Warm and Bright Breakfast Hash

In early January, I began a Whole30 diet. It wasn't my first Whole30, but it was decidedly different from those that preceded it.

You see, for many people, Whole30 is a way to reset cravings and improve energy levels and digestion. The first few days feel like death as your body withdraws from quick-burning carbs. But, if you stick with it, 2 weeks in you'll start feeling like you can single-handedly write, produce, direct, and star in a feature film over the course of one day and still get dinner on the table by 7pm.

This Whole30 was different for me because I felt like death before I even started. I spent much of fall and winter on a downward spiral of fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, depression, aches, chills, and various stomach pains. When I spent most of Christmas day sick as a dog and realized that I had taken a sick day at least once a week for the entirety of December, it was time for something to change right away. Hence, the Whole30: a hail-Mary attempt to become functional again.

Shortly after, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. The diagnosis came following countless blood tests, two surgical procedures, three ultrasounds, and genetic testing. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disorder wherein your body attacks the thyroid gland and anything else that it might mistake for markers on the thyroid such as gluten and casein. After receiving the diagnosis, I spent a solid three days wondering if life without macaroni and cheese is worth living.

When I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself, I realized that Hashimoto's is (right now) far less bad for me than for others. For one thing, I'm pretty adept in the kitchen, so needing to make foods from scratch isn't a problem. For another, I have an understanding employer who lets me work at the pace I need. Finally, I'm blessed to have excellent health insurance that covers all the crazy tests I need regularly now such as nutritional deficiency testing, antibody levels, etc.

All that is to say that over 50 days later, I'm still on that Whole30. I've yet to hit that feeling of invincibility. Hell, I've yet to hit a feeling of "okay this isn't bad." But I'm going to work 5 days a week again, my insomnia is mostly gone, the aches and fatigue are milder, and I even took a short walk with my dogs for the first time in 2018!

The following recipe is one I made to enjoy for a nice Sunday brunch, because Hashimoto's cannot and will not beat the bougie out of me. The warm spices and bright citrus are a fabulous complement to fennel and sweet potatoes. This meal is best enjoyed with comfortable company, and it would be great with a mimosa (or two or three) for those who are not following a Whole30.

Warm and Bright Breakfast Hash
Servings: 2
Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 bulb of fennel, chopped
1 sweet potato, chopped
1 lemon, zested and cut into quarters
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1.5 tsp. ground mace
1.5  tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cardamom
salt and black pepper to taste
olive oil
pint grape or cherry tomatoes
4 breakfast sausage links
4 eggs
parsley, chopped

1) Prepare your hash.
    a) Preheat oven to 450°F.
    b) Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
    c) Melt your coconut oil (if necessary).
    d) Combine chopped fennel, sweet potato, and lemon zest in a large bowl with coconut oil, mace, ginger, cardamom, salt, and pepper. Toss well until spices are evenly distributed over the veggies.

    e) Spread your vegetable and spice mixture on the cookie sheet.
    f) Add your sausage links to the cookie sheet and roast veggies and sausages for 20 minutes.

    g) Flip your vegetables and sausages after 12 minutes. Continue to roast for another 8 minutes.

2) Prepare your tomatoes.
    a) Toss grape or cherry tomatoes with a touch of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
    b) After 20 minutes of roasting the vegetables, throw the tomatoes onto the pan with the chopped veggies and sausage.

    c) Roast for 12 more minutes or until the tomatoes burst.

3) Prepare your eggs.
    a) Heat a skillet on the stove at medium-low heat. 
    b) Add some olive oil to the skillet once it's warm.
    c) Crack in your eggs.
    d) Once the eggs start to turn white, cover the skillet and let your eggs steam until the whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. 

4) Assemble.
    a) Divide the tomatoes and vegetable hash between two plates.
    b) Add two sausage links to each plate.
    c) Squeeze 1/4 lemon over each plate of hash.
    d) Top each plate of hash with two sunny-side up eggs.
    e) Squeeze another 1/4 lemon over the eggs. (I know this sounds weird, but the acidity cuts the yolk really nicely).
   f) Season the eggs with salt and pepper if desired, and garnish with chopped parsley.

Reef House Benedict

Although technically a part of Israel (depending on who you talk to it's sometimes called the West Bank), Palestine is separated from Israel with a guarded fence.  My friend Jamie, my thesis advisor Jaime, and I boarded a bus from Jerusalem and made the 2 hour trek to cover the 13.5 miles between Jerusalem, Israel and Ramallah, Palestine.  We went through checkpoints, showed our passports and visas, etc.  It was intense.

Jaime, me, and Jamie visiting Aida Refugee Camp.  The massive amount of trash you see behind us was a continuous theme in Palestine.  So sad.

