Testing And Introducing New Variations....

So, I have to say that I bought ANOTHER cookbook. I'm addicted. Well at least most of the time I wait for them to get cheap and used. But this one I wanted from day one. Tried to buy it here, but the discount online was almost nothing. I even tweeted about how the discount would increase ever few days by a penny.
Anyway, there are a LOT of great recipes in the book that I want to try. Some that I have to adapt.
One of the recipes if for rillettes, which doesn't really sound good to the English speaking ear. Basically it's a salmon spread. Uses fresh salmon and smoked salmon to make a spread. I'm definitely making it. Just not sure how it will go down. I may have to freeze individual servings, since it may not be everyone's cup of tea.
But I definitely want to try some variations on omelettes.Without giving away her recipes, what would you think if you were presented with a gruyere, nut (pine nut or sunflower seeds) and honey omelette? How about sweet fig jam and cream cheese? Cheddar and apple butter (granny smith apple butter)? Or spinach and goat cheese?
One other dish that she makes is basically a breakfast "lasagne" made with crepes and layers or ricotta and jam.
We haven't really served fish for breakfast, other than for the big race weekend. Still so trepidatious about it. The same trepidation that I felt when I started making the eggs poached in tomato sauce and yet.. everyone seems so happy leaving the rooms and the plates are empty. Any thoughts?
PS: Work on confection "cookies" for Christmas today. Smaller size, since these are giveaway, not sale. Instead of the standard 40 to a baking tray, these are 60 to a baking try. Chocolate Mint, Spruce Mint and if I have left over, a savoury for breakfast with some boursin cheese.

I would love to ample anything you make.
BTW - were you able to shell the walnuts?

gillumhouse said:

I would love to ample anything you make.
BTW - were you able to shell the walnuts?.

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I tried one or two. I'm waiting for the holidays to shell them all and make that pie. Wondering if I should just make the pie or try making tarts that I can serve as individual servings to guests

Gruyere in an omelet? I'm in. Not sure about the honey. It sounds too sweet for eggs. Spinach and goat cheeses yes. All the sweet filings? No.
That's me. I'd slap any of it into a crepe.
Salmon spread? I'm in. I get a salmon, cream cheeses and capers crepe down the street from me. Yum! I could see that in an omelet, too. Love smoked salmon.

Morticia said:

Gruyere in an omelet? I'm in. Not sure about the honey. It sounds too sweet for eggs. Spinach and goat cheeses yes. All the sweet filings? No.
That's me. I'd slap any of it into a crepe.
Salmon spread? I'm in. I get a salmon, cream cheeses and capers crepe down the street from me. Yum! I could see that in an omelet, too. Love smoked salmon..

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MoH originally looked at me weirdly when I suggested some sweetness in an omelette too. This is just 1 teaspoon of honey. MoH came around after trying it. Especially since it balances the Gruyere.

Generic said:

Morticia said:

Gruyere in an omelet? I'm in. Not sure about the honey. It sounds too sweet for eggs. Spinach and goat cheeses yes. All the sweet filings? No.
That's me. I'd slap any of it into a crepe.
Salmon spread? I'm in. I get a salmon, cream cheeses and capers crepe down the street from me. Yum! I could see that in an omelet, too. Love smoked salmon..

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MoH originally looked at me weirdly when I suggested some sweetness in an omelette too. This is just 1 teaspoon of honey. MoH came around after trying it. Especially since it balances the Gruyere.
.

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Don't you hate that look? I get it a lot.
I want to try apple pot stickers next year. Just have to figure out how far in advance can we steam them and not have them be a soggy mess. They'd be fried after steaming because we like them crunchy.

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.

Morticia said:

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.
.

Click to expand...

Did you listen to me for a crepe recipe? NO!
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (melted) or oil
Mix it all together, preferable with an immersion (hand) blender. Then let sit in the fridge for 60 minutes. It will need all that time for the flour to relax. You can't skip this time step. When you take it out of the fridge, you can mix it again with the immersion blender. Ladle it on to hot crepe pan, and swirl it to cover the pan. Use a little extra if you missed parts of the pan or pour out extra
You can cook on only one side and then reheat them on the other side, when you need them.
Most of the recipes that I see skip the time step, so they try to use half the liquid and get thick crepes instead. I've been using this recipe for over 25 years to make my crepes and blintzes.
A cheap hand blender is maybe $12.55 at WallyWorld and $10.78 at AtoZ. The better ones come with a whisk attachment (to whip cream and a little chopper, to chop some veggies.

