stopped off at a local's restaurant off the beaten track rather than one of the countless tourist traps. The restaurant only serves one thing - 'lunch'!!!! 7000won a head, which works out at about us$6 I think! It was the same sort of thing that every meal consists of - what I would call a 'banquet' - lots and lots of small dishes, but whereas I am getting a bit tired of chilli'ed cabbage and chilli'ed pickle and chilli'ed spring onions, this was much more varied in its marinades, and there were a couple of extremely garlicky ones . But the best was the fish that came with it - apparently only found in this area. Phonetically it would be spelt 'ocda' and it was glorious. the only other description i can give is it one of those fish with a mean looking protruding lower jaw with sharp teeth.

Today's lunch was good too, we were on a small island called O-Du off the big island and had a sort of noodley seafoody soup. It came with some very strange seafood -type things (i think they were a sort of anemone) which tasted good but texture-wise they were bizarre. this sounds wrong, but they were soft and hard at the same time. I can't think how else to describe them. you know when you suck a bit of hard toffee and it goes soft? This was the opposite. It seemed soft when you put it in your mouth but then got tougher as you chewed.

But yesterday's will live in the memory for a long time. I took a photo of outside of restaurant, i'll post on here when i get home.

Edit - I forgot I've devoloped 'chopstick finger' (my term) fleshy part beside nail of ring finger of right hand is very sore and inflamed from all the chopsticking. Luckily i can still use the wooden chopsticks ok and everywhere we've been since it got sore, have been able to give me wooden ones.

[Menolly]

Interesting, Stone.
I do not use my ring finger at all when I use chopsticks. I hold the bottom one against my middle finger, like this...



I hope your ring finger heals soon.

[Menolly]

So, looking at the Index of Recipes, it appears I have never shared my recipe for matzah brie. I like it pancake style, instead of scrambled, and truthfully, I have rarely had a matzah brie out that I liked as much as my own...

I didn't think of it as I made it today, but perhaps while Hyperception is home we'll attempt to plate a finished one nicely and use the webcam to photograph it. I am not gifted at plating like Vader, but I think we'll give it a try.

Matzah Brie
(traditional Eastern European/ashkenazi Passover breakfast)
serves 1-2

2 teaspoons schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) or butter/extra light olive oil, divided
1/4 to 1/3 cup vidalia onion, roughly chopped
3 extra large or jumbo eggs, whipped with a teaspoon or so of water
1 1/2 boards matzah
salt, pepper, granulated garlic, various other herbs to taste (I occasionally like dried dill weed)
optional garnishes: apple sauce, sour cream, apple butter, cinnamon and sugar, lemon juice and confectioners sugar

Preheat a non-stick omelet pan on medium heat. Add one teaspoon of schmaltz or butter and extra light olive oil and sauté the rough chopped onion until just turning brown and limp.

While the onions are cooking, pass the board and a half of matzah under a running stream of tap water. Most recipes call for soaking the matzah before adding to the egg; this gets way too soft for my taste. You just want to moisten the boards, and then allow the excess water to drip off into the sink. Once moistened, break the matzah into bite size pieces and add to the whipped eggs. Toss to coat with the egg mixture and allow to sit until the onions are just golden.

Add another teaspoon of schmaltz or butter to the pan and then gently pour the matzah and eggs over the onion. Try to keep the onion evenly dispersed throughout the pan as you do this, they tend to slide out to the edges of the pan as you pour in the matzah pieces.

Allow the mixture to set, and occasionally shake the pan to prevent sticking. While cooking, sprinkle the salt, pepper, and granulated garlic (and any other herbs/seasonings you desire) on the uncooked top side. Gently peek underneath to see if the bottom is lightly browning and once it is, if you have the confidence, toss and flip so the other side cooks. If you are like me and doubt your flipping capability, gently work a wide spatula underneath, and using clean fingers if necessary, flip the whole "pancake" over and allow the second side to lightly brown.

Slide on to a plate and top with your garnish of choice. The German pancake topping suggestion of lemon juice and confectioners sugar was just suggested to me by Hyperception; I have not tried that yet myself. My preference is Musselman's natural applesauce, but different people have different preferences.

If you do go a sweet route, i.e., cinnamon and sugar, apple butter, or the lemon and confectioners sugar, I would suggest omitting the onions and whipping the eggs with a pinch of sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract before adding the matzah. Play around with it, and enjoy!

[Vader]

The German pancake topping suggestion of lemon juice and confectioners sugar

Never heard about that. But then we have so many different regional eating habits and I'm not a big pancake man myself, so it might be no wonder.

As far as I know you either get them sweet with whipped cream, icing sugar, jam and/or sugar beet molasses (or if you are more modern: maple sirup - so much for globalization). If savory you fill them with fried bacon and mushrooms or such.

[Vader]

What I do know, however, is a glazing made of lemon juice and confectioner's sugar - "sugar icing". But you would rather use it on cake and not on fried stuff - except for Krapfen (=doughnut, sometimes filled with jam) ...

... now I'm all confused ...

[Menolly]

This is the German pancake as I know it:



and then the same baked pancake filled with apples, instead of the lemon juice and butter:



Who knows, it's probably an American bastardization of what is usually served...

