Salmon and Brie Stuffed French Toast

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Salmon and brie stuffed French toast

Want to take your breakfast to the next level? I'm not talking about adding bacon on bacon on bacon on some deep fried potatoes like those Epic Meal Time guys. I'm talking about the classiest thing you can do to food: stuffing it with an even fancier food. 

Stuffed French toast

Sure this isn't a breakfast you make the night after a crazy bender, and it's not the breakfast you make for the girl you met in the bathroom of the bar in the middle of your bender, even if you do end up bringing her home with you. It's the breakfast you make for someone who means something to you, because it takes time, preparation and work. Serving it to anyone else would just be a waste of time. 

Or if you're feeling selfish you can just make it for yourself. 

Chives and Salmon

brie

Salmon Fillet

Brie and other things!

Eggs n' Chives

Challah

Salmon with Maple Candied Onions

Salmon with Maple Candied Onion

• 1 large Salmon fillet
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• 1 Small Red Onion halved and sliced
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
• 1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Rice Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Bourbon
• 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Juice from Half of a Lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Add the butter to a skillet over medium high until melted. Throw the onions in the pan and saute until the onions start to sweat. Add the maple syrup, stir the onions around to ensure that they're all covered in maple. 
2. Once the onions have caramelized add the soy sauce, vinegar and bourbon to deglaze the pan. Cook until the liquid is gone.
3. Line a casserole pan with parchment paper. Lay the salmon fillet in the pan, drizzle the lemon juice, and olive oil over the top. Season with a little salt and pepper. Top with the maple onions.
4. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until done. Odds are you'll have some salmon leftover, I like to mix my leftover salmon with cream cheese and spread it on my bagels for breakfast the next morning.

Stuffin' that toast

bread becomes French Toast

Salmon and Brie Stuffed French Toast

• 1 loaf Challah Bread cut thinly (about 1 inch thick) 
• 6 oz. Brie
• Salmon from the recipe above
• Onions from the recipe above
• 1/2 cup of chopped Chives
• 1 cup Milk
• 8 Eggs (4 will be fried) 
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan grated
• 2 Tablespoons Butter

1. Make a small incision in the bottom on the sliced bread. Insert the brie into the pocket, which should be about tablespoons worth, omitting the rind of the cheese. Then add about a teaspoon worth of chives. Add enough salmon and onions to fill the pocket, leave enough room to seal the crack with brie and finish filling the pocket. 
2. Fill as many slices as you're going to make before you start cooking the toast.
3. Whisk the milk, 1/4 cup of chives, 4 eggs, and parmesan together in a shallow pan, like a pie pan or something similar. 
4. Add one tablespoon to a large skillet over medium high and melt the butter. Dunk the stuffed slices into the mixture, be sure to cover both sides, but that's pretty obvious. 
5. Fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side.
6. Top each slice with a fried egg and garnish with chives or top with a little powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Breakfast

Breakfast

Don't settle for anything less than you deserve in life. When I say that I mean, "we all eat the breakfast foods we think we deserve." Don't get in bed with the drunken bathroom bar girl of breakfast food, aka soggy dinner pancakes, snuggle up with this salmon and brie stuffed French toast instead.

All these fantastic photos by

Katy Weaver

Savory Stuffed French Toast

Breakfast dish

Seafood Meatballs and Spaghetti

Yeah that's right seafood meatballs and spaghetti. Let me guess when you clicked on the link you were expecting something simple, boring and slightly disgusting looking. It's okay, you were wrong, we all mistakes in life. You can redeem yourself by drooling over these fantastic photos that Katy took and by giving this recipe a shot at home. 

