Luck of the Irish Brunch

Well... I guess I'm on a breakfast kick. I was watching "Brunch with Bobby" a few weeks back and he was making these cheesy hash browns... and they looked sooooo good! I kept on planning to make them for breakfast some day, and I never did, so I finally decided to make the whole meal for dinner one night, and I was not disappointed! The meal consisted of: cheesy hash browns, roasted tomatoes with breadcrumbs, sautéed mushrooms, sausage (I did chicken-apple sausage... the original recipe called for pork sausage and lamb sausage), bacon (I did turkey bacon... the original recipe called for smoked bacon) and Irish soda bread. The recipe also called for eggs, but by that point it seemed like way too much food!

Cheesy hash browns:

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 medium Spanish onion, diced
1 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes
2 teaspoons paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups grated aged white Irish cheddar cheese (or any other kind of cheddar)
Chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Heat the butter and canola oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Reduce heat to medium, add the onion and cook until soft and slightly caramelized.
While the onions are caramelizing, put the potatoes in a large pot of cold, salted water, bring to a boil and cook until nearly tender, 10-12 minutes. Drain well.
Add the potatoes to the onion, packing it evenly (and semi-mashing the potatoes) with the back of a metal spatula to form a cake. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the underside is golden brown, about 10 minutes (probably less than that though).
Flip the potatoes and cook for about another 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and place in the oven for a few minutes, in order to melt the cheese.

Roasted tomatoes:

6 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
Unsalted butter, for greasing baking dish
Olive oil, for drizzling
Honey, for drizzling
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 cup panko breadcrumbs (you can use different breadcrumbs as well)
Salt and pepper for seasoning
2 Tbsp chopped parsley, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Put the tomato halves in a lightly buttered baking dish, cut-side up. Drizzle with olive oil and honey, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with bread crumbs and paprika.
Roast for 20 minutes. Remove tomatoes from oven and sprinkle with parsley. Drizzle with olive oil.

Sautéed mushrooms:

Canola oil, to coat pan
1 pint cremini mushrooms (or whatever mushroom you desire), chopped
2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves (you can also use dried thyme)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the canola oil in a sauté pan and sauté the mushrooms until soft. Add the fresh thyme leaves and season with salt and pepper.

Serve the hashbrowns, tomatoes and mushrooms with eggs, sausage, bacon and Irish soda bread. Enjoy!

                         

Egg-in-the-hole

I was flipping through a recipe book the other day... and stumbled upon a recipe for egg-in-the-hole. I'd never even heard of it before, so I thought that I should probably try it... after all, it did look good. And yes... it was good! It's the perfect mixture of crispy bread and fried egg. Yum! And it is really easy to make!

So all you have to do is:

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a skillet on medium heat.
2. Using a biscuit cutter... or anything round... make a hole in the bread.
3. When the butter is completely melted place the bread in the skillet. Swirl it around in the butter, and then let it sit for about 20-30 seconds.
4. Crack the egg in the hole, and season with salt and pepper... or whatever you like to season your eggs with (I like pepper and Dash seasoning).
5. When the egg is set on the bottom, flip over the bread and continue cooking until the egg is at your desired consistency.
6. Enjoy! :)

P.S. Other names for egg-in-the-hole are:
toad in a hole, cowboy eggs, moon eggs, sunshine toast, magic egg & bull's eyes eggs.