I was initially planning on making waffles rancheros for breakfast this morning (which is basically huevos rancheros but with cornmeal waffles replacing the tortillas). But I ended up using up most of my fresh tomatoes to make the soup last night. So I decided to swap around the breakfast menu and make the shakshuka first and aim to have the waffles later this week.

I didn't have the requisite bell pepper for the shakshuka, but I had everything else, so I just omitted the pepper and rolled with it.

Shakshuka with Feta and Farro

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp. cumin, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. bebere
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 large (~800mL) can diced tomatoes
• 125g feta, chopped
• 6 large eggs
• 3 c. cooked farro
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
3. Add onion and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add bell pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add cumin, salt, pepper, bebere, paprika, and chile flakes and cook for another minute or two.
6. Add the tomatoes and cook until heated through (3-5 minutes).
7. Stir in feta.
8. Make wells in the sauce and break an egg into each well.
9. Transfer pan to oven and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.
10. If whites are not fully set, turn broiler to high and broil for 1-2 minutes.
11. Divide farro among 6 bowls and top each with an egg and ~1/6 of the sauce.
12. Season to taste with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.

These were meant to be made with black sesame seeds -- which I could've sworn we had -- but I couldn't find them anywhere in the pantry, so I ended up rolling with toasted white sesame seeds instead. They were still nice that way, but it definitely didn't have the same visual effect as black sesame would have.

Steamed Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 450g sugar snap peas, trimmed
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. black sesame seeds
• salt (optional)

Directions

1. Set up a steamer and steam the peas for 3 minutes.
2. Transfer peas to serving dish.
3. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4. Add a little salt (if desired).
5. Serve hot or room temperature.

Our dinner plans got a little mixed up for tonight, so I ended up scrambling to come up with alternative ideas.

I remembered that we had a bag of perogies in the freezer, but the sauerkraut that we normally would've had with them had gone off!

Bex ended up frying up some onions and Beyond Meat with a little baby spinach and we had that with our perogies. However, dinner still felt a little lacking in vegetables. So I made up this soup to supplement the meal.

Chickpea and Roasted Tomato Soup

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 500g tomatoes, halved
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. Kashmiri garam masala¹
• 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. hot paprika
• 4-5 c. cooked chickpeas
• 4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 Tbsp. sour cream²
• 4 sprigs fried rosemary³

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Place the tomatoes cut-side-up on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil.
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium heat.
5. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the garam masala and both paprikas and cook for another minute or so.
7. Add the chickpeas and stock.
8. Once the tomatoes are done, add them to the pot as well.
9. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes.
10. Mash or purée about half the soup, stir in the sour cream, amd garnish with the fried rosemary.
11. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1 tsp. of ground cumin, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1/2 tsp. of sweet paprika. I decided to replace those seasonings with the ones listed above. ^Back
2 We were all out of sour cream, so I was going to use a bit of whipping cream instead. Turns out we were all out of that too, so I just made do without any dairy. I think the extra richness would've been nice, but it was still fine without it. ^Back
3 If you have fresh rosemary on hand, then heat up some oil and either deep or shallow fry it for ~1 minute per side over medium-high heat. I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I just took some whole leaves that I'd dried myself and added them to the pan along with the onion and garlic. This seemed to work well and provided a nice hit of rosemary flavour in the final dish. ^Back

I think this is possibly only the second time in my life that I've made hollandaise sauce. I vaguely recall making it once before. It's been ages though and I remembered basically none of the procedure. That said, it's not all that complicated. The main this is just making sure that you don't overcook/curdle the egg yolks. The method employed in the Breakfast Bible of drizzling hot butter into a running blender seems to work well for this. The sauce came out smooth and buttery with a minimum of fuss.

It is, of course, quite tricky to reheat. But that's true of a lot of egg- and/or dairy-based sauces in my experience.

Hollandaise Sauce

From the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 c. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Combine the egg yolks, salt, and lemon juice in a blender.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat.
3. With the blender running, slowly drizzle the hot butter into the egg yolk mixutre. Sauce should form a smooth, thick emulsion.
4. Pour sauce into a small pot, cover, and keep warm over very, very low heat, stirring occasionally, until ready to use.

