Dad's Crab Torta

 

One of my favorite breakfast foods is a Filipino fritter called tortang talons (eggplant fritter). It's typically eaten with rice and a side of tomatoes a dollop of sweet (or spicy) banana ketchup on the side.

When I visited the parents last time, we had some steamed Dungeness crab the night prior and had some leftover. To my delight, Dad turned the leftover crab into a wonderful breakfast treat! Here's the recipe for my Dad's crab torta!

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Crab Torta with Potatoes and Onions

(Makes 4 to 5 fritters)

2 cup chopped Dungeness crab

1 cup potato, diced

1 cup onion, diced

2 green onion, chopped

4 eggs

3 tbsp tapioca starch

3 tbsp water

Salt and pepper, to taste

Fry potato until slightly  softened. Add onion, season with salt & pepper until potato is browned. Remove from heat and mix with crab. Add eggs and mix. 

In a separate bowl, combine water and tapioca starch. Add 3 tbsp of the tapioca mixture to the batter and mix. Add more to taste, if needed. Discard any unused tapioca mixture. Season with additional  salt and pepper, as needed.

Heat pan with oil. Scoop mixture to make 5 inch omelets. Cook each side until golden brown or until inside is no longer runny. Serve with banana ketchup and rice. 

rollin' for breakfast.

I had some leftover ready-made pizza dough sitting in the fridge so I decided to try and make some breakfast rolls this morning. I was tempted to make something sweet, but the need for a savory breakfast in the morning decidedly won out. Plus, the recipe sounded interesting and I was in the mood for eggs anyway.

Reading through the recipe, this seemed simple enough. I decided to add more spices and onion to the filling to make these rolls more flavorful. I didn't have any breakfast sausage so I swapped it with some thick-sliced deli ham. Then, all I did was roll out the dough, layer on the fillings, and bake that sucker for 30 minutes. Yum!

I do wish my rolls were more big and fluffy, though. But that's more my fault than anything, really. If I had used a similar dough like the kind called in the recipe, I'm sure I would've gotten big, fluffy rolls as well. As for the taste, they were pretty good! Nice and savory especially with all that onion added in. I do wish that I had more cheese in these rolls, though, so next time I'm doing the full one cup. So would I make these again? Definitely!

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Breakfast Rolls
(adapted from The REAL Housewives of Riverton)

1 pkg ready-made pizza dough
4 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 to 3 slices ham, chopped
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese
olive oil

 
Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

In a bowl or a glass measuring cup, combine egg, milk, parsley, and spices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and beat together until well combined. Set aside.

In a large skillet, drizzle some olive oil and saute garlic, onion, and bell pepper until slightly browned. Pour egg mixture over the contents of the pan. Let the eggs cook for up to a minute or until the bottom starts to set, then flip by sections. Repeat the flipping every few seconds until the eggs are firm but still moist. Remove from heat, transfer to a plate, and set aside.

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Sprinkle on egg mixture, chopped ham, and shredded cheese. Roll tightly, pinching the ends together, then cut into even 12 sections with a sharp knife. Transfer to a well greased pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 12 rolls.

leftover remix: ham and spinach quiche!

Since making quiche was a great way to use up the ham, I decided to make another quiche again. This time, I changed up the flavors and made it a bit more savory. I thought shallots and mushrooms would be a great combination as well as having spinach and parsley for some healthy greens. Also, just to firm the quiche up a little, I went ahead and upped the Bisquick to one full cup just for the sake of easier measuring. Why not, right?

I'm so happy the quiche turned out super yummy! It was slightly more denser than the first time I made it, but in a satisfying kind of way. Man, I'm really loving this recipe!

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Ham and Spinach Quiche
(adapted from Farm Eats, City Streets)

1 ½ cups diced cooked ham
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and roughly chopped
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup low fat milk
½ cup fat free half and half
1 cup Bisquick baking mix
3 eggs
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp black pepper
kosher salt, to taste
1 tsp olive oil

 
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a deep dish pie plate.

In a large pan on high heat, saute mushroom and shallot in oil until browned. Add spinach and garlic and cook until spinach has wilted and excess moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat and season with a pinch or so of salt. Add ham then set aside.

Beat the milk, Bisquick, eggs, paprika, and black pepper until fairly smooth. Stir in parsley, cheese, and ham mixture. Pour into the prepared pie plate.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (about 35-40 minutes). Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

leftover remix: garden ham quiche!

Happy New Years's Eve!

I can't believe that 2016 is almost here. Just a few short hours and we'll be welcoming another year! But with that being said, I do find it unbelievable that my nearest grocery store is already stocked for Valentine's Day. It's crazy . . . their New Years section was almost nonexistent. What is the world coming to?!

In my house, we're actually still going through Christmas leftovers. Since we cooked a lot for our Christmas feast, it stands to reason that we've been surviving on leftovers for the last few days. The game hens turned into our usual enchiladas, but the ham still has a ways to go.

