Gruyere, Leek and Potato Tart with Poached Egg

After having not posted forever, I finally have a post again, this time it actually comes from the sister Blog, Country Gourmet Traveler, but because it is really a breakfast blog, I have to post it on this Blog as well

The

Breakfast is a delicious Potato, Leek and Gruyere Tart with a poached Egg and Garden Greens. Simply delicious and relatively easy to prepare.

The Gruyere Tart can actually be made in advance and can be frozen, then you just defrost the Tart and bake it up again.

Of course you can as well use this dish for a lunch or a brunch..... anything is possible. I always think of Asia where there is no continental Breakfast as we know it, yes there are breakfast dishes, but not like we have in the Western World

Anyway, let's not talk too much, here is the recipe and enjoy

Recipe

Dough
300 g Flour
135 g Butter
6 g Salt
120 ml Water

Filling
150 g Leeks
30 g Onions
10 g Garlic
150 g Potatoes
100 g Gruyere Cheese
120 ml Cream
120 ml Milk
3 ea Eggs
1 g Nutmeg
4 g Salt
2 g Pepper

Poached Egg
10 ea Eggs
1 l Water
50 ml Vinegar

Garden Greens
100 g Mesclun Lettuce
50 g Baby Carrots
50 g Green Asparagus
70 ml EV Olive Oil
30 ml Balsamic Vinegar

Method
Mix all ingredients for the dough quickly
Keep in the fridge at least 2 hours, best overnight
before using
Roll the dough 3 mm thick, cut round discs and put in Individual quiche forms, punch holes with a fork and freeze
Bake at 180 C straight from the freezer till half baked

Cut the leeks in small cubes
Cut the onions in brunoise
Chop the garlic finely
Peel the potatoes and boil till soft
Saute the vegetables in butter, add potatoes
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg

Beat egg, milk and cream till well mixed
Season withsalt and pepper

Put the vegetables in the quiches, pour Royale on top
Bake in the oven at 180 C till golden brown and baked

Bring the water and vinegar to a boil
Take the pan off the heat
Give the water a swirl and add one egg at the time
Poach to your desired cooking temperature

Plate the tart, put the poached egg on top
Cut the carrots and asparagus in fine slivers
Plate the salad next to the tart and drizzle with oil and vinegar

Recipe is for 10 friends

Pan Cakes

Now I am getting very serious, I have eaten many, many pan cakes in my life and most of them are not even worth talking or writing about because they are simply made from a pan cake mix

To make homemade pancakes is actually really easy, the only difference is that one needs to beat the egg white to make them fluffy, but otherwise there is no difference, except in taste. To have this lovely flavor of the vanilla bean is just great.

There is no baking powder in it, no preservatives, just plain nature, fresh eggs (maybe even organic ones) fresh flour, sugar, vanilla bean and milk, that's it. one can add of course the usual suspects, bananas, blueberries, chocolate chips or anything else that makes the pan cakes even more irresistible

We had ours just plain but then we had some lovely crispy bacon with it, that was really a great breakfast treat

The recipe makes a huge stack of pan cakes, so make sure you invite enough friends to try them out, you will see it is a great success

Try it out!

450 g Flour
180 g Sugar
6 ea Egg yolk
6 ea Egg white
300 ml Cream
300 ml Milk
Half a Vanilla Bean

Mix all ingredients together except egg white
Beat egg white till soft peak
Fold under the batter

A Swiss Tradition: Bircher Muesli

I know, I know, most of us can't even pronounce it properly, but what the heck, it is a lovely start of the day, admittedly not as healthy anymore as the original one.

The original one comes from the Bircher Clinic, a luxurious retreat of the rich and famous in Zurich when they want to loose weight. In these retreat Dr. Bircher concocted this lovely breakfast containing oats, loads of grated apples, nuts, raisins and milk. That's it, no more! Yes like I said, it is to loose weight and live healthy.

Now there is of course a modern version (there are many, many modern versions by the way) but this one is really so delicious, you will not be able to resist.

The main ingredients are still the same, oats, milk, apples and nuts, but now comes the difference, I put in yogurt, sugar, honey, other fruit and to top it off, just before serving a little bit of whipped cream. This is decadent, I know, but once you try it, then you will be addicted to it, totally and forever.

Now here is the recipe for 10 Friends

200 g (9 oz) Oats
50 g (2 oz) Sugar
25 g (1 oz) Honey
500 ml (0.5 quart) Milk
500 g (0.5 quart) Yogurt, plain unsweetened
450 g (1 lb) Apples
50 g (2 oz) Raisins
100 g (3.5 oz) Hazelnuts, ground
30 ml (1 oz) Lemon Juice

2 Bananas
Fresh Berries
Any other fruit

60 ml (2oz) Whipped Cream

Method
Mix the oats with sugar, milk, honey and yogurt
Wash the apples and then grate them with the skin into the Muesli, mix again
Add raisins and hazelnuts
Leave it for a couple of hours to rest, if needed add a bit more milk

The fresh fruit and berries are optional as well, but will enhance the Bircher Muesli so much, I always say the more fruit the better it will be

Whip the cream and carefully fold into the Muesli

Serve and enjoy

The perfect scrambled egg

It is not difficult to make a scrambled egg.......so why do we get so often a scrambled egg that is not perfect, not even close to perfect, sometimes so bad that it is just terrible?

Very simple, it is actually not that easy to make an absolutely perfect scrambled egg, one has to follow a couple of basic rules, have a good non stick pan, heat should not be too high, the egg needs to be seasoned only slightly and only before it is cooked and then of course.....you need really good, fresh eggs! There really is a difference between a good egg and a not so good egg.

The secret is to have some cold cream and add it at the end when the eggs are basically cooked as this will stop the cooking

So that is what you need for 4 people

8 ea Organic, fresh Eggs
2 Pinch of Salt
1 Pinch of white ground Pepper
50 g (1.8 oz) Butter
90 ml (3 oz) Cream

Whisk the eggs with a whisk till they are well scrambled














Heat a non stick pan to medium heat
Add the Butter, melt. It will bubble but should not get brown
Then add the whisked eggs, season now with salt and pepper

With a non scratch spatula mix the eggs on the heat till they are nicely scrambled

When the eggs are done add the cream, mix and take off the heat.

Serve immediately with garnishes of your choice