[Worm of Despite]

My future wife is for lunch. Served on a couch...with beer.

[Vader]

This might explain it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_baby_pancake

The Dutch are notorious for having more than one sweet tooth (and blocking the Autobahns with their trailers)

If you order a pancake over here you will get something like a thicker crêpes

[Menolly]

This might explain it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_baby_pancake

The Dutch are notorious for having more than one sweet tooth (and blocking the Autobahns with their trailers)

*nodding*

The one I have was from The Original Pancake House, as mentioned in the article. However, their "Dutch Baby" was a smaller version of their German Pancake. And even the article says the "Dutch" may refer to the Pennsylvania Dutch, where "Dutch" is a bastardization of deutsch...

Here are the recipes I have for both versions I posted a picture of.

German Breakfast Pancakes

6 Eggs
1/8 tsp Salt
1 cup Flour -- unsifted
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 lb Butter
Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 450ºF.
Lightly beat eggs with salt. Gradually add flour to milk, blending until smooth. Add this mixture and the sugar to the eggs and blend well. Place the butter into the cast iron skillets and place them into the oven until butter melts. Brush butter up sides of skillet(s). Add the batter to the pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until the pancakes rise and puff and are lightly browned.
Lower the temperature to 400 degrees if pancakes are browning too fast. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately with one or more of the toppings suggested below.
Topping Suggestions: Fruit jam, fresh berries, sliced fresh fruit, sour cream, applesauce, sugar and cinnamon.

Apple Pancake

Batter Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Topping Ingredients:
4 apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup raisins

Combine dry ingredients for batter, add liquids. Blend until smooth. Melt butter in oven in a 10” cast iron skillet. Pour apples, raisins, and brown sugar into hot butter in skillet, stir until apples are coated and brown sugar is melted. Return to oven until butter is hot again, add batter. Bake for 20 minutes at 425ºF. Cut pancake into serving pieces. Serves 6-8.

If you order a pancake over here you will get something like a thicker crêpes

Yum, those look good too!
I better stop talking about pancakes, as I can't have any before Tuesday night due to Passover...
But you go right ahead and continue; I'll just sit here salivating.

[Vader]

The "Apfelpfannkuchen" (apple pancake) mentioned in the wikipedia articel is what I would simply call an apple cake or aplle pie. Or if it has too sound more chef-ish "apple tarte".

But as I said, it might all be regional. I can only say that sweet breakfasts are rather unusual in places I know.

[stonemaybe]

'octda' = red tile fish



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilefish

If you find yourself confronted by one, take a bite!

[Menolly]

Yesterday's lunch was my first ever double-double, fries, and a chocolate shake at In-N-Out Burgers as we approached San Francisco. Even though not cooked rare, as is my preference, that was a darn fine burger. Next try at In-N-Out, whenever I try them again, will be something from the "secret" menu. Most likely an animal with both raw and grilled onions, but I may just ask for it as an animal 4X4.

[Menolly]

Today's brunch was french toast, which I haven't made in a while. Beorn is still recuperating from major drilling on Thursday to extract his last wisdom tooth, and even cut in to teeny pieces, this is the most chewing he has managed to do relatively pain free since then. He has mostly been on a soup and waaaaay overcooked pasta diet since then up to now.

He did manage to eat about half a cup of home made chicken caccitori for dinner last night, but I had shredded his serving of chicken really finely, so that it resembled pulled pork in texture.

Tonight he has some lasagna he had brought home from the Olive Garden earlier in the week while his grandfather visited, as well as some of the home-style fried rice from Chop Stix Cafe, where his grandfather took him to eat after the initial attempt to extract his tooth on Wednesday. If he can't handle either, I'll break out some more soup and whip up some mashed potatoes for him. But so far, things seem to be looking up, B"H. I just hope he feels well enough to return to school on Monday. I was unhappy with him when he postponed this last wisdom tooth being pulled when his dentist said it was ready to come out at his last cleaning back in February, but The All knew what he was doing when Beorn asked to be given time to prepare himself for it and the next appointment available fell during the middle of Spring Break...

[Savor Dam]

Since I was called down for not mentioning it in the What's For Dinner thread (where it does not belong), while here to help my family make Pesach, Menolly made a special brunch on Tuesday, the first full day of the holiday.

Matzah brie...onions sweated over low heat until caramelized, then broken-and-lightly-moistened matzah boards and beaten eggs are added and cooked into a pancake/omelette and served with applesauce.

Well, I had applesauce with part of mine, but I also held back part to have with some creole spices. Savory heat goes further with me than sweetness...and yes, the combination of both has much to recommend it as well.

[Menolly]

Speaking of matzah brie, that is today's brunch here in Gator Town. Hyperception and I both eat ours with applesauce. Beorn usually has plain scrambled eggs, but today he said, "I am trying to eat new things," (which he showed me at Shabbes dinner at Lubavitch by trying some gefilte fish and saying it was "OK, but still not something I'll seek out") "so go ahead and make me a serving as well." I gave him his serving with organic ketchup (since it is made with sugar instead of HFCS, so for my level of observance is acceptable for pesach) instead of applesauce, and he ate it all. "I prefer scrambled eggs, like I thought. But yeah, it was good."