The Breakfast Bible contains a recipe for "eggs Blackstone", a variant of eggs Benedict. While the traditional eggs Benedict recipe offers the familiar combination of Hollandaise-smothered poached eggs atop back bacon (or ham) on toasted English muffin halves, eggs Blackstone replaces the English muffin with bread, the back bacon with side/streaky bacon, and adds tomatoes to the mix. It sounds delicious!

I didn't have the ingredients for either of these variations yesterday, however. But I did have both English muffins and eggs. (So many eggs!) And I knew that there was some baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up. So I opted for another common variation on eggs Benedict: eggs Florentine.

In this rendition, the meat is replaced with fresh baby spinach. I've also seen versions that sandwich a generous portion of lightly steamed spinach between the eggs and English muffin. And some preparations even have you mix chopped cooked spinach into the Hollandaise sauce! Any of these will work, but my plan was to follow the recipe in front of me and just pile a bit of fresh baby spinach onto the English muffins before adding the eggs.

I say "plan" because that's not actually what ended up happening. It turns out that TF had also had similar thoughts about the spinach needing to be used up and added it to the lentil stew she'd made the previous day. So, I had everything else all ready to go only to realize that I did not, in fact, have any fresh spinach available! Luckily we had some chopped beet greens in the freezer, so I just thawed those out and used them instead. It actually worked quite well! A bit non-traditional perhaps, but good nonetheless.

Eggs Florentine

Slightly adapted from the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 4 English muffins, split and toasted
• ~2 c. (55g) fresh baby spinach (or greens of choice prepared as desired)
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Prepare your Hollandaise sauce and keep it warm over very, very low heat, stirring occasionally as you prepare the other components.
2. Toast the English muffin halves. You may butter them if you wish, but I find the Hollandaise makes the final dish buttery enough without the need to add more to the muffins.
3. Place ~1/8 of the greens on top of each muffin half.
4. Poach your eggs¹ and place one on top of each muffin half.
5. Top each egg with 2-3 Tbsp. of Hollandaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

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Variants

Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 4 English muffins, split and toasted
• 8 slices back bacon, cooked
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Eggs Blackstone

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, sliced thick
• 1-2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 8 slices wholegrain bread, toasted
• 8 slices thick-cut smoked bacon, cooked
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Arrange the tomatoes on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme.
3. Roast the tomatoes at 200°C (400°F) for 25-30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the Hollandaise sauce and keep it warm while you prepare everything else.
5. Toast the bread and butter it if you'd like. (Although, as with the eggs Florentine, I don't feel that butter is really necessary.)
6. Cook the bacon and poach the eggs.
7. Top each slice of toast with some of the tomato, a slice of bacon, and an egg.
8. Spoon 2-3 Tbsp. of Hollandaise over each egg.
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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¹ I recommend 3-4 minutes for soft poached or 5-6 for medium/jammy yolks. Use the freshest eggs possible as the whites of old eggs will tend to feather and spread in the water much more than fresh. Adding a bit of vinegar or other acid to the water can also help reduce feathering. I had a bit of excess lemon juice left over from making the Hollandaise, so I just used that. ^Back

I picked up some prosciutto on a whim the other day. It was on sale and I figured someone would find a use for it.

As it turns out, I was a bit underprepared for breakfast the next day, so the prosciutto ended up coming in handy almost immediately. As usual, we had a huge surplus of eggs, so this worked out quite well!

Baked Eggs with Prosciutto and Spinach

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 100g prosciutto, chopped
• 680g chopped frozen spinach, thawed
• 3/4 c. + 6-8 tsp. heavy (35%) cream, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• ground nutmeg
• 6-8 large eggs¹
• 6-8 tsp. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and butter 6-8 ramekins (depending on how many eggs you'd like to prepare).
2. Heat the oilve oil over medium heat.
3. Add the prosciutto and cook, stirring occasionally, until the fat softens (2-3 minutes).
4. Add the spinach and 3/4 c. of the cream, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring often, until thickened (5-6 minutes).
5. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
6. Divide the spinach mixture evenly among the ramekins and crack an egg into each one.
7. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top each with 1 tsp. of cream.
8. Place on rimmed baking sheet and bake at 180°C (350°F) until whites are set, but yolks are still soft (~15 minutes).
9. Remove from oven and top each egg with 1 tsp. of Parmesan.

