Cookstory: January 4, 2013. Breakfast For Dinner!

For a long time now, the Bailey family has had a tradition of "Friday Night Movie Night." I look forward to it every week, and not because it signifies the start of the weekend. (Rathole: Do you remember college, when "the weekend" technically started on Thursday night? Or even, sometimes, Thursday afternoon?) Also, not because of the movie. My daughters usually choose the entertainment, which means that it's usually crap, or something we've seen a billion times, or both. I can't make them pick Finding Nemo every week, I suppose, and Laura won't let me show them Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Inglourious Basterds. ("No risk, no reward, beeyatch!" Yeah, that argument doesn't get me very far.) So, another straight-to-BluRay Tinkerbell flick it is.

But that leaves me the opportunity to focus on the real fun for me: the "breakfast for dinner" concept. For all the hoidy-toidyness of modern-day gastronomy, this simple idea remains one of the best. When I was a kid, I'd try to talk Mom into eggs and bacon at suppertime as often as possible. It wasn't until I was a parent myself (and the head chef) that I realized the meal is a nice break for the grown-up as well.

The pros:

1. I almost always have all the ingredients in the house already, so no extra grocery shopping needed.
2. I can do this dinner on auto-pilot. No recipes—I can just coast.
3. There are so many ways to do the eggs that I can easily please everyone with a custom-made meal ... and it doesn't take that much longer to customize.

Plus ... it's freakin' eggs and bacon! With toast and the condiment of your choice! For dinner!


January 4, 2013

Afternoon

White Shells and Cheddar. 
For the girls. Annie's brand ... the only kind they'll touch. For some reason, they both prefer white cheedar to the orange. Not that I would ever encourage them to eat flourescent orange-colored food.


Evening

Eggs.

Recently, "breakfast for dinner" has been extra fun because Piper has discovered the glory of the omelette. I've worked on my omelette technique for a few years now, picking up tips from Julia Child, Alton Brown, and various ATK resources. The only filling PJ wants is cheddar cheese, but I still work on perfecting the omelettes exterior. I think the French consider a perfect omelette to be one cooked at a low enough heat such that the butter does not brown the outside at all. I prefer just a little browning. Either way, close attention must be paid, making sure to slide it out of the skillet and on to the plate in time to keep the outside nice and moist, letting the carryover finish the job on the inside.

I had the same as Piper tonight.

Zuzu: a single egg. Scrambled. Period. Every time. No browning. That would be yucky.

Laura has been in a soft-boiled state of mind for awhile. (I'm talking about the way she likes her eggs cooked, dummy.) This was another technique I've had to perfect, and I have pulled off some really nice, creamy yolks, but timing has continued to be a crapshoot. Tonight I tried to consciously come up with a method that would work without my having to rely on any sort of timer: I placed two eggs in a pan with enough water to cover, and then as I prepared other parts of the meal, I kept an eye on the pan. When the water hit full-boil, I got out another bowl, added two cups of ice cubes, filled with water, swirled it around. By then, it was time: I immediately spidered the eggs into the ice bath. A few minutes later, I took 'em out—soon enough that the ice had stopped the cooking but the eggs retained suitable heat for eating. I removed the top 1/4 to 1/3 of the shell, placed the egg in the cute little "baby chick" egg holder, and served. Nailed it.


Turkey Bacon.
The girls love "normal" pork bacon, but they have to get that elsewhere. Laura and I don't eat pork products. I can't stand to see food thrown away, and any leftover pork bacon would have to be pitched ... ergo, we enjoy turkey bacon. Luckily, I recently figured out how to cook it so that Piper likes it. Well, I didn't figure it out; my friend Alex did, on a visit. She cooked the bacon less than I did, leaving it moist and soft. Piper scarfed it for the first time. She eats my bacon every time now, but not without reminding me: "It's good, Dad, but not as good as Alex's."

Toast.
Using the 365 Organic brand multigrain bread. Just butter for the girls tonight. Lemon curd (a Christmas stocking gift to myself) on both Laura's and mine. Piper didn't touch her toast, for some reason, which gave Laura a bonus piece of toast (after she added more lemon curd).

(By the way: the girls won't touch the lemon curd, because it has the word "curd" in the name. Laura and I have chosen to not tell them the ambrosia they're missing out on. All the more for us.)


Tea: Irish Breakfast. (For dinner!)


Movie: Blu-Ray version of National Treasure. One of Piper's Christmas gifts.