Sweet Potato, Salsa and Egg Breakfast

 

My faithful readers will realize that my blog is quickly becoming a food and recipe blog.  That’s not my intend, per se. I wake up hungry and with a will of iron, I force myself to hit the bike trail or take long beach walks.  And, these days, seldom do I settle into an arm chair and sip a libation before noon….well, I cheat once in a while, but doctors agree that Jim Beam is good for you…or is that red wine….or maybe Mimosas and Bloody Marys.  So many doctors and so many opinions. I say, doctors are like lawyers.  Find one who agrees with you and go with it.  Why bother with consternation and pay good money to disagreeable people.

 

And then there’s the opinion of my significant other.  Well, I won’t bother you with that either.  She’s young and beautiful and I’ve almost got her student loans paid for. 

 

But, I’ve strayed too far afield.  Let’s get back to recipes that are tasty and will make you feel 25 again, even if you’re already ripening to 29.  And for the rest of us, this one will keep you in the tip top peak of senility. 

 

Sweet Potato, Salsa and Egg Breakfast

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

2 medium sized sweet potatoe

1–2 eggs per serving

olive oil

sea salt and pepper

 

For the Tomato Avocado Salsa:

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems

2 Teaspoons minced jalapeno

sea salt to taste

2 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

2 big handfuls of mixed cherry tomatoes, quartered, seeds removed (see note)

2 Tablespoons oil cured, sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and cube

Olive oil

 

NOTE:  I rolled my sliced cherry tomatoes on paper towels to remove the seeds and keep the salsa from being too watery..

 

PUTIN IT TOGETHER:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray the paper with olive oil.

 

Wash the sweet potatoes and cut off both ends. Cut them in half lengthwise, and place them face down on the parchment paper. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until soft.  

 

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, make the salsa. 

 

Mix all the prepped ingredients. Set the salsa aside to let the flavors marinate while the potatoes finish cooking.

 

Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat, and add a small amount of  olive oil. Add the eggs to the heated pan one at a time, and season with salt and pepper. Place a lid over the skillet for over-easy eggs and cook until the eggs reach your desired doneness.

 

Serve the eggs over the warm sweet potatoes and load on the fresh salsa!

 

Now that you’ve gotten back from your bike ride, it’s time to shower, shave, give your significant other a kiss, if the two of you are still speaking.  Dress yourself, find an easy chair and grab that Jim Wine or Mimosa Beam.  It’s a late lunch anyway, so it can wait a little longer.

 

 

Garden Street Bistro

 

Garden Street Restaurant, Fernandina Beach, Florida

 

 

A quick note:  If you’re not close to northeastern Florida, why read an article on a small restaurant in a town far from where you live?  Many reasons, not including the inspiring prose: Opening your eyes to small, bistros near you.  Ideas to expand your at-home kitchen repertoires.  Reasons to visit Fernandina well beyond the culinary. So jump right in and let your imagination fly!  Well, maybe a glass of wine or two, first.

 

 

Fernandina Beach, the major city on Amelia Island, has a motto:  This Is My Happy Place.  Hard to disagree.  When warmer weather arrives, so do the tourists, and not just for the fine beaches, but also for the pre-COVID-19 extravaganzas, such as the Concours d’Elegance (May 2021), a fabulous and expansive showing of classic and exotic and unbelievably expensive cars, the nationally known Shrimp Festival, and the Christmas time Charles Dickens Festival. Then there are other lesser affairs, including what I call the wine-shop-around, when businesses on Centre Street are open late and wine flows freely, and art nights, when galleries stay open late.

Concours d'Elegance

 

There are bookstores and restaurants with views of the ocean, so I wasn’t totally surprised to find a breakfast nook on 3^rd street a few streets from the port.  What did surprise me was that the Garden Street Bistro (GSB) turned out to be a sans pareil breakfast treasure!

Yes, the GSB offers the usual eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes, if that’s your bent.  But, they also showcase breakfasts that are taste-changing events.

