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.

I Love You (Snow-day) Soup

About once or twice a winter, Connecticut gets hit with a bad snowstorm. Today is one of those days. Since my schedule has been so crazy recently, I decided to take today (mostly) off from doing work and instead take down my Christmas decorations (Valentine's Day is tomorrow--it is time) and cook myself some nice meals to prepare for the weekend.

My snowy valentines! My loves got bacon leftovers.

As I looked around my refrigerator, I realized that I had the makings of a French Onion soup. I also had bacon. Is there anything that bacon doesn't improve? So after some poking around at various recipes online, this is what I did with my snow-day. The soup takes a LONG time to cook, which is what makes it perfect for days when you can't really do much else. It's also perfect for a Valentine's Day lunch because it's fancy (it has to be-- it's French!), riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiich, and warming.

I Love You (Snow-day) Soup

serves: 2

1) Cook some bacon!

     Ingredients:
     1 lb. good quality bacon (I used a maple brined bacon from Vermont, which I bought at Whole Foods)

     Directions:
     a) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
     b) Line a 9x13 (or bigger) baking pan with aluminum foil.
     c) Fill pan with bacon strips (should be tightly packed to render more grease).
     d) Cook until crisped but still pliable (usually about 25-30 min).
     e) Remove bacon to a plate lined with paper towels and save the bacon grease (you need 2 tbsp.).
     f) You'll need the bacon grease and 3-4 slices of bacon. The rest of the bacon can be saved for morning-after-Valentine's Day brunch.

2) Caramelize your onions.

    Ingredients:
   2 tbsp. salted butter
   2 tbsp. bacon grease
   2 sweet onions
   1-2 garlic cloves
   2 sprigs thyme
   1 bay leaf
   salt and pepper to season
      
     Directions:
     a) Slice your onions in half (longways) and then into thin half-moons. I used my food processor but a mandolin will also do the trick.
     b) Mince or press your garlic cloves. I recently bought this press, and I'm obsessed with it.
     c) Melt your butter and bacon grease together in a soup pan set over medium-low.
     d) Add onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt, and pepper and stir to coat.
     e) Allow these to cook for a LONG time, stirring occasionally. Go read a book for at least an hour. When you are done, all the onion pieces should be at least slightly brown and very soft.

Before and after the caramelization process. The burnt pieces are normal, I swear.

3) Make your soup base.

     Ingredients:
     1/2 cup red wine (I used Merlot because I have a box of it open. DON'T JUDGE ME! You could also use white wine or beer depending on what cheese you're using.)
     1 heaping tbsp. all-purpose flour

     Directions:
     a) Turn stove heat up to medium.
     b) Add in red wine and stir to mix with caramelized onions.
     c) Allow to boil until wine boils off and onions dry, about 5-10 min. The onions will appear somewhat burnt. This is ok.

The onions getting darker because of the wine. Note that there will still be moisture from the oil, but the wine moisture should be gone.

     d) Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs.
     e) Turn stove heat back down to medium-low.
     f) Add in flour and stir to coat onions.
     g) Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly, to remove the flour taste from the onions. The onions will start to look crispy and burnt-fried when you do this. The dark color comes from the caramelization and the wine, so don't worry about this.

Make sure you cook the onion/flour mixture on low enough heat so that the burnt look is not *actually* burnt. But yeah, it will look pretty bad. Do not despair.

4) Make the soup.

     Ingredients:
     3-4 pieces of bacon, crumbled
     Quart of beef broth
     Salt and pepper

     Directions:
     a) Turn stove heat back up to medium.
     b) Add in bacon and broth.
     c) Bring to boil, and boil for 10 min.
     d) Taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed.

The wine and caramelization give your soup a beautiful color, and the flour gives it just enough thickness.

5) Make the croutons.

     Ingredients:
     4-6 slices baguette or Italian loaf (You need enough slices to fill up the top of an oven-safe bowl or ramekin. I always keep the partially baked Figelle from Trader Joe's in my freezer, so I used that.) 
    4-ish slices of melting cheese. Emmental and Gruyere are traditional. (I used Raclette because I love the heartiness of it. Really, any cheese that melts well will work. You could even use sharp cheddar, but then the onions should be cooked in a dark, malty beer rather than wine. Actually, that sounds delicious. Consider this post to be me patenting that idea.)
    2 tbsp. grated cheese such as Parmesan or Gouda (I grated up some smoked Gouda to go with the bacon.)

     Directions:
     a) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.     
     b) Lay your slices of melting cheese on top of your bread slices. They should be sized to match.
     c) Fill 2 oven-safe bowls or ramekins with soup.
     d) Float your cheese-topped bread on top of soup. You can use additional cheese to fill in any gaps.

     e) Sprinkle with grated cheese.
     f) Bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melty and brown. It will likely puff up in the oven.
     g) Remove from oven (using mitts) and dig in. Be careful because it will be VERY hot. Much like your Valentine's Day love for your significant other. Or in my case, my Valentine's Day love for my Vitamix. 
     

If you want the top darker, stick it under the broiler for a skosh. I just prefer baking because it gives the bread some time to become one with the soup. And isn't that the point of Valentine's Day?