Thursday, April 21, 2011

Fred McMuffin

Fred McMuffin with chicken.
The Fred McMuffin should NEVER be confused with the breakfast sandwich that that Clown makes!
A healthy delicious breakfast to go in less time than it would take to drive to your nearest fast food stop.
These can also be made ahead of time and frozen - they reheat in a microwave well.
When there's no time for a relaxing weekend breakfast - this is our go-to breakfast meal.

Ingredients
1 fresh egg per sandwich or an equivalent of egg substitute
salt and pepper to taste
any leftover meat or lunch meat - vegetables make a great substitute
non-stick spray
I like to add some chopped green onion
English Muffin, Bagle or Skinny Bun

Place the English muffin in the toaster
Start with a small bowl, spray the inside with non-stick spray.
Crack the egg into the bowl, salt & pepper - use a fork to scramble the egg.
Add chopped onion and meat to the egg mixture - pressing it into the scrambled egg.
Microwaves vary in power so you'll have to adjust to yours I set mine for 1min 20 seconds to 1min 40 seconds depending on how much meat and the temperature of the meat. If it's not done, raw egg tends to work it's way to the top, you'll see it, just microwave for another 10-20 seconds.

When done - it's gonna be hot - If it's going to be several minutes before eating, I'll put it immediately in the English Muffin, wrap in a paper towel, flip it over so that the weight of the sandwich holds the ends of the paper towel from unwrapping. Otherwise I'll flip the cooked egg mixture out on the cutting board to cool off a bit before placing it in the muffin, and eating.
You can prepare several sandwiches in a matter of minutes. Spray the bowl with non-stick spray before each sandwich. The cooked egg mixture can be placed in plastic wrap or sandwich bags for freezing.

For Taste Sake
A squirt of hot sauce can be added to the mixture if you like a little spice.
Chicken or Turkey goes very well with egg
Leftover meat is oftem easier to work with if it's been warmed up a bit in a microwave.
When seasoning, take into account the meat - has it been seasoned already or could it use a little more and also the bread - I tend to add a little bit extra salt & pepper than normal so I can taste it past the muffin.




Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Breakfast Scramble

Chicken Breakfast Scramble served with English Muffins
This is a trick that I pull out of my hat from time to time. Sometimes in desperation (there's no Bacon, sausage or ham in the house for breakfast, or there's not enough eggs to go around) and sometimes as a treat - ohh there's that leftover prime rib or corned beef! Typically this is a breakfast dish, but it's a strong candidate as "Breakfast for Dinner'
This is typically a one pan dish, it's very flexible with what you can put in it. The basic ingredients are potatoes, onion, meat and eggs - of course vegetarians can substitute vegetables for the meat.
1 Large potato per 2 people (cubed)
1 or 2 eggs per person
maybe some mushrooms
Vegetable oil
any leftover meat and even seafood (cubed)

Chopped Chicken, Cubed Potatoes, Green Onion
The potatoes can make or break the whole dish. They must be thoroughly cooked, very few people enjoy a raw potato. The first key to cooking the potatoes is cutting them into uniform size, this ensures they will cook through at the same time. It's all a matter of preference how thick you cut the potatoes - that's how you make this recipe yours - just do it uniformly. For your first cut a 'stabilizer' cut. Slice a small piece off of the long side of the potato, then place the exposed portion of the potato down on the gutting board, this will keep the potato from rocking around as you slice it. Next cut the potatoes in 1/2" or what ever width you prefer, slices. Now stack 2 or three slices on top of each other and cut the rounds into strips (french fries) the same width as the first slices (ie. 1/2"). Next turn those strips crosswise on the cutting board and cut the strips into cubes - again paying attention the the width (1/2"). There's bound to be 'ends' that are not uniform - if their size is significantly smaller than the rest of the cubes (ie. 60% or smaller), either discard them or set them aside to be added later. The small ends will cook that much faster than the others and by time the large pieces are done - the small pieces are burnt. The only thing worse than raw potatoes, are burnt potatoes.

Browned Potatoes
If you're not using a non-stick pan, a helpful tip is to allow the potatoes to approach room temperature and add them to hot oil. Allow the potatoes to brown on a side before turning, be sure to turn all the potatoes so some of the don't burn. If you're adding minced round onion (brown, red, yellow, white) you can add it about 1/2 way through the potato cooking - if you're using chopped green onion - wait for now. Mushrooms can be added now.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, add the meat - you're basically just reheating the meat, if  you're adding green onion, now is the time.

Potatoes, Chicken, Green Onion - ready for the eggs!
Now it's time for the eggs! If you're confident with your egg cracking ability - you can crack them directly into the scramble. If you're not so confident, break them into a bowl, making sure there's no shell fragments then you can use a fork or a wisk to scramble them or pour them directly into the pan and the eggs will scramble as you stir/turn the mixture.

When the eggs are to your desired doneness salt and pepper to taste - serve and enjoy!



For Taste Sake.

It's easier to remove chicken from the bone if you microwave it for a minute or so before removing the meat from the bone.