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¹ The original recipe only called for four eggs, but they must've been using absolutely massive ramekins! I wouldn't even have been able to fit all the spinach into four ramekins/custard cups, let alone add an egg on top! I actually ended up doing 7 eggs for my rendition, but I think I could have squeezed everything into six ramekins and just gone with a slightly higher spinach:egg ratio. I also think it would've been fine to nudge the spinach per egg down a bit and do eight eggs. So, go for whichever approach best suits your needs. ^Back

Lemon-Ginger Pavlova with Strawberries and Sour Cream

It wouldn't have occured to me to mix sour cream into my lemon curd if the recipe hadn't called for it. I've seen recipes for lemon mousseline that have you fold whipped cream into lemon curd. So, I guess this isn't that different from a sweet mousseline. It just never really occurred to me to use sour cream instead. Honestly, I barely remember that mousseline is a thing most of the time!

All that being said... the sour cream, lemon, ginger, and strawberry combo worked really well! I think it would've been even nicer if I'd been able to get my hands on some of the tiny, intensely-flavoured alpine strawberries that were recommended by the recipe authors, but the regular grocery store strawberries were just fine (if somewhat less punchy).

I'm still kind of torn as to whether I preferred this pav or the apricot one. TF preferred this one. Reiver preferred the apricot one. I was expecting to like this one better, and it was very good, but I think the apricots may have come out slightly ahead for me. That said, it was a near enough thing that I think which one I like best really just comes down to how I'm feeling on the day. They are both excellent and I wouldn't turn either one down!

Lemon-Ginger Pavolva with Strawberries and Sour Cream

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• 200g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Lemon-Ginger Curd

• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 140g sugar
• 80g unsalted butter
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tsp. ground ginger

Assembly

• 250mL sour cream
• 450g fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 6-8 slices candied ginger, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Combine egg whites and vinegar and whisk on increasing speeds until foamy.
3. Continue increasing speed gradually to high while adding the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form.
5. Sprinkle over the cornstarch and mix in. Do not overmix!
6. Scoop the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet and shape as desired.
7. Place in oven, immediately reduce heat to 120°C (250°F), and bake for 1 hour.
8. Turn oven off and leave pavlova in warm oven to cool for at least two hours or as long as overnight.
9. Meanwhile, combine the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar over low heat.
10. Cook, whisking constantly, for 8-10 minutes.
11. Mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and ginger.
12. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to whisk and cook over low heat.
13. Once thickened, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
14. Once cooled, stir the sour cream into the lemon curd.
15. Transfer the pavolva to a serving platter and spoon on the lemon curd mixture.
16. Top with the strawberries and candied ginger and serve.

We've had a friend from New Zealand visiting us for the past couple of weeks. I wanted to make a pavlova for him while he was here since I never acutally got a chance to try one while I was over there. And, because I'm me, I wanted to try a new flavour combination that I hadn't done before.

I actually ended up making two differen pavlovas in the end. This dried apricot one and a somewhat simpler ginger-lemon curd one. They were both excellent and I keep going back and forth on which one I liked best.

This one was definitely the richer of the two. While the lemon curd in the first recipe used a mix of whole eggs and egg yolks with just a bit of butter, this one uses all egg yolks and the maximum possible amout of butter that they will allow you to emulsify before the whole thing breaks. It's also meant to include a sizeable quantity of both thickened cream and crème fra&icric;che, but I decided to swap those out for some plain Greek yogurt.

I think that the yogurt worked quite well! It still gave it a nice tartness and creaminess without quite as much chance of causing a major coronary event.

Dried Apricot Pavlova

Slightly adapted from Delicious.com.au

Ingredients

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. lemon juice (or 1 Tbsp. verjuice)
• 200g sugar
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Curd

• 8 large egg yolks
• 140g sugar
• 180g unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Other Toppings

• 225g dried apricots, divided
• 200mL verjuice, divided
• 1/2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 sprig rosemary¹
• ~1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

Meringue

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
2. Whisk egg whites with lemon juice at gradually increasing speed until foamy.
3. Add the sugar, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to whisk at high speed until all sugar has been used.
4. Add the cornstarch and continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Do not overmix.
5. Scoop the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet and shape into a large cyinder or dome.²
6. Place the meringue in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 120°C (250°F), and bake for 1 hour.
7. Turn oven off and leave meringue in warm oven to cool for at least 2 hours or as long as overnight.

Apricot Purée

1. Combine 100g of apricots and 100mL of the verjuice and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
2. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat, cover, and set aside to steep for 10-15 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender or food processor to purée until smooth.

Apricot Curd

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for 15-20 minutes.
2. Begin adding butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to cook over low heat and whisk constantly.
3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and apricot purée.

Poached Apricots

1. Combine remaining 125g apricots with remaining 100mL verjuice and 1/3 c. of water.
2. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
3. With a slotted spoon or spider, transfer apricots to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add honey and rosemary to the liquid left in the pot and bring to a boil.
5. Boil for 4-5 minutes, then remove from heat and pour over the apricots.

Assembly

1. Once everything is cool, top the pavolva with the Greek yogurt followed by the apricot curd. (Or do it the other way round and put the curd on first if you prefer.)
2. Add the poached apricots on top and then drizzle with the syrup.
3. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I just used a generous pinch of some that I'd dried myself the last time I did have fresh rosemary. ^Back
2 I recently learned that pavlovas are not actually supposed to have a hollow in the centre to hold all the toppings. They sometimes end up that way because they're slighly underbaked or because they can't support the weight of the toppings that have been added, but they are not (typically) actually meant to be like that. This was news to me as I've been deliberately making bowl-shaped pavs for years now! I guess maybe next time I can give the traditional shape a try. (Although TF is somewhat dubious about the traditional shape and its ability to hold all the tasty toppings.) ^Back

A nice quick side dish from Vegetable of the Day, this was a hit with everyone. We made a half batch due to not having enough sprouts for a full one, but this recipe is for the full quantity.

Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Olive Oil and Lemon

Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan (p.32)

Ingredients

• 500g brussels sprouts, trimmed and quartered lengthwise
• 1½ tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat oil medium-high heat in a large skillet.
2. Add sprouts, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until sprouts are tender and browned, ~7-8 minutes; reduce heat if needed to avoid burning.
3. Stir in lemon juice and cook for 1 minute. Serve.

I don't usually bother writing up Hello Fresh recipes anymore, since so many of them are variations on stuff we've already cooked, but this one was a huge hit, including with our New Zealish guest.

Blueberry Chicken Salad

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 56g sliced almonds
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp whole grain mustard
• 4 tbsp blueberry jam
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 4 large chicken breasts
• 227g spring mix
• 2 gala apples, cut into 1cm cubes

Directions

1. Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, jam, mustard, and 1 tbsp water. Add salt and pepper to taste and buffer.
2. Heat a large pan over medium-low heat. Add almonds, sugar, 1 tbsp water, and a pinch of salt.
3. Cook, stirring often, until almonds are lightly browned and coated with sugar, 3-4 minutes. Remove and buffer on a plate.
4. Increase heat to medium. Add 1 tbsp oil and chicken. Season with pepper and garlic salt.
5. Cook until golden brown on both sides and cooked through (165°F). Remove from heat.
6. Toss spring mix and apples with half the dressing.
7. Thinly slice chicken. Serve salad topped with chicken, almonds, and remaining dressing.

After making a large batch of stew, we needed more vegetables to go with the leftovers. Symbol located this in Vegetable of the Day and it was delicious! Prep was a bit tedious simply because we had a huge number of tiny carrots, so peeling them took forever, but I think it would go a lot faster with regular-sized carrots, and there's no arguing with the results - everyone loved them.

Photo goes here.

Honey-Ginger Roasted Carrots

From Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 66)

Ingredients

• 500g carrots or "baby carrots"
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp finely chopped candied ginger
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh mint
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Peel the carrots and cut them into ~5cm lengths. Halve or quarter the thicker segments to produce a roughly uniform carrot size. If using pre-peeled "baby carrots", you can ues them as-is.
2. Melt the butter in a large bowl.
3. Whisk in the honey, ginger, salt and pepper, and mint.
4. Add the carrots and toss until well coated.
5. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and cook at 400°F until fork-tender, 40-45 minutes.
6. Stir in lemon juice, optionally garnish with additional mint, and serve.