Breakfast From a Friend

Do you know what the best breakfast is? The one you don't cook yourself. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal to go out for. I don't know if that's because it's actually pretty difficult to wreck breakfast foods or what, but I love going out to breakfast. Almost as good as going out for breakfast is having it brought to you. We have some close friends that we get together with once a week every week. These are the friends that introduced us to Indian food- bless their souls! Once this year we did a breakfast night, and this Cheesy Leek Casserole was what my friend brought. Oh my gosh, eggs and buttery leeks truly belong together, we all had a difficult time backing away from the casserole dish once we were finished eating. I suspect this would reheat rather nicely in the microwave as well.

Cheesy Leek Casserole
3 leeks
1/2 medium onion
2 green onions
2 Cups milk
8 large eggs
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning
6 to 8 slices French bread -- cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese

Saute the leeks, onion, and green onions in 2 tsp of olive oil over medium high heat.

In a large bowl combine milk, eggs, mustard powder and Fox Point. Whisk together well. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Add sauteed vegetables to the eggs, along with the cubed bread and shredded cheese. Add enough bread cubes to soak up most of the eggs. It should be “juicy”, but not soupy. Spread the egg mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350° for approx. 1 hour.

This next recipe is one that my friend shared when I had an abundance of eggs and I was looking for something to do with them. I'd never heard of Eggs Goldenrod, but I threw it together, and I daresay, it came in a close second to me to biscuits and gravy, it's really very good.

Eggs Goldenrod
6 hard-boiled eggs
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 slices bread toasted

I. Melt butter, add flour and stir until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Add milk very slowly stirring as you add Continue to stir and cook over a low heat. Cook until the mixture starts to thicken.
2. Add salt and pepper to mixture and set aside.
3. Peel boiled (or steamed, which works even better) eggs and chop. Add them to the white sauce.
4. Toast bread and slice it diagonally.
5. Arrange the bread slices on a plate and pour the sauce over the toast.
6. Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika (the sweet Hungarian kind not the hot Spanish, unless you like that).

Then there's this last recipe, which is proof that great minds do think alike. I made something similar to this last week for dinner one night. Everyone loved it, and I even wrote about it for Kids Cuisine, it was that good. Our variation had apples and brown sugar in it as well, but this Dutch/German Oven Puff Pancake is all that AND a bag of chips. In fact, I have a vague memory of going out to breakfast with my family when I was young, and my Mom ordering something similar at a restaurant and it coming out all huge and puffy and completely filled with a luscious fruit salad. I wonder if that's an accurate memory...

This puff pancake is one of our favorites! We serve it with maple syrup but, fruit on top is always a nice touch!

Dutch/German Oven Puff Pancake
6 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Beat eggs until well aerated Add milk and beat again Add salt and flour and beat on low, just until blended.
3. Meanwhile, put butter into a 9 x 13 baking dish, or two round cake pans, or two large cast iron skillets and place in the preheated oven to melt the butter and heat the pan(s). Tip pans to spread butter evenly.
4. Pour batter into the warm pan(s) and place In the oven Bake for 15 minutes.

I have just one more recipe for you this morning. It's kind of a bonus from my friend. She made this absolutely decadent Cinnamon Cream Syrup to accompany my Overnight French Toast one week. This syrup is amazing, and much easier to put together than you would think.

Cinnamon Cream Syrup
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon -- (1/2 to 3/4)
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Combine the first four ingredients and bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Cook and stir for 1 minute. Cool for 5 minutes and stir in the evaporated milk.

The syrup keeps well in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for weeks. To reheat, warm slowly or it will overcook and become stringy.