What to do? Well, since it's around breakfast time, I figured that I would make something appropriate for this meal time. After googling "leftover ham ideas", a few recipe staples came up, including quiche. After changing my search to "ham quiche", I stumbled on this recipe that not only utilized ham, but a bunch of different other ingredients too. Well with the word "garden" in it, I couldn't possibly resist making this recipe!

What I really liked about this recipe was the fact that it was fairly easy to whip up. Plus, it had a good amount of vegetables and I didn't have to worry about making a crust. Again, super quick and easy and has a lot of room for add-in and changes. For my quiche, I added some sun-dried tomatoes for a little tartness and decreased the cheese to about half a cup (because I ran out, lol). I also used fat-free half ad half since I didn't have any milk. For the batter, I added parsley, some garlic powder, and a touch of paprika since I usually season my eggs that way.

I was so happy with how this turned out! The quiche itself had a pleasant density to it, probably due to the Bisquick. Flavor-wise, it was a good balance of ham versus veggie. The little bit of sun-dried tomatoes that dotted throughout the quiche gave it that tart and tangy tomato flavor every other bite. Although I had baked it a tad too long, the hubby even had seconds! That was a nice surprise, since he's not all that into quiches.

What a wonderful addition to the leftover remix rotation! This is a definite winner in my book!

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Ham and Broccoli Garden Quiche
(from Farm Eats, City Streets)

1 ½ cups diced cooked ham
2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli florets
½ cup chopped green onions
½ cup chopped green pepper
1 ¾ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 ½ cups milk
¾ cup Bisquick baking mix
3 eggs
¼ tsp black pepper

 
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a deep dish pie plate.

If using frozen, steam the broccoli in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Drain and cool. Otherwise, mix the ham, broccoli, onions, green pepper and cheese. Pour the mixture in the pie plate.

Beat the remaining ingredients (milk, Bisquick, eggs and black pepper) until it’s fairly smooth. Pour over the broccoli and ham mix in the pie plate.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown (about 35-40 minutes). Remove from oven and brush with butter. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

leftover remix: ham eggs benedict!

Thankfully, our ham this year was considerably smaller than last year's, so that made ham leftovers manageable. Last year, we had to throw out about a third of the ham before it went bad. Besides sandwiches and snack meat, I had a hard time finding ways to use up one of our thanksgiving favorites.

Surprisingly, I found out that we didn't really eat ham outside of the sandwich realm. We went through the turkey a whole lot faster than we did the ham! So, to reduce the inevitable waste we were going to have with a twenty pound ham (for TWO people!!), I got creative with adding it into soups, casseroles, pasta, sides, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When all was said and done, we threw away about a third of the ham.

With all that experimenting, I forgot to make something that should have been a no-brainer for breakfast: eggs benedict! So this year, I made sure to whip up my favorite breakfast and make it a little fancy. For this thanksgiving remix, I topped english muffins with a generous schmearing of smokey chipotle mustard, a couple slices of farm fresh tomatoes, some creamy avocado, a few pieces of ham, a couple of perfectly poached eggs, and topped it off with my favorite mock hollandaise sauce.

Best. Breakfast. EVER.

thinking inside the box.

Yesterday, the hubby and I went grocery shopping together. To me, that was quite extraordinary considering he hates going to the store. Well, let me amend that statement: He hates grocery shopping with me. Apparently he's an "in-and-out" kind of guy and I'm a "browser and a peruser". In other words, I take a long time shopping for groceries.

Okay, sure. I'll give him that. I'm one of those people who go down every isle, regardless if I need anything from there, just to see if there's anything new or if I happen to remember an item I forgot to jot down on the list. I make a basic list of necessities then make up my weekly menu as I walk along the store. Inefficient? Sure . . . But it's so much more creative and fun this way! That line of reasoning still doesn't negate the fact that he hates going with me.

However, on this occasion, he happened to walk by the seasonal isle and grabbed a box of roll mix and casually suggested, "You should make some caramel rolls." Hummm. Oh-kay. Suuuuure. That shouldn't be so hard . . . I mean, I've already made some cinnamon rolls before, after all.

How hard could it be??

Well I forgot that making those cinnamon rolls were a pain in the ass. AND, not to mention that I still have to tweak that recipe. The filling itself was a mess and ROLLING that thing was even worse. I thought I would do better with the boxed mix.

Turns out, I had about the same difficulty with the boxed mix as I did making it from scratch.. Except that it was reverse . . . The filling was easier to work with and had okay results, but the dough was SOOoooo sticky. I guess I could've added more flour to the dough, but I didn't want to risk it getting tough and chewy. I was aiming for soft cinnamon rolls. So I stretched the super sticky dough until it wasn't as gluey then added just enough flour so I could transfer it to a bowl to rest.

