Wish you all had a wonderful Christmas with the loved ones, and tons of delicious homemade food. Ah..how much I miss the freshly baked bread dipped in gravy made from the rotisserie chicken drippings when living in Minnesota.
Such mouth watering feast does not come easily. All the prep work, cooking process, especially the cleaning afterwards can be time consuming. It's time to take a break but without sacrificing the joy of eating yummy homemade meal. A couple store bought blueberry bagels and high quality jam can save quite some efforts when preparing a simply meal for two.
Open-faced blueberry bagel with creamy scrambled eggs and apple preserves -
Ingredients? (for two)
- 2 small blueberry bagels
- 3 eggs
- 1 sprig of thyme plus extra sprigs for garnish
- 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream
- Some cream cheese
- Some apple preserve or any preferred jam
- Tiny pinch of salt
- Tiny pinch of freshly ground black pepper
How?
Cut each bagel into two equal halves then transfer to a baking dish, cut side up. Heat them up in the oven with medium high heat, till the edges turns slightly crunchy or till desired texture.
Once ready, spread some cream cheese while the bagels are still hot.
Pinch the tip of the thyme sprig with one hand. In the other hand, run the fingers down to the bottom to get the leaves. Give them a few rough chops if the falling pieces are too big.
Beat the eggs together with 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, tiny pinch of salt, tiny pinch of black pepper, and some thyme.
Add the butter to a pan and turn to medium heat. Once the butter melts but not bubbling yet, pour in the egg mixture and stir constantly to prevent the bottom from hardening. Soft and creamy texture is what we are looking for so the cooking time is fairly quick, less than 1 minute. The eggs should still look semi-runny, kind of resembles soft cheese when ready. Scoop out the lightly scrambled eggs and add to the bagel halves.
Add a spoonful of apple preserve or other type of jam on top of the eggs then garnish with thyme sprig.
I got the apple preserve from my friend, which she used palm sugar instead of regular granulated sugar when making it - that's why the darker color.
Can you see the creamy texture of the lightly scrambled eggs? It might take a few practices in order to get the right consistency. However, I personally think it's better to under-cook the eggs than having tough and drier version for this bagel recipe.
Now that Christmas has passed, are you ready for New Year's celebration?
Just trying to balance off the beefy diet with some healthy greens.
Ingredients?
- 1 medium to large steak
- 1 small box of arugula
- 8 walnuts
- Some honey
- Small handful of dried cranberries
- Some shaved Parmesan cheese
- Some sea salt
- Some freshly ground black pepper
- Little bit of olive oil
Dressing:
- Some balsamic vinegar
- Some extra virgin olive oil
- Small pinch of sea salt
- Small pinch of freshly ground black pepper
How?
Remove the steak from the fridge and let it stand in room temperature for about 10 minutes before cooking. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Brush a thin layer of olive oil to a grill pan and turn to medium high heat.
Once the pan gets hot, transfer the steak over. Do not move it once set down to the grill till about 30 seconds later, otherwise the meat might stick onto the grill. However, there's no need to touch the steak until its ready to be flipped. Sear for about 2 minutes on each side, the exact time varies depending on the thickness of the steak and how rare you'd like it to be. Medium to medium rare are good for this salad recipe.
Let the steak rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. While waiting, let's get the remaining ingredients ready.
Take a small non-stick pan and turn to medium high heat. Add in the walnut and toast till the nutty aroma comes out. Drizzle a little honey over the walnuts. The walnuts might stick to each other once cool down but just separate them by hand when plating.
In a container, mix together about one spoonful of balsamic vinegar, small pinch of sea salt, small pinch of freshly ground black pepper, and some extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil should be a little more than the balsamic vinegar. Shake or mix well, this will be the salad dressing.
Take a big bowl and toss the arugula with enough salad dressing. Plate the seasoned arugula to a big serving plate. Arrange some honey toasted walnuts, shaved Parmesan, and dried cranberries throughout.
Lastly, transfer sliced steak next to the salad.
You can substitute the arugula with other types of salad greens. However, for such headstrong beefy steak, I think the peppery arugula pairs the best.
Other salad recipes:
