A Creative Week of Local Provisions

Sunday, March 9, 2014

This week, I wanted to try to do a breakfast with a gathering of local fixings offered in the G&G Local Market. I figured I could use this as an excuse to get some friends together for brunch, and here’s what I got:

-       Eggs from Carlton Farms

-       Multigrain bread from Holeman & Finch Bakery

-       Pine Street Market’s Bacon

-       Balsamic Fig Jam from One Screw Loose

As life would have it, my weekend schedule got shifted around and my friends ended up having to back out of our brunch date, because, well, life. Life happened. But what to do with all of these wonderful ingredients waiting for me in the fridge?

Instead of using all the goodness in one go as was the plan, I decided to see how much I could spread them out—how many ways these four ingredients could play together for a week’s worth of breakfast, lunch and snacks for two? Here’s what this experiment taught me:

When your ingredients are this phenomenal, you really can do no wrong.

Day 1: BREAKFAST - Scrambled Eggs, Toast and Bacon

Like I said, when the ingredients are this quality – the classic preparation is always best. I added my favorite Beautiful Briny Sea salts for that extra peppercorn and rosemary kick. Which, honestly, is all that these farm fresh eggs could ever need.

Day 2: LUNCH - BLT with a Fried Egg & Balsamic Fig Spread

I hadn’t had a good old-fashioned BLT in a really long time. Maybe because I never really have bacon on hand in my fridge; it always gets eaten up in one large breakfast sitting. But after experiencing this bacon the day before, I was a little excited to eat it again… as soon as possible. This is when I decided to get a little more creative than your average Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato pile-up; I went ahead and fried up one of the eggs to put on top, adding that sweet Balsamic Fig Jam to play nicely with the savory sammy. Now, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to plain mayo or mustard; ‘twas like a whole new kind of sandwich.

Day 3: DESSERT - French Toast with Ricotta and Jam Filling

Danielle mentioned trying a French Toast with Jam Reduction. I ended up searching the internet for a similar recipe, but was drawn to this one on Food & Wine. Not only was it a lot more simple to make than the name implies (as in, I never even looked back at the recipe after the first gander), it was just so decadent. Pair it with a little frozen yogurt on top—because dessert is healthy—and just… wow. That’s all I can say when my mouth is full of French Toast.

Day 4: BREAKFAST - Spinach Bacon Cheddar Frittata

My favorite easy-to-make and easy-to-save egg dish made even better with my new favorite bacon friend. I used the remainder of the eggs and the rest of the bacon (tears!) and followed the ol’ frittata recipe that calls for my grandmother’s cast iron skillet. Always a win.

Day 5: LEFTOVERS LUNCH - Frittata & Salad with Balsamic Fig Dressing

Frittata, to me, makes for a great breakfast, lunch or dinner, so with these leftovers, I whipped up a simple arugula salad and dressed it with—you guessed it—a One Screw Loose-inspired dressing. My mom is what I like to call a “Salad Dressing Expert” and one of her tricks is to use the last bit of jelly in the jar, adding to the jar some olive oil, lemon and spicy Dijon mustard. (She also goes off the map pretty often, adding things like pickle juice or caper brine, a dash of this or a pinch of that, and never really measuring anything, so it’s impossible for me to emulate.) Honestly, I think the Balsamic Fig jam is so good alone that really all you need is some EVOO, lemon juice and maybe some pepper, and it’s a pretty impressive dressing as simple as that. In other words, here’s the same experimental advice my mom gave me: “just play around with it until it tastes right to you.”

Gee, thanks, Mom.