eggs – THE DUDE OF FOOD

Eggs, bacon and eggplant! for breakfast?

It’s not everyday that you hear about eggplant on your breakfast plate but the other day that is exactly what I made. I had some eggplant left over from the night before along with some potatoes. I cooked up some bacon and then heated the left over eggplant and potatoes in the same pan. Next, I fried up a couple of eggs and made a hearty and delicious breakfast as seen above.

Using leftovers is a fun thing to throw in your breakfast mix. I have warmed up Chinese food from the night before and scrambled a couple of eggs into it on many occasions. Another foodie thing that I do is to scramble up some eggs and throw them on top of slices of warmed up the remaining pizza from the night before. Sometimes I throw out the bottom bun and fold my Breakfast Jacks in half like a taco.

My dog eats chicken so I cook a lot of it. Another thing I like to do is to shred some chicken and scramble it up with some eggs. Top the blend off with a little grated cheddar cheese and black pepper and you’re doing some cool stuff. A variation I like to prepare is after cooking a couple pieces of bacon I drop 2 turkey breast slices in the pan and heat that up before frying up a couple of eggs. Then after patting the grease off the bacon I make a taco out of the turkey breast. Use the heated breast slice like a tortilla I add a half a slice of bacon, some scrambled eggs and a little pinch of grated cheese. Splash with a little salsa verde and you will not be disappointed.

Eggs have been in the diets of humans for many centuries. Records from India show that by 3200 BC wild birds were captured and kept for their egg production. Roman soldiers would eat deviled eggs for snacks and a popular dessert was fried eggs with honey in Rome. Ancient Egyptians ate ostrich eggs.

Interestingly, Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, is credited with the introduction of bacon and eggs into the American breakfast diet after consulting doctors and confirming that eating a big breakfast is better for people.

Lastly, I grew up with chickens in the yard so we always had fresh eggs with dark orange yolks for breakfast. My mom would fry and egg and put it on toast like the photo below from Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen.

“Egg, chicken and potato salad is a delicious ‘super food’.” the Dude of Food

Body builders, fighters, athletes, nutritionists, historians, archivists and intelligent eaters everywhere all agree that eggs and chicken are good sources of protein and carbs are good for a body in motion. They too would agree upon the fact that vegetables are good for folks. So when I mixed eggs, chicken, potatoes, celery and onions together, in theory, I made super food, no? The recipe ingredients follow at the end of article.

I started by peeling, cubing and boiling 3 potatoes in salted water. I use and love my Oneida knife. I’m not endorsed by them but this knife and I have grown together in the kitchen and we both try to look good while staying sharp.

You can add steamed peas to the mix if you like. If so now is the time to retrieve them from the freezer and steam a cup full of them. Once steamed, cover and let sit.

Now is the time to chop the vegetables, onions and celery, while the potatoes are warming up. I like to leave the onion a little chunkier and dice the celery up pretty small as you can see in the photo.

Peel and chop up the hard boiled eggs.

Remove the meat from the precooked chicken thighs.

Once the potatoes are cooked you need to drain them and return them to the hot pan. Add the chopped onions, celery, eggs and chicken to the warm potatoes. If you are adding peas add them now too. Stir in the mayo, mustard, vinegar, relish and spices. No need to stir hard or use mixer as the potatoes are soft and will become mashed if you mix vigorously. It’s not bad, as some may prefer the texture, but personally I like the potatoes to maintain some cube shape. The taste is the same.

Once mixed you can enjoy warm with crackers or cool in fridge and enjoy in lettuce bowls later or between toasted sourdough slices in the morning with a slice of cheese. It’s a bit like tapas and goes great with wine, anti pasta salads, appetizer trays and sunsets.

Now getting back to the nutritional status of being called a ‘super food’. I think it certainly qualifies for the title as it tastes ‘super’. The Dude of Food fully approves and recommends trying this. This new super food group deserves all 5+ Golden Fork Awards if any are to be given.

3 large gold potatoes
4 hard boiled eggs
4 chicken cooked thighs
3 chopped celery sticks
2 chopped green onion stalks
1/4 chopped white onion
3 spoon fulls of mayonnaise
3 circle squirt of yellow mustard
1 spoon full of dill relish
2 cap fulls apple cider vinegar
Add salt, pepper, paprika to your taste.

Additional options could include but certainly not limited to: avocado, peas, sour cream, ranch dressing or raisins. If you add grapes then we probably aren’t friends.

the Dude of Food gets blessed. 2 yolks – no jokes

Is it the year of the chicken or what?

Don’t know what they are feeding these chickens but my luck seems to be changing in 2015. The first egg i cracked revealed 2 yolks inside! It happened to me at the sushi bar with a double yolked quails egg too!

Now if i can just get that kind of return when i buy beers!

Border Grill weekend brunch awesomeness.

If you like to be refreshed with a delicious fresh squeezed orange juice mimosa, then you need to get yourself over to the Border Grill in Santa Monica one of these weekends. Bartender Geronimo will keep an eye on your glass so you can concentrate on what awesome dish to order next.

Once you get your whistle wetted, it’s time to settle into an entree section with some incredible dishes to choose from. Chef Alex prepares these dishes with a full spectrum of forethought and care. The meats are naturally raised. All of the produce is organically grown on local farms.

The shrimp grits were pretty good and a great way to begin. The shrimps were big and they had a cajun taste to them that reminded me of Drew Brees and the Saints. The Yucatan eggs benedict stoked my taste buds pretty hard. The flaky crusted bisquit was light and perfect.

The next thing I had was another mimosa, and the steak and eggs. This experience was cool.

It seemed I just couldn’t go wrong.

The beef came and reminded of that delicious skirt steak from the Brazilian steak house. It was tender and tasty with a perfectly cooked egg on it.

I was loving it.

Geronimo brought me another mimosa and chef Alex made some machaca chilaquiles for me. I was having a really good time just hanging out and enjoying really delicious food. The chilaquiles and mimosa came and my day just kept getting better. The tender chunks of beef were in a tasty sauce with guacamole, light eggs and pico de gallo. Delicious.

The next thing I tried were the Oaxacan pancakes. These were super yummy. They were light and had Mexican chocolate chips and coffee caramel syrup with whipped cream on them. Like I said, they were really good.

The staff at the Border Grill is amazing. I have tried both the downtown and Santa Monica spots and have found everyone to be really friendly and knowledgeable. This proved true again and my crush on the Border Grill became stronger.

The next item i tried was the peanut butter & jelly with bacon, egg and jalapeno sandwich. It was not my favorite thing, but I have to say it was pretty good. Standing on it’s own it was good, but the other dishes were just so tasty that they all couldn’t be the best.

Chef Alex came out and introduced himself and was another really nice person from the Border Grill tribe.

He was real cool, knowledgeable and hospitable. He let me in on a secret and made me the daily special ‘special’ which was a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with an egg. Again my taste buds danced and my good time continued.

The level of awareness is respectable. These folks have earned their places and a lot of thought and preparation goes into this operation to ensure your good experience.

A friend of mine arrived and she tried some of the things i hadn’t so I tasted the bisquit and gravy and the bread pudding french toast. The french toast is another favorite.

This brunch happens in Santa Monica from 10am-3p and if you like food or mimosas, then the Dude highly recommends you give this a try. If you don’t like this you’re still a caveman.

Satisfaction guaranteed.