Zucchini Bread

Poor Jason. Last week the guy had to suffer through eating the same everything bagel for breakfast every morning. How boring! But really, it's kind of my fault. I can never get up early enough to make a decent breakfast. The most I can muster up is two shots of espresso - one for him and the other for me. And breakfast is usually a bagel with cream cheese or cereal or yogurt and granola - anything that I don't actually have to prepare.

So I started searching for good breakfast ideas and making a list of things that could easily be made ahead and stored in the fridge, then warmed up for breakfast. And when I saw this recipe for zucchini bread over on the WhiteonRiceCouple blog, I immediately went out and bought some zucchinis. Mmmm, I'm eating a slice right now as I write this post.

A Simple Breakfast

I've never been much of a breakfast person. Well, actually, I should say that I've never been much of an "American breakfast" person. I could never figure out how people could eat 2 eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns & pancakes all at 7 o'clock in the morning! That much food and grease that early just makes me feel sick. And, yes, I'm aware that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, supposedly. But does that necessarily translate into having to eat an entire farm?

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Making pizza at home is easy! It all starts with the pizza dough, then pile on anything your heart desires. Don't be put off by the barrage of recipes that follow. If you don't want to or don't have time to make toppings from scratch, use store bought items: BBQ sauce, a rotisserie chicken (shred at home), mozzarella cheese, etc. It's also a really good way to use up left over sauces and lunch meats you have sitting in your refrigerator. But I like to make things from scratch at home so here are the recipes I used:

Super Simple Pizza Dough
(one med-sized pizza, about 4 slices)
from SmittenKitchen

1.5 cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
0.5 cup lukewarm water, plus 1-2 tbsp more
1 tbsp olive oil

1. In a large bowl: mix together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and olive oil and stir until all liquid is absorbed and a ball of dough forms. Add 1-2 tbsp more water if dough is too dry to form a ball.
2. Turn dough out onto well floured work surface. Knead 1-2 minutes until dough is smooth. Lightly oil same bowl used to mix dough, return dough to oiled bowl and turn to coat all sides in oil. Cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel and let dough rise in warm area until doubled in size, 1-2 hours.
3. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Gently press air out and roll into a ball. Return to bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise another 20 minutes.
   
4. Preheat oven to its highest temperature. If using a pizza stone (optional), preheat stone in oven as well. Roll out dough onto well floured surface using floured rolling pin, very thinly for a crispy pizza, and top with whatever. To transfer pizza to stone, use a large plate, slide pizza onto plate then slide pizza from plate onto stone. Could also use a baking sheet (which I did) instead of a stone: sprinkle baking sheet with a little flour (or corn meal if you have it) and roll out dough right onto baking sheet, top with whatever, and pop into oven. Bake until cheese has browned and crust is blistered and crispy, 10-15 minutes.
   

This recipe can easily be doubled to make two pizzas. Use 2 baking sheets (or stones), placing them in the top and bottom third of the oven. Half way through baking, rotate the pizzas for even baking.

Brown Sugar & Coffee BBQ Sauce
(about 4 cups)
from Bon Appetit magazine, Sept '09

*I didn't have any molasses so substituted maple syrup instead. Still came out well but next time will probably try it with molasses. Also, this makes a lot of sauce so if you plan to make just one pizza, halve the recipe.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 3/4 cup white onions
6 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp minced & seeded jalapeno chile
0.5 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp molasses (or maple syrup)
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup freshly brewed strong coffee or 1 tbsp instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 cup hot water

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over med-high heat. Add onions, garlic and jalapeno. Saute until onions are tender, 7 minutes. Add brown sugar, chili powder, molasses, cilantro and cumin. Stir until sugar dissolves. Stir in crushed tomatoes, broth and coffee. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens slightly and is reduced to 4 cups, stirring often, about 35 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
   

Roasted Chicken Breast
(about 3 cups, shredded)

2-3 split chicken breast, bone in, skin on
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried herbs (Italian mix or Herbs de Provence)
salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
   
2. Coat chicken in oil and sprinkle liberally with salt & pepper and dried herbs. Roast, skin side up, 35-40 minutes. An instant read thermometer should read 160F when inserted in the middle. Remove from oven and let cool before shredding.

The BBQ sauce and chicken can be made while waiting for the dough to rise. I shredded the chicken and mixed it with a little BBQ sauce. I spread some more sauce onto the rolled out dough, then spread the chicken out on top and topped with mozzarella cheese. Bake the pizza 10-15 minutes then top with arugula and bake another 2 minutes until wilted. For an added kick, sprinkle on some red pepper flakes. YUM!

