eggs

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Okay, so this is going to be my first guest blog and hopefully not the last. Since today was Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be nice to help out Lindz and put a special bonus episode on the site.

First off, I’m really lazy, and I like to be able to throw food together about a quickly as I can eat it. The fact that Lindzee makes delicious and healthy food has been a godsend for a guy that ate Bacon Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburgers and dollar tacos like they was going out of style. While I am no chef, there are some things that I can make that I am proud of. With a name like Javier Barrera, you can guess that it most likely involves a shell of some sort, or end with -urrito. Also, breakfast is my most favorite genre of meal since it generally involves either bacon or sausage. Having said all of this, you can only imagine that I’m going to combine the two to make the most perfect meal for my most perfect girl.

Continuing forward, this is what you’re going to need to make some delicious Sunday hangover – er, Valentine’s Day breakfast burritos. Since I’m a hungry man, I’m going to give you a recipe to make 4 breakfast delights, enough to serve an equal number of people.

  • 1 lb of turkey sausage
  • 1 lb potatoes o’Brien, frozen
  • 5 eggs
  • ¼ cup milk
  • 2 tbl olive oil
  • 4 large tortillas, I recommend jalapeno cheddar flavor if you can find them.
  • 8 oz graded cheddar jack
  • 1 handful of fresh cilantro
  • 2 avocados
  • 1 dash Cholula brand hot sauce

First off, let’s start cooking the turkey sausage in a large saute pan. Turn the burner to medium high, and squeeze the delicious ball of health into the pan. When it first hits, its going to look much like the container that it was in. Using a spatula, break up the sausage so that it can cook evenly. Cook the sausage for about 10 minutes so that its pretty well cooked, but not fully.

There will be a little bit of juice from the water in the sausage, and a bit of fat. Go ahead and drain that into an empty beer can or whatever you use for that sort of thing.

Put the olive oil into the pan with the sausage, and swirl the pan so that the oil completely covers the bottom. Turn the heat down to medium, and throw the potatoes o’brian in with the sausage. Put a lid partially on the pan so that the water can escape from the frozen potatoes as it cooks. We’ll let this cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally so that we can finish cooking the sausage and brown the potatoes evenly.

While the bulk of our food is cooking, let’s crack our eggs into a large bowl. Put a couple of dashes of Cholula hot sauce into everything. Pour the milk into the bowl and beat the eggs mercilessly with two forks. When you’re done, you should have creamy mixture. If you don’t see bubbles, then you didn’t do it hard enough.

I also take this time to layout my burrito shells and put the cheese on them. As long as my counter is clean, I just do it on there for simplicity sake. Put about two oz of the shredded cheddar jack on each of the shells. We’re also going to need to turn on our oven to 350 degrees at this time. Baking everything for about 8 minutes will allow for the cheese to melt fully, and give the outside a nice texture.

Check your sausage and potato mixture. When it looks like its safe to eat, let’s go ahead and turn the heat down to medium low and pour our eggs in. I was kinda experimenting and put some cilantro in with the eggs, however, I quickly realized that it was probably not going to release the flavor properly. I would just recommend that you enjoy the photo with my mistake, and just put the cilantro in after we’re done cooking this mixture.

Once everything has been cooked – which should be about 6 – 8 minutes or so, let’s evenly scoop everything into the 4 shells. It should be about two ladles full in each one. Let’s now take our cilantro and put a couple of pinches in each one. Slice up your avocados, and place a few slices evenly into each one.

Now, this is going to be the hardest part for most people, and is what makes burritos a true art form. The roll is crucial for a number of reasons. First off, its great to have a well rolled burrito when you’re driving in your car and trying to eat at the same time. Keeping the food in the shell allows you to get to work without looking like you require a bib – which may in turn lead to that promotion that lets you finally sell that 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the paint peeling off. Furthermore, a perfect roll is great because it gives your street cred with other Mexicans such as myself, and its nice to have that when its 2am and you’re the last person in line at the taco stand. Rant, off…

Okay, so take the sides of the shell that are perpendicular to the breakfast stuffing. Fold in, keeping your pointer and bird fingers on the top. Take your thumbs, and begin to roll the part of the shell closest to you forward.

Keep your two fingers on the side while you do this as it helps keep the shell nice and tight. Once you have the sides covered with the back, take your four fingers and repeat. Once everything has been rolled you can use your hands and pat it down and help the contents settle. Place this on a baking pan, and repeat for the other burritos.

Let’s go ahead an put them in the oven, and let them bake for about 8 minutes.

Enjoy this time with the fact that you only have one dirty pan, a spatula, two bowls, and a couple of forks. Once your food is done, grab a cup of coffee, turn on your DVR recording of COPS – Women Behaving Badly, and enjoy your morning.

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 Last night, Javi and I had two of my favorite peeps over for dinner.

 

Dave   -  I used to work with Dave at SMG .  He is one of the most hilarious, creative  people I have ever met.   He likes to write and sing songs about man boobs.

Neva -  Neva is Dave’s pretty girlfriend.  She is an amazing person who always seems genuinely interested in what you have to say.  I love people like that. 

Dave lived in Korea and has been raving nonstop about a Korean dish called Bibimbap (Korean pronunciation: [pibimpap]).  The word literally means “mixed rice.” Being that we live in Boise, ID, there are not too many Korean restaurants and Dave insisted that it is the best hangover food ever.  Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong about the Korean restaurants in Boise. 

