Vegaquiles

In a follow up to my post on the difference between migas and chilaquiles, I offer another option: vegaquiles!  Or, I guess you could say vigas...

I try to follow a vegan diet at home, but I say try because it isn't an absolute sort of thing.  Rather, a way to eat more veggies and less animal products.  I'm not changing the name of this blog to 'Vegan at Home' or anything.  It's still about delicious eats, but as I think a lot of people can tell you, the ideas of 'vegan' and 'delicious' are not in contradiction.  Take for instance this recipe for vegaquiles...

Idea: Vegaquiles
The basis of this recipe is the wonderful recipe for tofu scramble provided by Post Punk Kitchen and published in Vegan Brunch, one of my favorite cookbooks for a variety of reasons.  I made a few subtle changes to the recipe to make it more appropriate for the vegaquiles.

1. Omit the thyme and use oregano or Mexican oregano.
2. Add 1 tsp. each of onion powder and garlic powder to the spice mix.
3. Use 4-5 tbsp. of vegetable broth in place of the water.  You want a little more liquid for for the vegaquiles to come together.
4. Move the scramble to a plate while you fry up the chips; use a new skillet or clean out the scramble skillet well.  If you don't, you'll end up with a bunch of burned spices coating your chips.
5. Otherwise, proceed with the directions in difference using stale tortilla chips, pico and your favorite salsa.  Lucky me, I had leftovers from Rosa's again!  How did that happen?

I topped mine with red and green salsa (Christmas style!) and a mix of Daiya cheeses.  Delicious way to start a Sunday morning...

Recipe: Fresh Blueberry Cinnamon Coffee Cake

One of my favorite things to bake in the fall is a Fresh Apple Coffee Cake. It's light and delicious, with the combination of cinnamon and apples hitting the perfect note during autumn weather. While sour cream and coffee cake is probably more orthodox, the cream cheese in this batter is what makes the texture and flavor of the cake so delectable. But what for summer? I wanted to remake the recipe to take advantage of the wonderful summer fruits now in season, so I chose blueberries. I think you'll find its the perfect thing to take to a friend's house for brunch or for Monday at the office when everyone needs a little pick-me-up.

Recipe: Fresh Blueberry Cinnamon Coffee Cake

1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. cream cheese (low-fat is okay, but i wouldn't use fat free), softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose or cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups blueberries

Combine 1/4 cup sugar with cinnamon. Rinse the blueberries and pat them dry but not all the way: add 2 tbsp. of the sugar/cinnamon mixture and toss to coat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a big yellow bowl, beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, vanilla and cream cheese together at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture to butter/cream cheese mixture, beating at low speed until well blended. Fold in blueberries gently by hand, until distributed throughout the batter.

Spread into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly dry. It's a little difficult to use the toothpick test, since the the blueberries can make little wet spots. Cool in the pan, then remove sides and transfer to a serving platter. I love my springform pan with the serving platter built in--I highly recommend it.

Bistro 212

This morning, it was Sunday brunch at Bistro 212, where even the Bears in skirts can be seen in their natural environment, throwing back the omelets and mimosas. I split breakfast with Mitchell, and we were served a plate of breakfast chilaquiles large enough to feed a small village. We also sampled the Brick French toast, two slices of bread stuffed with cream cheese and fried together. So large, it put Texas toast to shame. Both were yummy and the salsa on the eggs just warm enough to flare, but not hot enough to burn.

Recipe: Eggs Francisco

Last time I was in Austin, I had a breakfast at Kerby Lane. Since I had been mainlining breakfast tacos for about four days at that point, I decided to try something different and landed at Eggs Francisco. Hmmm? I had never noticed it before, perhaps distracted by migas and pumpkin pancakes. But, this was a total breakfast revelation and so I decided to prepare it for New Year's Day brunch along with the blintz casserole. Both absolute hits.

Recipe: Eggs Francisco
This isn't so much a recipe as it is direction:

• Toast English muffins
• Top with eggs scrambled your favorite way*
• Layer avocado and sliced tomato on the eggs
• Smother the entire thing with your best queso

Really? Simple, delicious.....sublime. The original at Kirbey had slices of bacon on it, so if you are omnivorous or want to use facon, by all means be my guest.

Mangez!

*I could go on a 15-minute diatribe on how to make the best, creamiest scrambled eggs, but I won't. Maybe later. Main tip: no matter what your mom, aunt Bessie or granny says, do not put milk, cream or water in your eggs. That's just economical cooking attempting to make eggs go farther. The best scrambled eggs are simply that: eggs that are scrambled.

