Breakfast #45: Soft Boiled Eggs with Truffle Oil and Mushroom Salt

It’s been a while since I have been on my breakfast soapbox here, so allow me to once again wax evangelical about my favorite meal. You all know how breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day, I am sure. It’s been a constant refrain of a million cereal commercials and mothers all around the world. So, I won’t bother repeating it…although it seems I just did.

Anyway.

I’m here to tell you that breakfast can be your best friend. It is exactly what you need at the beginning of your day, when the carnival of “the whole world” and all its demands/wonders/foibles has not yet made its way to you. It can be that rah-rah-rah that gets you going. It can be that comforting hug that tells you that this too shall pass. It can be the buttressing you need to get through an especially trying workday. It can be the elixir that lets you move mountains/change the world/answer 100 emails/do the laundry.

When I say breakfast, I don’t just mean what you eat, but also the time you take to eat it. Giving yourself a dedicated moment (no matter how long or short – I prefer long and luxurious, but I am aware that we do live in the real world majority of the time) to start your engine can be just as important as what you use to start it.

What’s that you say? You’re not a morning person? Well, let me tell you, with much resolution, neither am I. I hold a PhD in sleep and have, in the past, spent a good part of my life waking up at noon. But I can promise you, in all sincerity, that it is worth it. It really sets the tone for my day, gets me started confident and raring to go, instead of rushing forth blindly, blouse untucked, without plan or compass. It also keeps me from getting to lunch time starving, devouring the closest thing at hand, whether that be a week-old serving of Spam or 3 stale Krispy Kreme donuts.

Believe you me, breakfast is in all our best interests. Take the time to enjoy it. Here’s another way how.

Soft Boiled Eggs with Truffle Oil and Mushroom Salt (and toast soldiers)

• 2 eggs (the best you can find/afford)
• A drizzle of truffle oil, to taste
• A sprinkling of mushroom salt, to taste
• Toast soldiers, to serve

- Cook your eggs soft boiled using your preferred soft-boiling method. I won’t claim to have the best or sure-fire way of doing this. It’s a much-debated topic that I won’t get into here. If you’d like to know though, this is how we do it: I place the 2 eggs in room temperature water in a small pan, then place on high heat for about 5-7 minutes. I like my soft boiled very soft…just-set whites and gloriously runny yolks-gone-wild!
- While your eggs are cooking, make your toast soldiers. Toast a slice of bread, and then cut lengthways into 4 strips. You can butter these if you wish, but I forwent the butter since I used truffle oil in the eggs. A moment of uncharacteristic restraint….who knew?
- When your eggs are done, peel the tops off gently and scoop the eggs into a small bowl or cup.
- Drizzle truffle oil over the eggs and sprinkle with mushroom salt. Mix and taste…adjust seasoning. Consume immediately!

You can dunk the soldiers in the eggs or, as I love to do, just toss the soldiers into the eggs and press them down until all the egg is absorbed and the bread is a soggy mess of truffle-mushroom egginess!

Although we would all benefit, both health-wise and in taste, from buying free range eggs, their rich flavorful yolks are most especially enjoyed in preparations like these. So do spring for them if you can! The mushroom salt I chanced upon at one of my favorite stores, owned and operated by friends who are passionate about all things local and sustainable. You can check it out here. If you are in Manila I highly recommend a visit…it’s a charming general store type gem offering all sorts of locally sourced goodies. Bring your own containers if you want to stock up on salt and rice. I love the subasta cacao, any of the sea salts, and the lemongrass hand wash.

I hope this has inspired you somewhat, even just a little bit, to go and set your alarm clock a smidgen earlier, and celebrate breakfast! Rise and shine everyone! :)

Simple Wonton Noodle Soup

For the most part, Saturday market time is Me Time. C is out mountain biking in, oh, some mountain somewhere. Little C is asleep or playing with the nanny. Weekend activities have yet to start, or even be planned. It’s a quiet pocket of morning that is all mine. Going over the fresh produce, seeing the new offerings from our local farms, chatting with the purveyors, (tasting all the free samples!), finding something to take home for breakfast.

