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Breakfast for Dinner, BFD or BRINNER!

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“Brinner”, Breakfast-For-Dinner, or BFD is a fun option for last-minute dinner change-up and it is also very economical.

Sweet, savory, or both, Brinner options are simple, nutritious, and filling. Many recipes can be altered based on what you have available in your fridge and pantry: Just swap meat, veggies, fruit, cheeses, and herbs to make it work for you.

Eggs are one of the staples in my home kitchen pantry.

Always check out my Instagram @the5oclockrush  to see my daily dinners photos.

Baked Eggs with Italian Sausage and Two Kinds of Potatoes Hash Browns

Makes 4-6 servings

Baked Eggs with an Italian Sausage and 2 Potatoes Hash Browns

Baked Eggs with an Italian Sausage and 2 Potatoes Hash Browns

Continue to the recipe

Let’s Cook Chicken in Milk! Really?

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As I spent the weekend browsing through the food blogs and Instagram accounts that I follow, I came across the mention of Jamie Oliver’s infamous recipe for “Chicken in Milk” as the best chicken dish they had ever tasted.

Chicken cooked in Milk!? Really?

When you look at the components of the recipe it is quite a peculiar combination. Lemons, cinnamon, sage and milk.

OK Lets do this….

Chicken in Milk Recipe

Prep: approx. 15 min
Cook: 1 hr 40 min

Adapted from Chicken in Milk | Chicken Recipes | Jamie Oliver Recipes
Chicken in Milk served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach

Chicken in Milk served with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach

Ingredients

Assembling the ingredients

Assembling the ingredients

  • 1 (3 pound/ 1.5 kilogram) whole chicken
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup of  butter or 4 tbsp of EV olive oil
  • 1/2 of chopped Sweet Vidalia onion
  • 1-2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 10+ garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 1/2 cups of skim milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and find a snug-fitting covered pot for the chicken. (I used my Oval French Oven | Le Creuset Canada )

Season the chicken very generously all over with salt and pepper, and fry it in the butter/olive oil, turning it to get an even colour all over, until golden.

The tasty goodness at the bottom of the pan can be used to lightly saute the onions.

Add the remaining ingredients and place your chicken back in the pot, and cook covered in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

Braised Chicken

Braised Chicken

Baste with the cooking juice when you remember. Cook under covered for the last 40 minutes of cooking.

The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, leaving little curds bathed in chicken juices, and not homogenized; this appearance is less appealing. Remove the cinnamon sticks, and used an immersion hand blender to make sauce infused with lemon and balanced with an aromatic flavour from the cinnamon and sage.

To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of the lemony sauce over the chicken.

Serve with wilted spinach and some mashed potatoes. And a crusty baguette would be great to sop up the delicious sauce.

 

 

 

Chicken in Milk with sauteed Spinach, grilled Asparagus, smashed potatoes in a Lemony Corn Sauce

Chicken in Milk with sauteed Spinach, grilled Asparagus, smashed potatoes in a Lemony Corn Sauce

Tip: Make sure that you season the chicken very generously. Any extra time that you take to brown the chicken on ALL sides will embark more flavour in the end product. Try to achieve a deep golden colour on the skin.

The next time I make this I will also add the juice of 1 lemon for an added kick. 😉

The Recipe for a Butternut Squash Risotto

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Butternut Squash Risotto garnished with saute cremini mushrooms, toasted pinenuts and finely chopped sage leaves.

Butternut Squash Risotto garnished with saute cremini mushrooms, toasted pinenuts and finely chopped sage leaves.

