Viva La Vida Breakfast!

Poached Eggs with Tomato and Banana Sauce & New Potato Wedge Omelette

There's no question how much of a breakfast person I am. I can skip lunch, and sleep on an empty stomach but NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE can take my breakfast away. I almost never skip breakfast. I would intentionally wake up early enough so that I can have a simple breakfast before I head out for Yoga. On days when I have the luxury of having long breakfast at home, I'd plan the menu a night before. Yes, that's how obssessed I am with my breakfast. I literally can have breakfast for morning, lunch and dinner. I'm sure Pee Wee would approve.

Poached Egg with Tomato and Banana Sauce

Kind of bizarre, isn't it? At the same time I couldn't resist to find out what it taste like. I'm always hesistant when it comes to poaching eggs. I'm intimidated by having to scoop the egg while the yolk is still runny. Actually I did a rather good job this time; without knowing what I did right..... I wish I had taken a picture before they were smothered by the sauce. Poached eggs are typically served over toasted bread. I didn't. I served it with a side of mixed greens with sun-dried tomatoes and blue cheese. I have to say that the taste of melted butter, sweetness of bananas and sourness of tomatoes blend very well together. The recipe uses water. But I like cream. It gives a sort of volume and creaminess to the texture. Yum~

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 banana, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
cream (adjust)

1. Boil a pan of water with two tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider vinigar) to simmer. Break egg into a bowl and tip it over simmering water. Repeat with the other eggs. When the eggs are set, remove from pan with slotted spoon and let dry on paper towel.
2. Melt a tablespoon of butter. Add chopped tomatoes and bananas. Fry for a minute. Stir in cream (or water if you don't like to use cream) and let simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
3. Pour the sauce over poached eggs to serve.
   

One of the things I like about writing this food blog is instead of just following the recipes, I now spend more time researching for nutrition information and the "how, why, where, when, what" of cooking. For instance, many times I come across recipes that use different varieties of potatoes: Russel, fingerling, new potatoes, etc. Are they that much different? So I found this Potato Council website from British.

Apparently there are thousands of different varieties of potatoes grown around the world. Potatoes are often categorized according to season. For instance, new potatoes are planted in the winter, ready for harvesting in spring or early summer. They are sometimes called early potatoes. Potatoes harvested in the late summer or early autumn, instead of being called "late" or "old", are known as maincrop potatoes.

They also differ in texture- some are firm and set, while others are fluffy, waxy, or floury. If you want to make a mash, you want a floury potato that has higher dry matter and brighter and more granular in appearance. On the other hand, waxy potatoes are good for salad because they are good at staying firm and keeping their shape.

So there's my homework. Nevertheless, when it comes to shopping for potatoes, there really isn't much to be sophisticated about. Regardless of the shape, size, colour, they are all labeled "potatoes". I guess if I wanted to, I could probably learn to distiguish them from the appearance. But I digress.

New Potato Wedge Omelette

I didn't bother to investigate if the potato I used was new potato or otherwise. It's just one of those washed potatoes in the supermarket vegetable corner. Don't be too excited by its name (as I did): it's very much a frittata made with potato. Or Spanish tortilla. I made a few adjustment to the recipe:

1. I added chopped fresh herbs - tarragon, parsley, oregano and thyme.
2. I used a mix of Cheddar and Romano cheese
3. Cream instead of milk
4. It was served with chili mayonaise on a bed of vinaigrette arugula and fresh cherry tomatoes with pine nuts.
5. I top the omelette with more quartered tomatoes before baking.
   

Ingredients

• 350g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into wedges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g sweetcorn
• 4 medium eggs, beaten
• Dash of milk
• Salt and black pepper
• 75g Cheshire cheese, grated

1. Place the new potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water. Cover and simmer until tender. Drain.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. (Add mixed herbs here if you are using). Add the sweetcorn and potatoes and fry for 1 minute.
3. Lightly beat the eggs, milk (or cream), salt, pepper and half the cheese (cheddar). Add to the pan and cook gently for 3-4 minutes until almost set.
4. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese (Romano) and place under a preheated oven until golden.
5. Cut into 8 wedges and serve with tomato ketchup and crisps of the flavour of your choice.