Bittman Breakfast

Weekday breakfasts are an a la carte free for all around here, egg whites for me, toaster waffles or cereal for the kids and nothing for Jim.  But on the weekends we make BREAKFAST.  More often than not breakfast on the weekends usually involves grits and eggs.  Sometimes we have Jim’s special breakfast potatoes and sometimes polenta substitute teaches for the grits.  We aren’t French toast, waffle or pancake people, I won’t go into the details of what those particular breakfast foods do to the four of us but understand it’s a family wide affliction.  I have an acute aversion to doughnuts and other breakfast sweets and for some reason we reserve bagels and lox for special occasions.  So it’s basically the same thing over and over.  But I am always on the lookout for something new in the breakfast arena.

A couple years ago I went on a Minimalist bender watching almost every Mark Bittman video the New York Times had to offer.  The one recipe that stuck is his Jean-George fried rice.  I’ve changed it, of course, making it less Minimalist.  Mark serves it for lunch, I serve it for breakfast.  OK and while rice isn’t that much different than grits or polenta just humor me that this is my different breakfast meal.  It smells great, a good use of leftovers and it’s good for what may ail you from the night before.  

Garlic-Ginger Fried Rice - from Mark Bittman and Jean-Georges Vongerichten Serves 2-4

3 cups cooked jasmine rice (preferably 1 day old, this is 1 cup uncooked rice)

4 eggs

3-4 tablespoons chopped ginger

3-4 tablespoons chopped garlic

1 leek, sliced

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

sea salt

Sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a heavy pan.  Fry the garlic and ginger until brown and crispy but not burned, this takes about 3 minutes.  With a slotted spoon remove the garlic and ginger from the pan and set aside.  Wipe out the pan and heat 1 tablespoon of oil and saute the leeks until tender, about 10 minutes.  When the leeks are tender add in the rice, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt, stir fry for about 5-7 more minutes. Fill a wide pan with about 2” of water and add the vinegar; bring to a simmer.  Crack the eggs in to small bowls or ramekins.  Tip the bowl with the egg slowly in to the simmering water so the water comes in to the bowl to take the egg out to sea like the tide.  Repeat with the other eggs. Using a slotted spoon, gently redirect the egg around itself in the water. Allow the water to return to a simmer and simmer 2-3 minutes.  Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon or pasta claw and drain on paper towels.   Fill bowls with the rice, top with the poached eggs and sprinkle with the fried garlic and ginger and the cilantro.  Serve with Sriracha.

You can watch the Mark make it here.