 

My companion and I decided to ignore the usual, to scramble up the tree of adventure and catch a tasty view from a high culinary limb.  For me, it was the grits bowl and for my chicken fancying partner, it was Florentine chicken breast with pan-fried potatoes and a small bowl of well seasoned and lightly sautéed Brussels sprouts.

When you enter the GSB, check your prejudgments about breakfast and flavor at the door.  The Florentine chicken was well cooked and juicy, smothered with white cheese, wilted fresh spinach, and sautéed fresh tomatoes.

 

Don’t let me hear you say you don’t like Brussels sprouts until you’ve tasted these.  And don’t even whisper, “This ain’t no breakfast,” you chicken biscuit breakfast fanatics!

 

Best to shy away from the ‘usual,’ and treat ‘monotony’ as a mental disorder, especially when the GSB is nearby and standing ready to broaden your taste buds’ horizons.

 

But, by now my three faithful readers are whining. “How ‘bout the damn grits bowl??? That’s what I call breakfast!”  Well, in the case of the grits bowl at the GSB, you’re right and wrong.  Their version is a bow to tradition, like wearing a swimming suit to the pool, but adding a top hat and tails.  These grits are lightly cheesy, but with savory sausage gravy pooled in the middle, and decked out with scrambled eggs, bits of cheese and crumbled bacon on top, served in a bowl that could feed two or three, even if they were ravenous.

Ok, I’ve given my trusty three the bare bones, but what matters most is the taste.  Rest assured that when it comes to book reviews and recipes and restaurants, I do not write about things I don’t like.  I write about things that touch my foolishly romantic and hungry heart.

 

The owner and chef, Max Gonzales, hits every note, with verve and clarity.  Our breakfast was so generously delicious it registered on the culinary Richter scale.  

 

The atmosphere at Garden Street Bistro is quietly calming and the service is superb.  Our waitress knew exactly how to carefully serve the dishes and how to be chatty and informative when describing the menu, and how to back off and let us eat with the serenity we enjoy, interrupting only briefly to refill our mugs of steaming coffee.

The Garden Street Bistro is not just for breakfast and we must return to try their burgers and pizzas.  Meanwhile, I encourage having a napkin handy while you drool over their web site!

 

Garden Street Bistro

 

See, didn’t I tell you about giving free rein to your imagination??? I do not often lie and then it’s for the best of reasons.  Well, also for self-protection.

 

 

Heavenly Sausage and Eggs Casserole

Heavenly Sausage and Eggs (another sensational low carb recipe)

No, you have not had sausage and eggs like this supremely delicious offering.  Not at Denny’s, not at McWhat’s it, not in Aunt Julie’s Emporium for Holistic Eating and Meditation, although, you will be thinking about this meal for a long time. 

The secret is an unusual ingredient, not in the same sense as pickled Madagascar squirrel, or Chinese wrinkled yeast, just something not normally found in culinary association with sausage and eggs.

This is a dish you’ll want to serve for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  At lunch and dinner, I like to add a cucumber salad.  And afterwards a medicinal brandy or two.

Heavenly Sausage and Eggs

Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)

Grease an 8 inch X 8 inch (20 cm X 20 cm) baking pan (glass or metal)

¾ Pound (300 g) loose sausage (I make my own. See below)

6 slices sandwich size Swiss cheese

1 Ball of fresh mozzarella di bufala cheese (about 1/3 pound, 125 g)

5 Eggs

1 Cup unsweetened coconut milk (not coconut juice or cream) Be sure to mix this well before using. Often the top of the can is thick and the bottom watery.

1 Green bell pepper, diced

1 Yellow bell pepper, diced

½ Red onion, diced

Salt and pepper

1 Level teaspoon dried marjoram

1 Level teaspoon dried Herbes de Provence

½ Teaspoon ground sage

Red pepper flakes

Ready to cook?