Generic said:

Morticia said:

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.
.

Click to expand...

Did you listen to me for a crepe recipe? NO!
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (melted) or oil
Mix it all together, preferable with an immersion (hand) blender. Then let sit in the fridge for 60 minutes. It will need all that time for the flour to relax. You can't skip this time step. When you take it out of the fridge, you can mix it again with the immersion blender. Ladle it on to hot crepe pan, and swirl it to cover the pan. Use a little extra if you missed parts of the pan or pour out extra
You can cook on only one side and then reheat them on the other side, when you need them.
Most of the recipes that I see skip the time step, so they try to use half the liquid and get thick crepes instead. I've been using this recipe for over 25 years to make my crepes and blintzes.
A cheap hand blender is maybe $12.55 at WallyWorld and $10.78 at AtoZ. The better ones come with a whisk attachment (to whip cream and a little chopper, to chop some veggies.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, I listened. I don't remember the 60 minutes resting time. I've got an immersion blender. We'll try it again.

Morticia said:

Generic said:

Morticia said:

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.
.

Click to expand...

Did you listen to me for a crepe recipe? NO!
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (melted) or oil
Mix it all together, preferable with an immersion (hand) blender. Then let sit in the fridge for 60 minutes. It will need all that time for the flour to relax. You can't skip this time step. When you take it out of the fridge, you can mix it again with the immersion blender. Ladle it on to hot crepe pan, and swirl it to cover the pan. Use a little extra if you missed parts of the pan or pour out extra
You can cook on only one side and then reheat them on the other side, when you need them.
Most of the recipes that I see skip the time step, so they try to use half the liquid and get thick crepes instead. I've been using this recipe for over 25 years to make my crepes and blintzes.
A cheap hand blender is maybe $12.55 at WallyWorld and $10.78 at AtoZ. The better ones come with a whisk attachment (to whip cream and a little chopper, to chop some veggies.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, I listened. I don't remember the 60 minutes resting time. I've got an immersion blender. We'll try it again.
.

Click to expand...

It's extremely important. It's changes the batter
If you find it too thin, you can add a tablespoon of flour more. I like my very thin.

Aren't you going to tell the name of the book?

Generic said:

Morticia said:

Generic said:

Morticia said:

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.
.

Click to expand...

Did you listen to me for a crepe recipe? NO!
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (melted) or oil
Mix it all together, preferable with an immersion (hand) blender. Then let sit in the fridge for 60 minutes. It will need all that time for the flour to relax. You can't skip this time step. When you take it out of the fridge, you can mix it again with the immersion blender. Ladle it on to hot crepe pan, and swirl it to cover the pan. Use a little extra if you missed parts of the pan or pour out extra
You can cook on only one side and then reheat them on the other side, when you need them.
Most of the recipes that I see skip the time step, so they try to use half the liquid and get thick crepes instead. I've been using this recipe for over 25 years to make my crepes and blintzes.
A cheap hand blender is maybe $12.55 at WallyWorld and $10.78 at AtoZ. The better ones come with a whisk attachment (to whip cream and a little chopper, to chop some veggies.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, I listened. I don't remember the 60 minutes resting time. I've got an immersion blender. We'll try it again.
.

Click to expand...

It's extremely important. It's changes the batter
If you find it too thin, you can add a tablespoon of flour more. I like my very thin.
.

Click to expand...

Vanilla? For the sweet crepes?

well, I'm all for trying new recipes - but no I can't eat fish at breakfast. not smoked salmon ever.
I am so simple!
But ... my big question is how do you make such breakfasts without shooting your expenses through the roof? For example, where I am gruyere, boursin and goat cheese are very expensive.

seashanty said:

well, I'm all for trying new recipes - but no I can't eat fish at breakfast. not smoked salmon ever.
I am so simple!
But ... my big question is how do you make such breakfasts without shooting your expenses through the roof? For example, where I am gruyere, boursin and goat cheese are very expensive..

