Migas with Black beans

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Brunch Recipes

Dish: Migas with Black beans

Eggs form a very important part in breakfast and brunch menus, for egg eaters that is. So when I'm planning a brunch for my egg eating friends, I usually make a frittata (a big fat baked omelette with lots of veggies) or a quiche (egg based pie). One of my Turkish friend recently introduced me to Menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs with veggies) and that tasted awesome.

While looking for some egg based dishes for this week's Brunch theme, I found this Migas recipe on Pioneer Woman site. This Migas is different from the traditional Spanish & Portuguese migas. In this Tex-Mex version eggs are scrambled along with corn tortillas, veggies and cheese. It is typically served with refried beans and corn or flour tortillas are used to fold all the ingredients into tacos.

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Pan Seared Oatmeal with Warm Fruit Compote

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Brunch Recipes

Dish: Pan Seared Oatmeal with Warm Fruit Compote 

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods and I can have it either sweet or savory in the morning. I soak them in milk and ground cinnamon the night before, if I remember, and they are ready for me in the morning. I eat them along with some seasonal fruit and nuts and I'm good to go till lunch.

Since this week is all about brunch recipes, I have a slightly elaborate dish with oats that is perfect for a leisurely brunch or even to serve for company. The good thing about this dish is both the components can be prepared ahead of time and it takes just a few minutes to pan sear the oatmeal triangles and warm the compote.

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Spicy Mexican Home Fries

I'm not sure how authentic these home fries are, but I believe Bobby Flay knows what he's doing. So I went with it and made these for the Mexican brunch. These fried potatoes are crispy, spicy and delicious.

Recipe adapted from here.
Spicy Home Fries:

Ingredients: Serves 2~3

Potatoes - 2 medium, boiled and chopped
Onion -1 medium, chopped
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Jalapeno pepper - 1 small, chopped
Ancho chile powder - 1tsp (adjust as per spice preference)
Lime zest - 1tsp
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a cast iron skillet or a heavy bottom nonstick pan on medium flame. Add onions and jalapeno, cook till the onions are translucent.
• Add garlic and chili powder and salt. Cook for 1 minute.
• Next add the boiled and chopped potatoes. Lightly mash the potatoes with the back of the spoon and cook undisturbed until the potatoes get nice and crusty.
• Mix and cook till all the potatoes form a crust. Add salt, pepper and lime zest. Mix well and serve immediately.

Check the complete Mexican brunch here. 

Virgin Sangrita

Bobby Flay's Sangrita had tequila in it, but I made a virgin version of it. It has just about all the tastes in it -- it's spicy, tangy, salty and sweet. I made just 2 servings, both for me. I was hoping to drink the second glass later, but my 2 year old really liked it and drank more than half from the second glass.

The recipe calls for tomato juice, but I didn't want to buy a whole bottle just for ½cup in this recipe. So I made my own tomato juice using tomato paste. This juice tastes much better than the bottled tomato juice because it doesn't have any added salt or sugar.

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Xalapa (Mexico) -- Vegetarian Mexican Brunch (Huevos Rancheros with Black beans)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: X for Xalapa -- Mexico

Dish: Vegetarian Mexican Brunch -- Black bean Huevos Rancheros, Spicy Home Fries & Sangrita

Today we are going to Xalapa, Mexico. Technically ther are no countries starting with X, so as a group it was decided that we pick a place that starts with X and then make a dish from that place or the country it belongs to. 'X' is the only alphabet that I didn't have a country or dish planned. First I decided to a place in Spain, but then I didn't want to miss the opportunity to cook from my favorite Mexican cuisine, so ended up with Xalapa, Mexico.
Another factor that made me want to do Mexican is Bobby Flay's Mexican brunch that he made on Cooking Channel. Every he made looked so good that I wanted to recreate the whole meal at home. Huevos Rancheros has been on my to-make list forever, so this gave me an opportunity to try it.

Huevos Rancheros or 'rancher's eggs' is a popular breakfast dish that has eggs and is traditionally served on rural Mexican farms. This dish consists of fried eggs served over fried corn tortillas and topped with tomato-chili sauce.

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Vegan Breakfast - Tofu Broccoli Scramble & Home Fries

Blogging Marathon# 25: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Breakfast on the Run
Dish: Tofu Broccoli Scramble & Home Fries

After 2 days of indulging in something sweet for breakfast, I thought it was time to have a spicy breakfast and that too a Vegan Diner brunch style. Of course the whole meal comes together in less than 30 minutes. Recipes are from Vegan Brunch cookbook by Isa Chandra.

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