Seafood Meatballs

• 1/2 lbs cooked Salmon
• 1/4 lbs cooked Crab Meat
• 1/4 lbs cooked Clam Meat
• 1/2 cup Breadcrumbs (1/4 cup goes into the balls and 1/4 cup use to roll the meatballs in)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tablespoons Mayo
• Spicy Brown Mustard
• 1 Lemon zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 Tablespoon Olive oil

1. Odds are that you'll be able to find cooked crab and clam meat at your local grocery store, but unable to find cooked salmon. To cook the salmon I just heated the oven to 375, cut the salmon fillet in half and coated it in olive oil, salt and lemon juice. I found these cool cedar wraps next to the seafood section of my grocery store that worked well to keep the fish moist while it cooked. Bake the salmon wrapped in the cedar for about 10 minutes or until fully cooked.
2. Add all the ingredients listed above into a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands. No you can't use a spoon. 
3. Form the mixture into a small balls about an inch in diameter. Once the meat is balled, roll the little spheres in the remaining breadcrumbs. Place the balls in casserole pan and bake at 375 until golden brown. Should be about 20 minutes, be sure to turn the balls halfway through cooking.
4. Plate the balls of seafood on top of cooked spaghetti (use the instructions on the box, but add way more salt to water than what they recommend) and drizzle on these sauces. 

Pesto

• 1/4 cup Pine Nuts
• 7 sprigs of Fresh Basil
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• 3 Cloves Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Salt

1. Throw all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smoothish. Should be about 45 seconds or so.

Sweet Onion Tomato Sauce

• 1 large Sweet Onion
• 6 Roma Tomatoes diced
• 2 cloves Garlic minced
• 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Wine (I recommend a full bodied red wine, and not a sweet wine)
• 1 Lemon (you'll never guess what you're going to do to the lemon) zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon Molasses
• 1 teaspoon Poppy Seeds
• 1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 heaping teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1. Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to a medium sized sauce pan. Cover and sweat the onions until tender while stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients cook for another 10 minutes and stir occasionally to avoid burning. 
3. Use a hand mixer to blend all the large pieces of tomatoes and onion together. Blend until all the large chunks are pretty much gone. Let the sauce simmer until the meatballs are done. Once everything is plated, I recommend squeezing a lemon on top of the dish.

Sure I could have just made regular meatballs and spaghetti, but that would have been boring. This blog is all about having fun with food and trying new things out. In the same vein of thinking, I could have just made one sauce to go on the meatballs, but the flavor contrast between the two couldn't be replaced with anything else. Enjoy!

I need to step up my writing and cooking skills a peg or four, because Katy Weaver keeps knocking it out of the park with all these photos.

Peach Glazed Salmon

I asked for suggestions for dinner and the response I got was, "salmon with...peaches!" After mulling it over for a while I decided to make an Asian inspired Peach Glazed Salon dish. For making it up as I went along, I say it turned out pretty damn good. I paired the salmon with some brown rice and stir fried vegetables. 

I would suggest starting the rice first.

Brown Rice with Chives

• 1/2 cup brown rice
• 1 table spoon of chopped chives

1. Make the rice and once it's finished cooking, fluff the rice and add chives to add some color and flavor.

Peach Glazed Salmon

• 1 pound salmon fillet
• 2 peaches diced 
• 2 chives chopped (mainly for garnishing)
• Juice from one lime
• 1 teaspoon of lime zest
• 4 large leaves of mint finely chopped
• 3 sprigs of lemon thyme
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• crumbled goat cheese (optional)

1. In a bowl combine everything listed above expect the goat cheese and salmon. Mix and crush everything together with your fingers. 
2. Heat the oven to 375. Take out a baking sheet and some tin foil and set the salmon fillet on the tin foil. Pour the peach mixture (glaze? salsa? chutney?) over the salmon covering the top of the entire fillet. Wrap the salmon in the foil making a nice foil pocket so all the moisture doesn't escape. 
3. Bake for 25 minutes. 
4. Though it may look a little gross, leave the peaches on the salmon! That's where flavor lives. 

Stir frying vegetables is pretty easy to do just take out a skillet or a wok, turn the stove on medium and add the following ingredients in the order they're listed in.

Stir-Fried Vegetables

• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Bell Pepper
• Snap Peas
• Carrots
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame Seeds

There are two methods of plating this dish. The traditional way of piling everything into thirds on a plate and eating them separately. The other option is to make a tower of deliciousness and top it off with some goat cheese and chives. 

Option #1

Option #2

Another healthy and delicious dish!

Photos by Katy Weaver