A delicious break from holiday excess: Curried Lentils with Poached Eggs

Lentils cooked with an international mix of spices and aromatics and topped with poached eggs make a satisfying vegetarian lunch, light supper or, as served by April Bloomfield, robust breakfast. Recipe below.

WE WENT ALL OUT FOR THE HOLIDAY FOOD EXTRAVAGANZAS this year at our house. At one point, our in-house supplies included chocolate mascarpone brownies, a pound cake baked by Laurel, moon cakes from our favorite Chinatown bakery, a cheerful assortment of donuts from Stan’s, Rum Ball ice cream and Lime Cardamom frozen yogurt from Jeni’s, butterfly cookies, chocolate chip cookies, strawberry-flavored “French cookies” from Japan, a box of truffles from Moonstruck, some violet-scented chocolate my sister brought back from France, plus an unclear number of other chocolates, plus several luscious cheeses, plus a pie—I am so jaded by all this that I don’t remember what sort of pie. Continue reading “A delicious break from holiday excess: Curried Lentils with Poached Eggs” →

A quick, easy* spring lunch: Roasted Asparagus with Poached Eggs and Lardons

Roasted asparagus spears are topped with sautéed bacon and shallots and a poached egg for a light lunch. Recipe below.

Asparagus season is upon us again, a promising sign of the reluctant spring. (Yes, asparagus is available pretty much year-round, but now is when it’s at its best.) First, the pencil-thin spears started showing up in the produce department, requiring little more than a quick blanch to render them bright green, crisp and delicious. Continue reading “A quick, easy* spring lunch: Roasted Asparagus with Poached Eggs and Lardons” →

A classic French salad, by way of Manhattan: Salade Frisée aux Lardons

Crisp, pleasantly bitter frisée is dressed with a simple vinaigrette and topped with bacon and a poached egg for this classic French starter inspired by a recent visit to New York. Recipe below.

What is it with the French and salads? Granted, they do most food things well, but salads are an example for me of why their more complex dishes are so transcendent. It is because even the simplest things are treated with respect and done just so.

Several years ago, Marion and I were in Paris. Suddenly famished one afternoon, we stopped for a quick lunch at a frankly nondescript sidewalk cafe—the kind of place charitably described as “this will do”—along Rue de Passy. We ordered quiche and salad, expecting an okay slice of the former accompanied by a miserly handful of mixed greens. What arrived at our table were generous slices of quiche, each teetering atop an abundant salade composée. Continue reading “A classic French salad, by way of Manhattan: Salade Frisée aux Lardons” →

Breakfast: Mixing it up six ways from Sunday

A host of sources chimes in with ways to keep what is arguably the most important meal of the day interesting. Share your own thoughts on breakfast in the comments below.

Breakfast. Its very name says you should eat it. Literally, it means break the fast. For most of us, the time between our heads hitting the pillow at night and getting up in the morning is the longest time we go without food. And as we face the new day, it’s the time our bodies most need refueling. Studies show that eating a good breakfast helps you concentrate better at work or at school and that skipping breakfast because you’re dieting is a sure way to gain weight, not lose it.

We’re big on breakfast at Blue Kitchen. Not the farmhand affairs that provide enough fuel for you to go milk a dozen cows and plow forty acres, but something simple, quick and reasonably nutritious. During the week, a bowl of some fiberrific cereal, with lowfat milk and maybe some fresh fruit; or a single fried egg with some toast or one of these reduced-guilt English muffins; or in a pinch, even a PBJ sandwich on hearty, multi-grain bread. On weekends, we sometimes get a little fancier and more leisurely—omelets or maybe this French toast with fresh fruit and mint. It all helps to keep this important meal interesting.

So when cool breakfast ideas started popping up everywhere recently, I thought I’d round them up and share them here.

Continue reading “Breakfast: Mixing it up six ways from Sunday” →