Dave sold me a camera lens and I was a jerk and didn’t write the check for enough $.  He told me not to rewrite the check, but I would need to repay him with Bibimbap.  I agreed to take on the challenge. 

This is the description of Bibimbap from Wikipedia: “Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.[2] It can be served either cold or hot. 

After a little bit of research, I decided on a recipe from a Bobby Flay episode. The recipe was written by his friend Jenn Lee.  Which you can find here.

The reviews looked good and the recipe seemed simple enough.  The one ingredient not commonly found at the grocery store is Gochuchang.  This is a spicy paste made from red peppers and bunch of other ingredients.  Don’t even try to make Bibimbap without this.  It is essential and amazing!  Who is that dashing young man holding the Gochuchang?

Neva was able to find the Gochuchang at the Orient Market on Emerald St. in Boise.  She looked up a picture of it on the internet first because she was too embarrassed to ask for it at the market.  I thought that was cute.  She also picked up another Korean condiment – Black Bean Paste.  I thought this stuff was kind of weird tasting. 

So anyways, I started out the night before by marinating the steak cut into thin strips.  I used flank steak instead of ribeye.  Everyone felt the steak was the best part.  The marinade was incredibly good and in the future I will use it to marinade everyday steak.  The best part is that it uses 7-up!


Then about an hour before we wanted to eat, I put the rice in the rice cooker

I grilled the meat about 7-8 minutes on low. 

Then sautéed the spinach, carrots and Shiitake mushrooms in some sesame oil and salt. 

Then I fried some eggs (over easy) and made the Gochuchang paste.  When mixed up, the yolk from the eggs coats the other ingredients and makes it soooooooo good!!

Here is the finished bowl all stacked up. 

 I left the Gochuchang paste on the side for people to add their own since it is super spicy.  We had a large mixing bowl at the table where everyone mixed up their own dish and preferred level of Gochuchang. 

I would HIGHLY recommend this recipe.  It was really simple with great flavor.  Dave even said it tasted authentic!  I blushed.

I also made some Oi Moochim (seasoned marinated cucumbers) from the same episode.  You can find the recipe here.   Equally as good! 

Dave brought PLENTY of Miller Lite tall boys to accompany the meal.  Not to mention the 3 bottles of wine we drank.  It was a night filled with lively conversation and debauchery.

Thanks Dave for introducing me to some fabulous cuisine!  I will definitely be making this often.

Love,

Lindzee

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Last Saturday, the University of Idaho Vandals played the Boise State Broncos. The outcome of the game is quite trivial :) , but I did want to tell you a bit about our tailgate/champagne breakfast. We started out at 10:00am at my friend Michelle’s new beautiful home. Here is a picture of her celebrating her new home purchase:

We had some wonderful mimosas provided by Michelle and only a few bottles of champagne ended up on her new floor. Oops. Since Michelle provided the drinks, I said I would bring breakfast. I figured we would need something substantial for all the adult beverages we were about to consume. Never forget: a hearty breakfast is a morning drinker’s best friend.

I decided on my White Cheddar Chicken Apple Sausage Quiche since it is easy to make and great for a hungry crowd. Everyone seemed to like the quiche, except I felt really bad because Katie didn’t get any (the only meat she eats is sausage. Strange, but true.). She was late because of a work thang. I hope she will find it in her heart to forgive me.   This is me crying while chopping the onions and feeling really bad:

Anyways, the secret to this quiche is using really sharp white cheddar because it pairs nicely with the sweetness of the apple sausage. When I used to live near a Trader Joes I would buy their Irish Cheddar, but I have since switched to Tillamook and it is just as good. I love how it has little crunchy texture bits with the super strong flavor.


Also, I highly recommend (advice I never remember to take) putting your quiche on a cookie sheet in the oven because mine always overflow and result in smoking burnt egg at the bottom of the oven and then set the smoke alarm off which then sends the dog into a minor panic. This should be avoided if possible:

White Cheddar Chicken Apple Sausage Quiche

 Makes two quiches which serves 10-12 hungry people

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
4 large links of apple chicken sausage chopped (I use Isernio brand)
1 clove garlic chopped
½ cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained, julienne cut (optional)
2 cups fresh spinach
4 tablespoons of fresh Basil chopped or any other herbs you have on hand
6 eggs
3 cups half and half
½ teaspoon nutmeg salt and pepper to taste
2 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crusts (I hope you didn’t think I would make my own.  I am unsuccessful after MANY attempts.)
1 small block of shredded Extra Sharp Tillamook White Cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion, sausage together until onions are translucent (5-7 minutes). Add garlic and tomatoes then sauté 1 minute more. Then add herbs and spinach then saute 1 minute more.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Add Nutmeg, salt and pepper.

4.  Spread 1 cup shredded cheese in the bottom of each pie crust. Layer half the sausage mixture in each quiche over cheese. Cover with half of egg mixture in each quiche. (you might have some leftover before it overflows) sprinkle top with remaining  shredded cheese.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Or until filling is firm and golden brown.

With all the excitement, I forgot to take a final pic, so I have included a bad uncooked one.

Love, Lindzee

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