I walk to my neighborhood weekend market with my bags in tow. If it looks like rain I take my battered umbrella (a fake-y Barca one we had to procure on our honeymoon during a rainy jaunt to Cadaques). The walk in itself is a time for reflection (and probably the only exercise I get every week…I know, don’t even say it). A gentle reminder to be grateful for the blessings in my life, both big and small – my family, a market that is a short walk away, coffee, hot showers & cold sheets, warm soup on a rainy night.

And all the artisans and experts, the zealous and new, along with the experienced though still as fervent, that cross my path. One of my favorites is a pair of Chinese ladies who make and sell homemade dim sum and noodles. They man a small table brimming with siomai, wontons, kikiam, fresh noodles, lobster balls, XO sauce, and all sorts of things I want to make off with. The dim sum is frozen so you can keep some stored away in the freezer for emergency wonton noodle soup.

Simple Wonton Noodle Soup

• 120 grams egg noodles
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 red onion sliced
• 10-12 pcs wonton
• 1-2 bunches bok choy, trimmed and leaves separated
• 1 bunch enoki mushrooms, bottom trimmed and separated
• A splash or 2 of soy sauce
• 6 stalks green onion, sliced on the diagonal

- Cook the egg noodles as per package directions and set aside.
- Place stock, ginger, and onion in a pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the onion is soft.
- Add the wontons into the pot and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add bok choy and mushrooms and simmer a further 5-10 minutes or until everything is cooked.
- Add a splash or two of soy sauce to taste. Take the pot of the heat.
- Pile noodles in individual bowls. Pour soup over the noodles making sure each serving gets some vegetables and wontons. Garnish each serving with sliced green onions.

This soup hits the spot on a rainy night after a tough day of work when you both want something homespun and nourishing, but at the same time don’t have the energy to prepare anything too involved. It’s all a matter of getting your noodles done, and, at the same time, putting everything in another pot to cook. We like it with some chili oil or chili-garlic oil (the type you have with siomai) drizzled on top. The volumes are far from specific as you can add as little or as much as you want (or you have). Switch the enoki with shitake or add more fresh herbs to garnish -- you can get as fancy or as bare-bones as you want with this. This version, as the title implies, is very basic...great as is but also good to build on. Until I finally attempt making my own wontons, my two ladies have got me covered. Recipe suggestions are very welcome though!

I am a big believer of Me Time for all people (young, old, male, female, married, single). Whether it’s solo market meandering, an afternoon at the spa, holing up in a museum or a bookstore, or hunting down the perfect stiletto, I think it’s important that every person finds time just for themselves. Humans need to nurture themselves to be better to other humans...my humble opinion :)

Creamy Avocado Soba

I had been talking about living in the city so much that I completely forgot that my mum has a plot not too far out that yields a bit of fresh fruit now and then (not a grand farm or anything…excitement be reigned!). That is until she sent over a bunch of avocados. Now, understand that I had been on an avocado idea hunt since these eggs so the arrival of these impossibly dark burgundy globes was met with much delight.

A big part of the harvest was, at C’s request, prepared simply with milk and sugar. This is actually a very common way of preparing avocado here, although perhaps a bit strange to those who’ve only had its savory incarnations. But really, I swear it, almost all children here remember this from their childhood…creamy avocado mashed with milk and sugar, and kept chilled in the fridge, or frozen in the freezer (a criminally simple “cheat’s” ice cream).

But this isn’t about the buttery-sweet avocado pseudo-sorbet that is lounging in my freezer, though that would deserve more than some acclaim. This is about a fantastic avocado idea I found here. So simple, and so unequivocally good. If you are looking for a way to use your avocados this could be your new best friend.

Creamy Avocado Soba
(adapted from Oh She Glows’ 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta)

• 1 medium avocado, pitted
• Juice from half a lemon
• Zest from half a lemon
• 1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• About 100 grams (or whatever would be 2 servings for you) cha soba (Japanese green tea buckwheat noodles)
• Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 3 stalks green onions, sliced (white and light green parts)

- Cook your cha soba as per package instructions. If the instructions are in Japanese, and you don’t read Japanese, then cook as you would regular pasta but only for about 5 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge into a bowl of ice water. Swish the noodles around a bit with your hand, and then drain again.
- Place garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor (I used my immersion blender) and process until smooth. Add the avocado and salt and process again until smooth and creamy.
- Place your cooked and drained noodles in a bowl with the avocado sauce and toss until combined. Add lemon zest and pepper and toss again. Garnish with green onions.

