Tag: breakfast
Empalmes
Empalmes
Empalmes are a popular breakfast dish in Mexico. It consists of refried beans spread in between 2 crispy fried tortillas; topped with a sunny side up egg, piquin chili salsa, and chopped cilantro.
Ingredients
- vegetable oil
- 2 tortillas
- 1/4 cup refried beans with chorizo
- 1 large egg
- piquin chili salsa
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Fry both of the tortillas for 2-3 minutes a side until crispy. Drain grease on paper towel.
- Spread the beans on one side of a tortilla. Place the other tortilla on top.
- Add a little more oil to the skillet. Fry an egg sunny side up.
Meatball Congee
Meatball Congee
Congee is one of the few Thai dishes considered breakfast food, although you can eat it anytime. Congee is made by taking cooked rice and lightly processing it in a blender with stock. The rice porridge is simmered until thickened. This particular recipe contains small pork meatballs that are added the last couple minutes of cooking; releasing more porky goodness into the porridge.
Servings: 2
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice
- 4 cups pork stock
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- ground white pepper to taste
- 1” ginger julienned
Pork Meatballs
- 12 oz ground pork
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
Garnish
- 1 green onion chopped
- 1 tsp sesame oil
Instructions
- Mix together the meatball ingredients.
- Roll into marble sized balls. Set aside.
- Place the cooked jasmine rice in a blender with 2 cups of the pork stock.
- Pulse the rice a few times until it is chopped up into smaller pieces; still slightly chunky. You don’t want the rice to be puréed.
- Pour the rice, the rest of the pork stock, fish sauce, soy sauce, and white pepper into a pot over medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring consistently.
- Add in the meatballs. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Stir in the julienned ginger.
Tasso Omelette
Tasso Omelette
Here’s another great use for tasso ham that I came up with on this Fat Tuesday, 2021. This omelette has the holy trinity of Cajun cuisine, onion, celery, and bell pepper, and some spicy homemade tasso ham as the base. Sauté them with green onions on a griddle, then pour in 3 beaten eggs. Let it set for a minute. Sprinkle cheese down the middle. Fold over the sides to the center and flip onto your plate. I also cooked up some sweet potato hash browns to accompany the omelette.
Servings: 1
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 lb tasso ham finely diced
- 3 tbsp onion finely chopped
- 3 tbsp celery finely chopped
- 3 tbsp bell pepper finely chopped
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil on a griddle over medium high heat. Sauté the tasso ham for 2-3 minutes until fat has rendered out.
- Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, and green onion to the griddle. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium. Pour in the beaten eggs. Let set for a minute.
- Push the sides of the eggs to the center to form a circular shape. Put the cheese down the middle.
- Flip the right third of the omelette to the center, then the left third on top of that.
Tasso Ham
Tasso ham is a Louisiana specialty. Instead of using a pork leg, pork shoulder is cured, dry rubbed with what is pretty much andouille sausage seasoning, and smoked. The result is a spicy, fatty, ham shoulder that is used in numerous cajun recipes such as jambalaya, gumbo, etouffee, beans and rice, and many more.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
Ingredients
- 5 lbs boneless pork shoulder cut into 1” thick steaks
- 8 oz sea salt
- 4 oz sugar
- 2 tbsp pink curing salt
- 1/4 cup white pepper
- 1/4 cup cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp marjoram
- 2 tbsp allspice
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- hickory wood chips
Instructions
- Mix together the salt, sugar, and curing salt.
- Dredge each of the pork steaks in the curing mixture.
- Place the pork steaks on a baking pan. Wrap in foil and let cure in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, rinse off the cure on each of the pork steaks. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Mix together the white pepper, cayenne, thyme, garlic powder, allspice, and marjoram.
- Season both sides of the pork steaks.
- Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees. Place the pork steaks into the smoker. Smoke for 2 hours until the internal temp reaches 150 degrees.
- Let the tasso cool completely before use.