We spent a pleasant evening smoking hookah and learning about the situation between Israel and Palestine from a friend-of-a-friend who happened to be working in Ramallah at the time (hi Tochi!) before turning in to a pension my advisor had found.  All the reviews of the Reef House Pension said that the owners (George and Iman) are the nicest people in the world.  This was not far from the truth (although people in Palestine were generally friendly and helpful).  The next morning Iman greeted us with an amazing breakfast spread, which she said was a typical Palestinian breakfast.  It included tomatoes, cucumbers, this bologna-like meat, a hardboiled egg, thick and tart yogurt, brine-y sheep cheese, hummus, tahini, olives, and flatbread with harissa, sweet olive oil, and za'atar for seasoning.  I can't begin to describe how delicious this was.  In fact, I think that the food in Palestine made up 3 of the best meals I ate while in the Middle East.

After breakfast we packed our bags, thanked George and Iman, and headed first to Taybeh to taste Palestine's only craft beer and then to Bethlehem to see the Church of the Nativity and to talk to people living in the Aida refugee camp.  Although I could go on and on and on about this part of my summer trip, I will suffice to say that I left with my eyes opened a little wider and my heart a little larger.  I think this trip was important, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Taybeh beer-- hooray beer!

A tribute at the entrance of Aida Camp to dead Palestinian prisoners of war.

Reef House Benedict Instructions

1) Prepare the tahini hollandaise.

     Ingredients
     2 egg yolks
     Juice of 2 lemons
     2 tbsp. tahini
     1/4- 1/2 tsp. harissa paste (this is a hot Arabic spice paste that you can get in Middle Eastern grocery stores, the Arabic section of Whole Foods, or on amazon.com)

     Directions
     a) In a very small pan, heat tahini over med-low until it is hot.  Be careful and stir often because it will burn if left unattended or heated over too high of heat.
     b) Put your egg yolks, harissa, and lemon juice in a food processor or blender and blend until fully combined and slightly foamy.
     c) While blending, very slowly drizzle the hot tahini through the hole in the top of the food processor or blender.  Take your time with this-- it should take between 1-2 minutes to get all the tahini in the bowl of the processor.  You want to do this slowly so that you don't scramble your egg yolks.

As you can see if you look closely, I added the tahini too fast and some of it stuck to the side of the blender.  You don't want to do this so make sure to drizzle it super slowly!

     d) Keep the hollandaise warm over a double-boiler set on low heat.  Make sure to whisk it every couple of minutes to keep it emulsified, and add water as needed to maintain a good hollandaise consistency.

2) Get your ingredients completely prepared to assemble the benedicts.  I can't stress enough how important this is because you don't want to be fiddling this stuff while poaching your eggs or else you can easily over-poach the eggs.

     Ingredients
     4 pieces Middle Eastern flatbread (I was lazy and bought mine at Trader Joe's.  If you're ambitious enough to make your own flatbread, there's a really good looking Palestinian flatbread recipe here.)
     High-quality feta cheese (I get mine at Trader Joe's; there's a brand called Pastures of Eden that I love)
     4 small tomatoes, preferable campari or similar varieties
     Extra Virgin Olive Oil for drizzling
     1/4- 1/2 cup hummus (I make my own following this recipe from Smitten Kitchen)
     za'atar (you can buy this at a Middle Eastern grocery store or on amazon.com)

     Directions
     a) Warm the flatbread by wrapping it in a damp towel and placing it in a 200 degree oven.
     b) Slice the feta so that you have 4 slices that are each 1/8-1/4 inch thick--slices should be big enough to cover a piece of flatbread.  If you need, cut more slices and place them side-by-side.
     c) Slice the tomatoes into about 6 slices per tomato.
     d) Get out hummus, EVOO, and za'atar so that they're all in easy reaching distance.

3) Get your poaching equipment ready.  You'll need a 10-12" high sided skillet filled with water to 1/2-1" from the top of the skillet, 2 tbsp. white or apple cider vinegar in that water, a plate that can withstand heat placed at the bottom of the skillet (so that your eggs will never touch the heat), 4 eggs, a small saucer, and a slotted spoon.  Heat your water to gently simmering.

4) When your water is just about to start simmering, prepare your benedicts.

     Directions
     a) Place each warm flatbread on a separate plate.
     b) Spread each flatbread with 1-2 tbsp. hummus.
     c) Lightly drizzle olive oil over hummus.

     d) Place cheese across hummus.
     e) Place tomatoes on top of cheese.

5) Poach those eggs!

     Directions
     a) Crack an egg onto a saucer, and then slide the saucer in your simmering water.
     b) Do this for one other egg.  If you can poach all 4 eggs at once, kudos to you, but I've only ever been able to do 2 at a time.
     c) Set your timer for 2 minutes.
     d) While you're waiting for the eggs to cook, keep the water moving by lightly moving your spoon around the perimeter of the skillet (you don't want the eggs to come in contact with heat from the pan or to rest on the bottom--the plate helps with this).
     e) Check your eggs for doneness at 2 minutes-- it may take up to 3 minutes to finish so pay really close attention for the 60 seconds in between.  Once your eggs look like the whites are of appropriate firmness, remove with slotted spoon and put one egg on top of each benedict.
     f) Top with tahini hollandaise and a sprinkle of za'atar and dig in!

My friend Jamie, who traveled to Palestine with me, said that this reminded her so much of the breakfast we had at the Reef House Pension.  Success!