The minute I took a swipe of this sauce from the side of my stick blender with my finger I was hooked, lined, and totally sinker’d. Rich, silken, and garlicky. Like some divine avocado aioli. The original recipe includes an optional addition of basil which, as I didn’t have any on hand, I left out. I paired it instead with cha soba noodles and garnished it with green onions…changes that I think worked well. Although I know I will eventually try it with basil because doesn’t that sound just too delicious?

It should be noted, as mentioned in the original, that the pasta does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. I am happy to report though that I found a way to have this the next day. What I did was I only mixed enough pasta and sauce together for one serving. I stored the rest of the noodles and sauce in separate containers in the fridge. The next day I re-heated the noodles only. When the noodles are warm, toss with the sauce. Voila! I also tossed in some leftover salmon and it did splendidly.

I am just back from a very full weekend at the beach with the lovely folks I work with. Lots of fun to say the least, but my weary limbs are calling for my blankies. Hope you had an equally gratifying weekend! And I hope you have spot of time, and an avocado, to try this dish soon!

Red-cooked Pork Belly Banh Mi

At (almost) all hours, I can hear the sound of cars honking their horns, occasional sirens, traffic…the sounds that remind you that you live in the middle of a busy city. This is the symphony that I have slept to for the past five years…the same symphony that little C has learned to sleep to as well. No birds chirping, no fresh breeze, no vegetable garden to tend or wide green spaces where little C can roam.

Am I complaining? Not at all! I love living in the city. I love the hustle and bustle. I love being near everything that I want to be near. I love having a 24-hour pharmacy nearby. I love looking over my teeny-tiny balcony seeing the windows of the flats nearby, wondering at all the stories unfolding in each. I love seeing all the people, rushing here or there, always with purpose. I love knowing, even during those times when I am lazy and just dig myself deeper into the duvet, that it all goes on around me – that quick, unending, untiring heartbeat…the life under the concrete, fed by sweat and aspirations.

I love the energy of cities.

Nevertheless, even the most ardent devotees of the concrete jungle need to escape, even for just a weekend. A change of scenery, even if you are just a short hop away can do wonders for recharging the body, mind, and soul. And if that escape involves good friends, great food, and a lovely setting, well, even better!

So I’ll be off for the weekend, we are packing the little one and all her accouterments into our tiny red car and heading for cooler breezes.

Meanwhile, I leave you with this, a wonderful revival of our left-over red-cooked pork belly. I can’t take credit for the idea though. I came from my friend M who, when I posted this up, mentioned that it would make a great banh mi. Now, don’t get me started on all I ate in Hanoi, or how I hopped on the back of our hotel’s staff’s scooter to get to his banh mi place. I thought it was a genius idea to say the very least. And it was...and how!

A banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich of their local baguette (which has a softer crust than a French baguette) and is traditionally made with pickled vegetables (carrots and daikon), cucumber, chili, cilantro, pate, mayonnaise, and some sort of meat. You can also add a fried egg. Yes, yum.

For this version: I spread one side of the baguette with mayo, piled on some wild rocket, then some homemade pickled cucumber slices I had in the fridge, put the slices of red cooked pork belly over that, topped with some pickled carrot and a generous sprinkling of my latest herb-discovery-turned-obsession…micro cilantro. The result? An absolutely stellar sandwich. I owe M a great debt. Melty sweet/sticky/spicy pork belly, peppery arugula, sharp-tangy pickles, and the distinct flavor of the micro cilantro (it’s like a combination of cilantro the leaf and coriander the seed…amazing I tell you). I would have given this sandwich a standing ovation if I hadn’t been too busy devouring it.

I got the micro cilantro from some lovely purveyors at my neighborhood market (the wild arugula too for that matter). If I can’t grow my own herbs and vegetables at least I know there are some great people putting passion into bringing them to us.

Perhaps someday, I will want that plot of land enough to pack up and look for our little bit of “peace and quiet and open air”, but until then my heart belongs here. And a weekend escape is all I need. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!