Rolling the thing was also a nightmare. Because the dough was sticky, any flour that I added got sucked right in. My "genius plan" of putting it on wax paper didn't work, so rolling wasn't as tight as I wanted it to be. *sigh* All in all, this wasn't too bad. The final product turned out as soft as I was expecting it to be. I also tried experimenting with putting some caramel on the bottom, but since the buns were loosely rolled, all the filling drained to the bottom. :/

So, my solution was to dribble some dulce de leche on top. On hindsight, I should've bought the squeeze bottle kind instead for easier drizzling. All in all, not too bad. Just some user error that's easily fixed. I may buy another box just to keep handy in case I want to try this out again. Next time, definitely more flour.

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Dulce de Leche Cinnamon Rolls
(barely adapted from Pillsbury)

For the Dough:
1 pkg Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix
3 tbsp sugar
1 cup hot water (120 to 130F degrees)
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg, room temperature

For the Cinnamon Filling:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

For the Caramel Topping:
1/4 cup or more dulce de leche
toasted pecans, optional

 
Make the dough:
Line 13 x 9-inch pan with aluminum foil, extending foil over edges of pan. Combine flour and yeast packets from hot roll mix with sugar in large bowl. Stir in hot water, softened butter and egg until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead dough on lightly floured surface 5 minutes or until smooth, using additional flour as needed. Cover with large bowl; let rest 5 minutes.

Make the cinnamon filling and rolls:
Using a fork combine brown sugar, flour, softened butter and cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll dough to 15 x 10-inch rectangle on lightly floured surface. Crumble cinnamon mixture evenly over dough. Starting with 10-inch side, roll up tightly, pressing edges to seal. Coat foil in pan with no-stick cooking spray. Cut dough into 12 slices. Place cut side down in prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and towel. Heat oven to 375°F. Let rise in warm place (80° to 90°F) 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Uncover dough. Brush rolls with 1 tablespoon of half-and-half, if desired. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Brush rolls again with remaining tablespoon of half-and-half, if desired. Using edges of foil, remove rolls from pan.

Add dulce de leche topping:
Drizzle dulce de leche onto warm buns to desired amount. As an optional garnish, top with toasted pecans before serving.

to make a mockery.

Sometimes I like making breakfast just for me. I get to experiment with "weird" food more freely and test things out before introducing it to the hubbs. Take this recipe, for example... this would definitely fall under the "weird" food category for the hubby. Would I make it for him? Eh... maybe.

I didn't have any grape tomatoes in the house, so I decided that I would make a play on eggs benedict. I loooove me some eggs benedict. But since I was feeling slightly lazy, I just scrambled the eggs and made a batch of my favorite mock hollandaise; my go-to recipe ever since I found it on the web.

What I really like about the mock hollandaise is how easy it is. Basically, it's a lemon gravy with the flavor notes of hollandaise. Make a roux, add some milk, then season with lemon and cayenne. Best part? It isn't as fatty and rich as a real hollandaise. :)

I've made this sauce quite a few times already. While the original recipe calls for food coloring, I find that turmeric or ground mustard works just as well. I dunno...adding food coloring to sauces just seem wrong. And why add something that's tasteless when you can add a little depth with additional spice?

Well... kind of.

The 1/4 tsp of mustard or turmeric isn't really that discernible... Here, I use it more for color than for anything else. Occasionally, I'll squirt some Dijon in for taste just to change things up a bit. That, or add chives to the sauce. Overall, this hollandaise is a great recipe to have in your repertoire. Hell, I know I'm glad to have it! Makes life that much more easy, no? ^_^

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Mock Hollandaise Sauce
(barely adapted from Kitchen Project)

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup cream, half and half, or milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp ground mustard or 1/4 tsp turmeric
ground white pepper

Melt the butter on medium heat in a 1 quart non-aluminum saucepan. Add the flour, stir and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps, and cook till thickened. Add the salt, lemon juice, cayenne, and ground mustard or turmeric. Season with additional salt and ground white pepper to taste.

*This can be made a few days ahead of time and reheated

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Savory Sourdough Parmesan French Toast
(from Knead For Food)

4 slices 1/2″ thick stale sourdough bread
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper

Whisk all of the ingredients together for the French toast, except the bread. Get a casserole dish large enough for all four slices and pour in half the egg mixture. Place the slices in the casserole and let sit for a few moments. Pour the remainder of the mixture over the bread. Every 3–5 minutes, flip the bread slices around. This will take about 20 minutes for the bread to absorb as much as it can.

Heat a griddle over medium low heat. Butter the griddle and fry the bread two slices at a time. This will take about 3-4 minutes per side. Top with eggs, tomatoes, breakfast meat, or any other savory topping as desired. Serve with a generous drizzle of hollandaise sauce.