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Nothing's cheap in the great NE. I think the way you do this is to use really good food but less of it. I've watched the crepe maker down the street and you're not getting a whole lot of filling, it's just a dab of cream cheese with a touch of salmon. She had a new person on one day and she loaded that crêpe!
One thing I love is the Monte Cristo sandwich we do, but Gomez brings home 2lbs of ham, 2 of turkey and 2 of cheeses. Those ingredients are over $40 and 3x what we actually need. He insists that 1lb of each isn't enough and then we end up freezing the rest. I can't get him to understand we're not making meat lover's subs but a simple breakfast sandwich.

Worst breakfast I ever had at a b and b before we had one, was pork pot stickers. The owner was alovely aisan woman who was trying to sell her B and b as a zen style paradise. Potstickers are really heavy and not zen. I like piroges and latkes and even wontons but pot stickers suck for breakfast. Just my opinion, but we have laughed for years at this breakast.

Worst breakfast I ever had at a b and b before we had one, was pork pot stickers. The owner was alovely aisan woman who was trying to sell her B and b as a zen style paradise. Potstickers are really heavy and not zen. I like piroges and latkes and even wontons but pot stickers suck for breakfast. Just my opinion, but we have laughed for years at this breakast.

can you freeze gruyere and boursin cheese? I froze some deli cheese and it is 'okay' but not quite the same. We had some lovely soft cheeses that went spotty in the fridge shortly after thanksgiving bought the week before and opened of course ... and I was ever so miffed to toss it!

Morticia said:

Generic said:

Morticia said:

Generic said:

Morticia said:

2cat_lady said:

I love how adventurous you all are! That must come with your experience so I hope to get to that level one day. Next year I'll graduate to offering crepes and stratas in the mix. Frittatas were this year's addition and I'm comfortable with it. But Mort, pot stickers??? Love that idea!! What would you serve with it? I'm guessing maybe sausage. Would you serve a side of some type of egg or is this the sweet portion of your offering?.

Click to expand...

The pot stickers would be the starter. They would come before eggs.
When we started, Gomez would absolutely not veer from a recipe by a teaspoon. We had casseroles every day. With no deviation from whatever someone else said was right.
After maybe 2-3 years he got more comfortable and started branching out to cooking the breakfast after the guest sat down.
Now we have omelets, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, etc. Crêpes are coming but I've been saying that for years. We're trying another recipe. All of the crepes we've made so far were way too thick and sweet.
.

Click to expand...

Did you listen to me for a crepe recipe? NO!
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter (melted) or oil
Mix it all together, preferable with an immersion (hand) blender. Then let sit in the fridge for 60 minutes. It will need all that time for the flour to relax. You can't skip this time step. When you take it out of the fridge, you can mix it again with the immersion blender. Ladle it on to hot crepe pan, and swirl it to cover the pan. Use a little extra if you missed parts of the pan or pour out extra
You can cook on only one side and then reheat them on the other side, when you need them.
Most of the recipes that I see skip the time step, so they try to use half the liquid and get thick crepes instead. I've been using this recipe for over 25 years to make my crepes and blintzes.
A cheap hand blender is maybe $12.55 at WallyWorld and $10.78 at AtoZ. The better ones come with a whisk attachment (to whip cream and a little chopper, to chop some veggies.
.

Click to expand...

Yes, I listened. I don't remember the 60 minutes resting time. I've got an immersion blender. We'll try it again.
.

Click to expand...

It's extremely important. It's changes the batter
If you find it too thin, you can add a tablespoon of flour more. I like my very thin.
.

Click to expand...

Vanilla? For the sweet crepes?
.

Click to expand...

Nope. We keep them neutral.
Our standard filling for blintzes (New York City crepes for you!) is ricotta cheese (or dry cottage), honey, vanilla and lemon zest.

seashanty said:

can you freeze gruyere and boursin cheese? I froze some deli cheese and it is 'okay' but not quite the same. We had some lovely soft cheeses that went spotty in the fridge shortly after thanksgiving bought the week before and opened of course ... and I was ever so miffed to toss it!.

Click to expand...

You can freeze both, though gruyere does much better from frozen than boursin. You can also make a more spreadable boursin by whipping it with butter, which I might suggest after freezing it, because it becomes more crumbly.