Saveur: The New Comfort Food (9 page)
Read Saveur: The New Comfort Food Online
Authors: James Oseland
Many years ago, when I was a private chef, I was asked one morning to prepare eggs Benedict for breakfast. No problem, I thought. But when I dropped the first egg into the simmering water, it spread out into an amorphous mess. Same thing on the next try. What was I doing wrong? I called my friend Ted MacLeod, an expert brunch cook. “The secret to poaching eggs,” Ted told me, “is in the amount of vinegar you use. The right amount coaxes them into firmness.” I tried his method—a half cup of white distilled vinegar and a half teaspoon of salt in four cups of water—and, sure enough, my poached eggs came out beautifully. Months afterward, though, I ran into another problem. I was using a skillet to poach eggs; when I dropped the eggs into the water they flattened into dispiriting disks. Thinking that the outcome might have something to do with the water’s depth, I switched to a tall pot, and—voilà!—the eggs gracefully formed into appealing orbs. Another egg-poaching tip I picked up along the way: cracking each egg into a small bowl or teacup before pouring it into the simmering water helps the eggs maintain a more compact shape.
—Todd Coleman
Shakshuka
In Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market (pictured), this spicy tomato stew dotted with poached eggs is a popular breakfast item at many food stalls. We think it makes a satisfying meal at any time of the day, especially with warm pita bread to sop up the thick sauce and rich egg yolks.
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded, and minced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained Kosher salt, to taste
8 eggs
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley Warm pita bread, for serving
Serves 4–6
1. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, and cumin and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 minutes more. Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush well with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with ½ cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 20 minutes. Season sauce with salt.
2. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve hot with pita bread, for dipping.
This recipe for huevos rancheros, the gorgeous mess of fried eggs smothered in a spicy tomato sauce, came from La Abeja, a café in Los Angeles where the Fonseca family has been serving up Mexican home-style cooking for decades. Traditionally a cowboy’s breakfast served over warm corn tortillas with rice and refried beans, the dish has become a fixture in diners on both sides of the border.
14 plum tomatoes, cored
12 tbsp. canola oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ jalapeño, stemmed and minced
½ medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 corn tortillas
8 eggs Pickled jalapeño slices, for garnish
Serves 4
1. Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add the tomatoes and cook, turning, until the skins blacken, 8–10 minutes. Peel the tomatoes, purée in a blender, strain through a sieve, and set aside.
2. Heat 4 tbsp. oil in a 4-qt. pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, jalapeños, and onions and cook until soft, 6–8 minutes. Add the tomato purée and bring to a boil. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Working in 4 batches, heat 1 tbsp. oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tortillas to the skillet and cook, flipping once, until warmed, about 20 seconds. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
4. Divide the tortillas between 4 plates. Working in 2 batches, heat the remaining oil in the same skillet over medium heat and fry the eggs to desired doneness. Top each tortilla with a fried egg and tomato sauce. Garnish with pickled jalapeño slices and serve.
I first stumbled on La Abeja, a little Mexican café on Figueroa Street in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park, in 1986, when I was 23 (that’s me, pictured, on the left, right around that time). My best friend, Joyce, lived in nearby Mount Washington, and we started making an almost religious ritual out of meeting there Saturday mornings to go over in penitential detail all the silly, alcohol-fueled things we’d done the night before. Boy, did those breakfasts hit the spot: huevos rancheros served with fluffy Mexican rice and some of the best refried beans in the world; big, hot bowls of menudo studded with tender tripe and hominy; and endless cups of soul-satisfying, diner-variety coffee. La Abeja (or The Bee) serves Mexican home-style cooking of the highest order; not surprising considering that the place started its life as a corner store in 1969 with a kitchen in the back where the owners, Jose and Gloria Fonseca, would prepare meals for their family. Eventually, customers started asking whether they could get take-out versions of some of those foods, many of them made from recipes the family had brought from their native Mexico City. Before long the Fonsecas cleared out the aisles and shelves and set up tables and chairs (they kept the candy counter up front). When I visited La Abeja recently, I hadn’t been back in over a decade. I was sad to learn that the Fonsecas had passed away, but relieved to find their son Roy at the helm. After all those years, very little had changed. Neighborhood kids were stopping in for a pack of Bubble Yum; sleepy-eyed art students and guys from the auto body shop down the street filled the tables; and the platillo de huevos rancheros that I ordered was still the most fortifying breakfast around.
—James Oseland
Simple and soulful, this scramble of eggs and matzo is a breakfast staple in many Jewish households, particularly during the Passover holiday, when leavened breads are off limits. We’ve added sautéed mushrooms and asparagus, but you could just as well leave them out and serve the matzo brei as you might pancakes or French toast, with a topping of jam or maple syrup.
8 asparagus tips
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
8 cremini mushrooms, stemmed and cut into sixths Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3 6-inch square pieces matzo
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp. minced flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (optional)
Serves 2
1. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a 4-qt. pot. Add the asparagus and cook until just tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to a bowl of ice water, reserving the boiling water. Let the asparagus chill for about 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.
2. Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 6 minutes. Add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper, and remove the pan from heat; set aside.
3. Break the matzo into 1-inch pieces and transfer to a strainer set over the sink. Slowly pour the reserved boiling water over the matzo to soften it; let the matzo sit for 4 minutes.
4. Transfer the softened matzo to a bowl, add the eggs, and combine. Heat the remaining butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the matzo mixture, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook, turning the mixture occasionally with a rubber spatula, until cooked to the desired doneness, about 4 minutes for soft curds. Divide the matzo mixture between 2 plates, top with the reserved mushrooms and asparagus, garnish with the parsley, and serve.