Father's Office Burger, Imitation

After watching a marathon of Man vs. Food I was dying for a greasy burger. In-n-Out would have done the trick, but sadly, there are none anywhere near me :( McDonald's is right across the street (talk about temptation knocking at your door) and a Big Mac might have quelled my appetite but definitely would not have satisfied my taste buds. Plus, I would have just felt really gross, not to mention guilty, afterward. So what is a girl to do?

Make your own burger!

Now, what kind of burger to make? When I think of the perfect burger, only one comes to mind: the Father's Office burger. Oh baby... juicy, sweet, salty, deliciousness... taste bud heaven.

I won't even pretend that my burger comes anywhere close to the greatness that is the F.O. burger, but it did make me happy and was completely worth all the effort I put into it. And if you don't feel like spending $$ on a burger, try making these at home for you and some friends - you'll save money and be completely satisfied.

I did a lot of research, going through dozens of foodie blogs and recipe sites. In the end, I didn't find any one perfect recipe but this is what I learned about burger meat:

1. DO NOT use preformed patties or ground beef. Preformed patties are made from poor quality ground meat that is compressed into a round shape, making them dense and chewy. Instead, buy quality beef chuck or brisket and grind at home in a food processor (or ask your butcher to grind it for you).
   
2. Fat makes a difference. Ideally, you want an 80/20 ratio, meaning your meat is 80% fat free. Anything more and the beef will turn out dry and lose a lot of its flavor. If you're not being health conscious, try a 70/30 ratio for an even juicier and more flavorful burger.
3. Be gentle! When forming the patties, don't squish all the air and water out of them. Instead, gently roll the meat in between the palms of your hand and lightly pat into a patty shape, about 1/2 inch thick. When cooking, resist the urge to squish the patties down with a spatula.
4. Get chilly. If you've formed your patties correctly, you'll have a loose, fluffy patty of delicious beef. To help the patties hold together while they cook, chill them in the freezer first for 20 minutes.
5. Get hot. To get that crispy char on the outside of your burger, cook over a very, very hot outdoor grill or cast-iron skillet if making these indoors.
   

Now that we've got the patties down, the next issue is toppings. F.O. tops their patties with a hearty dollop of salty sweet caramelized onions and melty gorgonzola cheese (or is it gruyere?). The onions take some time to cook down but can be made while the patties are chilling in the freezer. For the cheese, I used blue cheese but any strong flavored cheese, like gruyere or gorgonzola, will do. The best way to melt the cheese if you're cooking on a grill is to cook one side of the burger, flip it over, top with cheese, then close the lid while the other side of the burger cooks. If cooking indoors, do the same thing but tent the skillet with foil if you don't have a lid. If you decide to top with a tomato slice, use only very ripe tomatoes so the burger isn't watered down. For the final touch, I topped the burger off with a handful of crunchy, peppery arugula.

For the bun, I tried my hand at these Light Brioche Burger Buns. They were a little denser than I thought they'd be but were still very delicious and were strong enough to hold the burger together. I didn't think to measure the buns for size so they turned out a lot bigger than my burger patties. Next time, I'll just make smaller buns.

So what are you waiting for? Get cooking! Have one final cookout before the summer ends!

Beef Burger Patties
(makes 4 patties, 1/4 lb each)

2 lbs chuck or brisket
3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for grill
0.5 cup finely chopped onions (optional)
salt and pepper

1. Place meat, olive oil and onions (optional) in food processor and pulse break down the meat and ingredients and just blended. Don't over work the meat.
2. Divide the meat in half, and the halves in half to make 4 patties. Gently roll the meat in between the palms of your hand then lightly pat into a patty 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Don't squish.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in freezer 20 minutes before cooking (put don't let freeze). If not cooking immediately, chill in fridge instead and pull out when ready to cook.
4. Prepare grill or heat cast iron skillet to high. Brush the patties with olive oil then season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. For med-rare, cook 3 minutes on one side. Flip. Top with cheese, cover, and cook another 3 minutes.
   
5. Slide onto bun, top with caramelized onions, tomato and arugula. Serve immediately.

Caramelized Onions
from Barefoot Contessa

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 large yellow onions, peeled, sliced in half rounds
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp sherry wine vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp black pepper

1. Heat olive oil and butter in large pan. Add onions and thyme, toss to coat. Cover and cook over med-low heat, 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.
2. Remove lid and continue to cook another 25-30 minutes until golden brown. If onions are cooking too fast, lower the heat.
3. Add vinegar, salt and pepper and cook another 2 minutes, scraping up brown bits from pan.

Read more about The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts, an article from the New York Times.