Blintzes

The new cookbook from Ina Garten (Translates literally as 'in a garden.') a.k.a the Barefoot Contessa (And where is this Barefoot? Italy? Everyone knows those Italian titles aren't real, so quit curtsying every time she comes on the television!), Back to Basics: Get Great Flavors from Simple Ingredients, is filled with lots of wonderful and simple ideas from entertaining. She has some very authoritative lists about ways to set the table or desserts that can be purchased, and I respect that a lot. Very 1950s of her. Of course, the best sounding recipe was one for brunch: a simplified casserole using the language and flavor of a labor-intensive blintz. My mother (aka Miss Barbara) prepared a wonderful spread for Christmas brunch, including this recipe, cinnamon rolls, breakfast pizzas and fruit. I thought the blintz casserole was quite delicious, although I might attempt a slightly smaller ratio of cheese to crust. Amazing and delicious!

Recipe: Baked Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce*

For the batter:
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tbsp sour cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder

For the filling:
2 cups ricotta cheese
8 oz mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
1/2 cup Egg Beaters or other egg white product
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Preheat the over to 350 degrees and butter a 9x13 baking dish.

For the batter, place all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour half the batter (about 1 3/4 cups) into the prepared baking dish and bake for 10 minutes, until set.

In the meantime, whisk together the filling, mascarpone, eggs and sugar in a big yellow bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt, mixing thoroughly. Spread the cheese mixture over the baked pancake, then spoon the remaining batter over the cheese mixture to cover.

Bake for 35-40 minutes more, until the top is golden brown. Let cool for 10-15 minutes, cut into squares and top with blueberry sauce.

Serves 8-10.

Recipe: Blueberry Sauce
3/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 half-pints blueberries
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the juice, sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the mixture has begun to thicken, add the blueberries and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, just as a few of the berries are beginning to burst. Stir in a lemon zest and juice and allow to cool.

*I've altered the recipe from the original source and posting. Mom made this for brunch, and while delicious, it was very rich. I felt like the ratio of cheese filling to crust should be less and the reduction of ricotta, plus use of an egg substitute, make for a better breakfast/brunch. treat. (1.4.09)

Weekends of Eating Well

I had some fun dining adventures the past two weekends:

Weekend before last, I went to the Terre Haute farmer's market for the first time which was a nice surprise. There were quite a few purveyors selling tomatoes, squash, eggs and about everything you could expect this time of year. I bought tomatoes and squash, tossed them with pasta and the next day with fresh mozzarella. I was also glad to see a stand for a Terre Haute food co-op, which my pal Annie in Arcola had mentioned to me in an email. I signed up for their mailing list and hope to get involved this fall as they put things in motion.

Mom and Dad visited from Tulsa this past weekend, so we saw all the sights in the city that we could manage. Saturday morning we had breakfast at the Clabber Girl Bakeshop. Clabber Girl Baking Powder is produced in Terre Haute (Do you have some in your cupboard?) and was the signature product of the Hulman & Company Empire. They still own it as well as the Indy 500, and now have a bakeshop that serves breakfast, lunch and baked goods. We had a yummy breakfast and then perused their displays illustrating the history of the company and family.

Sunday morning, we headed to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (aka Our Lady of Scrambled Eggs) for brunch. After a stroll across campus for a peek at all the beautiful and historic building, we had a great meal in the dining hall, choosing from table after table of breakfast items, salads, desserts and pastries.

After mom and dad left, I drove over to Bloomington to meet my friend Stephanie from the Blanton in Austin (who is from Bloomington) for dinner. We had a great meal a FARM Bloomington, the new restaurant of Chef Daniel Orr who was executive chef at La Grenouille and Guastavino's in NY before opening his own place. FARM exemplifies the very hot 'eat local' philosophy by created an amazing menu sourced from the area. On Sunday night they have small plates and pizzas, so we sampled them all: a minted pea guacamole (sans any avocado at all) was spicy and delicious; pizza with goat cheese, spinach, walnuts and grapes; and possibly the best french fries ever, loaded with garlic and served with a turmeric aioli. It was all delicious.

Woodland

Sunday, we joined up with April and Katie for brunch at Woodland. April promised a surprise, which turned out to be LESLIE! Fun, fun...

I'd never been to Woodland before, but it has a fun, funky feel and very good food. It's wasn't super-packed, so we didn't have to wait for a table or feel rushed about our meal. They basically have two breakfast choices, but in reality the choices are limitless. You can get Eggs Benedict with ham, spinach or salmon. There other choice is called 'the morning wood' and features two eggs any style (I had mine poached and they were perfect.) and four side choices from what seems like an endless list. I had tater tots, grits, homemade biscuit (the best biscuit I've ever had outside of my mother's kitchen, I might add.) and a fruit cup that was so much more. Every bite of fruit was perfect, even the cantaloupe. April and Leslie shared a 'mimosa for two,' which we decided was more like a mimosa for the table since it was a carafe of juice and a bottle of Cava. They also have pancakes, french toast and cinnamon rolls--which I intend to try on my next visit.

Woodland

1716 S Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704
Phone: 512.441.6800

www.woodlandaustin.com