The Breakfast Experiment
Wednesday, 7 September 2005 11:48![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fatrockstarGarret's experiences with culinary experimentation have not always been good. He used to tell me stories of recipes his mother would take out of magazines and doctor to the point where they were barely edible, prompting his father to order take-out. When I met his brother and sister, they also recalled these instances. You'd think it happened every day and smelled of poo, but I doubt that was the case. At any rate, my mother-in-law has a history of altering recipes. I've encountered a couple of them that were strange, but not inedible.
This unfortunate childhood memory has affected me a little in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking and am confident enough in my kitchen science knowledge enough to experiment to a healthy degree. Over time, I have learned that presenting an experimental recipe to my husband is best done without actually using the word "experiment."
A couple of days ago I was watching a Food Network competition involving dishes all prepared on the George Forman grill. I use my Forman grill every day, so I watched for ideas. It wasn't long before I got a craving for French Toast.
At the grocery store I searched for a decent bread to make French Toast with. It needed to be whole, not sliced, and hard, not squishy. I looked for a dense white bread but Fred Meyer didn't have one. I settled on a baguette made with whole grain and figured I'd slice it creatively (it was so narrow!) Next time I'll probably just go the extra quarter mile to the QFC. They have breads from the Essential Baking Company that I KNOW would make good French Toast.
Once sliced, the baguette lost its charm. The slices were barely 3" at their longest point, and their funny shape made Garret wrinkle his nose at them. As I put the slices into a 13" x 9" baking dish I got an idea. A while back I had made a delicious chocolate bread pudding, which led me to an older memory of eating a breakfast dish that used similar ingredients (except for the chocolate).
The most accurate name for my experiment would have to be "breakfast pudding," but that brings to mind sweet. All of my search results for similar ingredients were under the title of "casserole," which I found really unappetizing. So my experiment began under the working title of "breakfast bake."
I added the following ingredients to the dish containing as many baguette slices as I could fit in it*:
5 whole eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 sliced white onion
1 cup (?) ham, cubed
salt & pepper to taste
and as much shredded cheese as I felt like on top
Looks easy, no? Well, not entirely. I didn't add enough milk at first. The 2 cups you see in my list started out as 1 cup. When I realized the egg/milk mixture wasn't going to cover all the bread I ended up drizzling the extra milk onto my dish right out of the carton. Second of all, the fresh onion I had was bad and I ended up using a couple of tablespoons of dry onion instead. I would have rather used green onions because I like color in my food (maybe next time). I then added the ham and cheese. Random pieces of bread stuck out from the liquid when I was done with assembly. It added character. I covered the whole thing with foil and stuck it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I heated the stove to 375 degrees and baked my dish for 35 minutes.
It was pretty good. Garret and I both agreed there was room for improvement, but overall the dish was a success. We only ate a third of it this morning. The rest can be reheated easily. Those random pieces of bread sticking out of the top didn't get saturated with egg, but they didn't get burned, either. It was a nice variety of crunchy toasted bread and spongy egg toast.
My own "recipe," thrown together after studying similar recipes on allrecipes.com to determine proper bread/egg/milk ratios. Honestly, I was flying by the seat of my pants here.
This unfortunate childhood memory has affected me a little in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking and am confident enough in my kitchen science knowledge enough to experiment to a healthy degree. Over time, I have learned that presenting an experimental recipe to my husband is best done without actually using the word "experiment."
A couple of days ago I was watching a Food Network competition involving dishes all prepared on the George Forman grill. I use my Forman grill every day, so I watched for ideas. It wasn't long before I got a craving for French Toast.
At the grocery store I searched for a decent bread to make French Toast with. It needed to be whole, not sliced, and hard, not squishy. I looked for a dense white bread but Fred Meyer didn't have one. I settled on a baguette made with whole grain and figured I'd slice it creatively (it was so narrow!) Next time I'll probably just go the extra quarter mile to the QFC. They have breads from the Essential Baking Company that I KNOW would make good French Toast.
Once sliced, the baguette lost its charm. The slices were barely 3" at their longest point, and their funny shape made Garret wrinkle his nose at them. As I put the slices into a 13" x 9" baking dish I got an idea. A while back I had made a delicious chocolate bread pudding, which led me to an older memory of eating a breakfast dish that used similar ingredients (except for the chocolate).
The most accurate name for my experiment would have to be "breakfast pudding," but that brings to mind sweet. All of my search results for similar ingredients were under the title of "casserole," which I found really unappetizing. So my experiment began under the working title of "breakfast bake."
I added the following ingredients to the dish containing as many baguette slices as I could fit in it*:
5 whole eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 sliced white onion
1 cup (?) ham, cubed
salt & pepper to taste
and as much shredded cheese as I felt like on top
Looks easy, no? Well, not entirely. I didn't add enough milk at first. The 2 cups you see in my list started out as 1 cup. When I realized the egg/milk mixture wasn't going to cover all the bread I ended up drizzling the extra milk onto my dish right out of the carton. Second of all, the fresh onion I had was bad and I ended up using a couple of tablespoons of dry onion instead. I would have rather used green onions because I like color in my food (maybe next time). I then added the ham and cheese. Random pieces of bread stuck out from the liquid when I was done with assembly. It added character. I covered the whole thing with foil and stuck it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I heated the stove to 375 degrees and baked my dish for 35 minutes.
It was pretty good. Garret and I both agreed there was room for improvement, but overall the dish was a success. We only ate a third of it this morning. The rest can be reheated easily. Those random pieces of bread sticking out of the top didn't get saturated with egg, but they didn't get burned, either. It was a nice variety of crunchy toasted bread and spongy egg toast.
My own "recipe," thrown together after studying similar recipes on allrecipes.com to determine proper bread/egg/milk ratios. Honestly, I was flying by the seat of my pants here.