Risotto is a dish that is easy to prepare and it really is about developing the technique.  The rice is cooked briefly in a soffritto of onion and olive oil this is to coat each grain in fat. I added finely chopped fennel or finocchio , garlic and shallots to my soffritto.  Once the onions are translucent and the rice is toasted add a cup or more of white wine to be absorbed by the rice.  You can turned the heat up to a medium high heat and gradually add a couple ladles of very hot stock. I used a low sodium vegetable stock. The process of making risotto is to gradually add the stock in small amounts while stirring gently, almost constantly. This develops the starch and creates that smooth creamy textured liquid. I account that the completed risotto should be 18-20 minutes.  So in the remaining minutes, I added the roasted butternut squash then it is finished with a finely grated cheese either Parmesan or a Pecorino Romano. I prefer the Romano. Some cooks will add small pats of cubed butter but I feel that if you have cooked the risotto properly you will not need this to create creamy texture. Make sure adjust the flavour with salt and pepper.  The risotto will be rich and creamy but still with some resistance or bite: al dente, and with separate grains.  I garnished my finished Butternut Squash Risotto with saute cremini mushrooms, toasted pinenuts and finely chopped sage.

Soffritto of onions and garlic in olive oil
Translucent onions and garlic then toast the rice
Adding in white wine for flavour
Gradually adding vegetable stock
Adding in the Butternut Squash
Finished Risotto with addition of Romano cheese and sage

3 cups of roasted butternut squash, cubed

3 tbsp. of olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1/4 cup of fennel, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely minced

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice

1 cup of white wine

7 1/2 – 8 cups of low sodium vegetable stock

1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

season with salt and white pepper

garnish with saute cremini mushrooms, toasted pinenuts and finely chopped sage

Makes approx. 6 servings

Enjoy! 🙂

Carrot Sweet Potato Apple Muffins from Juicing Pulp

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Juicing is a new adventure in my household. It is time-consuming but well worth it. But sooooo much waste. I was thinking of how I could use the excess to incorporate in other recipes. In cooked recipes such as soups, sauces and stews or baked goods such as cakes, muffins breads.

A sweet and pleasantly spicy carrot-sweet potato-apple-ginger juice will leave you with two to three cups of very usable pulp. Since the ingredients used here are relatively sweet, muffins seemed like a good choice for using what was left of the produce after juicing.

Please note that it is not necessary to peel, trim, or core fruits and veggies in order for them to juice properly. But to incorporate into other recipes it ensures that all the pulp is edible and ready to use. And this is a lesson learned as I had to pass my pulp through a food mill in search of apple seeds! 😉

Fresh Juices
The Ingredients

Carrot Sweet Potato Apple Muffins

2 cups carrot/sweet potato/apple/ginger pulp

1½ cups flour (all-purpose or whole wheat pastry, or a combination)

½ cup of large rolled oatsMuffins

¼ cup of ground flax-seed

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoons each of cinnamon and ground nutmeg

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1¼ cups milk or rice/soy milk

¼ cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

chocolate chips (optional)

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F, and line a 12-cup muffin tin.
  • Combine the flour, oats, ground flax seed, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground nutmeg and brown sugar in a large bowl and stir with a whisk or a fork. In a smaller bowl, combine oil, milk and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine, being careful not to over mix. Fold in the pulp and chocolate chips, if using.
  • Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, before removing muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.

The muffins are very moist and satisfying.

 

Pan Roasted Turkey Breast with Sweet Potato and Steamed Baby Spinach

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Preheat the oven to 400℉. Wash, pierce and roast the sweet potatoes on a foil lined pan in the oven for approx. 45 min.

I seasoned the turkey breast liberally with kosher salt and Rickard Ultimate Chicken Seasoning. My cast iron was smoking hot with a tablespoon of canola oil. Place the turkey breast in the pan. Season the other side of the breast. Be patient before your flip it over, once the breast no longer “sticks” flip it over. Place the pan in a 400 degree oven. The turkey breast I had purchased was very large (no bone or filet attached). I checked and flipped it again at 10-12 minutes. An internal cooking temperature of 165 ℉ (74 ℃). Remember that it will continue to cook as the breast rests. 

While the turkey breast is roasting, place washed baby spinach in a large frying pan on high. It is not necessary to add any liquid to the pan for spinach, there is plenty naturally. Steam cover until “almost” cooked and shut off to finish. Don’t over cook.

Rested and Sliced

Once the turkey breast is done and has rested slice and serve with drained buttered spinach and roasted sweet potato.

Pan Roasted Turkey Breast with sweet potato and steamed baby spinach

Pan Roasted Turkey Breast with sweet potato and steamed baby spinach