If you’re not using a commercial sausage:  Put ¾ pound ground pork, or beef, or a mixture in a bowl.  Add salt, pepper, and the dried herbs.  Toss in 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and mix well. Not trying to make this HOT, just enough red pepper to put a slight tingle on the tongue. 

For either commercial or homemade versions, add a little oil to a frying pan and fry the sausage, breaking it up with a spatula as much as possible. When it has lost it’s color and beginning to brown, take it off the heat and set it aside. You want the sausage cooked, but still juicy.

In another frying pan, add a tablespoon of oil and fry the onion and bell peppers, only until wilted.  Set aside. (All you’re trying to do is cook the onion and peppers a little bit and also remove much of the water.)

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and add the coconut milk. Toss in salt and pepper to taste, along with just a pinch or two of red pepper flakes.  Mix well.

Putting It All Together in Three Layers:

Put only enough of the egg mixture in the baking pan to cover the bottom.  Sprinkle in 1/3 of the cooked sausage and peppers/onion mix.  Add more of the egg mixture, then more sausage and peppers/onions.  Lay the Swiss cheese slices to cover.  Add the remaining egg mixture.  Put the last of the sausage and peppers/onions on top.

Rip up the ball of mozzarella and scattered it evenly over the top.

Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until the center is firm and the top is beginning to brown. Hint:  just give the pan a little shake and you'll know if the center is firm.

Let the dish rest about ten minutes before serving.

Serve with Pinot Grigio, you wild man!  Even at breakfast?  Damn straight!

Caffe Forum - Redux

When I’m in London, I prefer to stay in Kensington.  Why?  Lots of cool pubs.  Wonderful restaurants.  Both Gloucester Road and South Kensington Stations are close at hand.  My rule is:  gotta stay near a tube station on the Piccadilly Line.  Hugely convenient.

How so, you ask?  Oh, these pesky questions. Here are a few stations of the many that connect on the Piccadilly Line:  Covent Garden (best shopping in London, with historic pubs nearby).  Piccadilly Circus (The Heart of London, and the junction of Regent, Piccadilly, and Oxford Steets – talk about shopping!).  Leicester Square (pronounced Lester and the center of the theater district, with many pubs, China Town, and the National Portrait Gallery a couple of blocks away). Knightsbridge (Harrods close by, along with The Science Museum).  I could go on and on, but you’d never remember anyway because all you want to do in London is drink fabulous beer.  My tip of the day:  Do a cut and paste for your wives and significant others, then go raise a pint or two or three in every pub you run across while your W’s and S.O.’s are shopping.

But, all that’s for later.  Any good day in London begins with breakfast, and in the misty morning hours, when you’re staying in the Kensington area (which by the way includes the Royal Albert Hall and The Victoria and Albert Museum and Hyde Park and Kensington Palace), the very best place to start the day is the Caffe Forum. (More cut and paste)

Order a full English breakfast (of which I have previous written, you thankless cad!:  http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2012/04/full-english-breakfast-tradition.html), or do what I do and order a flat white (coffee).  What is that?  It’s what the French call café au lait, and the Italians call a cappuccino, but without all the fluff.  Any coffee at Caffe Forum comes with a complimentary croissant, and the pleasant ‘London-is-waking-up’ atmosphere.  Also free. Coffee time is bargain time, planning time, slowly rev-ing the engine time.

Yes, I have also written of the Caffe Forum before, but it’s such a special place that on lazy mornings, sipping a coffee, no matter where I am, I dream of sitting at a wooden table, the rattle of dishes in the background, the scurry of wait staff around me, the aromas of fresh eggs and bacon permeating every corner, the young professionals patiently standing in line adjusting their ties or their skirts, the rush of cool air every time the front door swings open, the idle conversations in a dozen languages, as husbands and wives cheer each other and calm their recalcitrant children, and the elderly sit peacefully alone, reading their newspapers, with everything accompanied by the clamor and swirl of traffic on Gloucester Road.

Caffe Forum is a very personal London in a nutshell.  You really must go there.  Remember:  FIVE pubs nearby.