Yield: About 10 2 1/2 inch fritters

Serves 4

1 pound (about 2 medium) zucchini

½ C. fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt, plus extra to taste

2 scallions, split lengthwise and sliced thin

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 T. coarsely ground cornmeal

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Olive or another oil of your choice, for frying

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Have a baking sheet ready.

Trim ends off zucchini and grate them either on the large holes of a box grater or, if you have one, using the shredding blade of a food processor.

In a large bowl, toss zucchini with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Wring out the zucchini in one of the following ways: pressing it against the holes of a colander with a wooden spoon to extract the water, squeezing out small handfuls at a time, or wrapping it up in a clean dishtowel or piece of cheese cloth and wringing away.

Return deflated mass of zucchini shreds to bowl. Stir in corn,scallions, egg and some freshly ground black pepper. In a tiny dish, stir together flour and baking powder, then stir the mixture into the zucchini batter.

In a large heavy skillet, or heated griddle, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Drop small bunches of the zucchini mixture onto the skillet only a few at a time so they don’t become crowded and lightly nudge them flatter with the back of your spatula. Cook the fritters over moderately high heat until the edges underneath are golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. If you find this happening too quickly, reduce the heat to medium. Flip the fritters and fry them on the other side until browned underneath again, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Drain briefly on paper towels then transfer to baking sheet and then into the warm oven until needed. Repeat process, keeping the pan well-oiled, with remaining batter. I like to make sure that the fritters have at least 10 minutes in the oven to finish setting and getting extra crisp.

Serve with poached or over easy eggs and a sprinkling of fresh snipped chives.

Southwest Style Eggs Benedict with Chipotle Hollandaise

Recipe will feed 12-14 people

For each serving:

½ of a Cornmeal biscuit (recipe follows), buttered and toasted

3 half slices of Bacon, cooked to crisp

1 Egg, poached

1 T. Chipotle Hollandaise (recipe follows)

2 T. Vegetable Relish (recipe follows)

On a plate, lay the ½ cornmeal biscuit and top with the 3 half slices of bacon.  Poach the egg to your liking and place on top of the bacon.  Ladle hollandaise on top and sprinkle the vegetable relish on the plate around the benedict.

For the Biscuit:

2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

¾ C. Cornmeal

1 ½ T. baking powder

1 t. salt

¼ C. Sugar

2 Cups (roughly) heavy cream

Butter for brushing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Mix agave syrup in to the heavy cream.  Pour about 1 ½ C. of the Cream mixture in to the flour and begin mixing with a fork.  Add more cream as necessary, until the mixture holds together well, but is not wet.

Flatten the dough with your hands into a circle that is about ¾ inch deep.  Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut circles and place on a cookie sheet.  Re-work the leftover dough until  you have about 6-7 circles.  Brush with melted butter and bake for 15 minutes, or until risen and golden.

For Hollandaise:

4 egg yolks

¼ C. heavy cream

1 T. distilled vinegar

2 T. Adobo sauce from a can of Chipotle Chiles

1 C. melted butter

In a double boiler on low heat (simmer), combine eggs, cream, vinegar and adobo sauce.  Whisk continuously until eggs have thickened to about mustard consistency.  Remove top pan from the double boiler and set on a wet cloth.  Slowly pour butter into eggs (VERY SLOWLY), while whisking vigorously, until all the butter is combined with the eggs.  The sauce should be smooth and light.  Set aside in a room temperature area and cover.

For the Relish:

1 Red bell pepper

1 Yellow bell pepper

1 Orange bell pepper

1 onion

1 Anaheim chile

½ C. fresh or frozen corn

¼ C. prepared salsa

Cut all the whole vegetable into small dices.  In a large sauté pan, cook all until tender.  Add corn and salsa.  Stir and turn off the heat.

Salmon Cakes with Poached Egg and Dill Shallot Sauce

1 ½ lbs. Salmon, cooked, de-boned and skinned
¾ C. Mayonnaise
¾ C. Bread Crumbs
½ C. finely chopped celery
½ C. finely chopped onion
¼ C. finely chopped scallions
1 egg, beaten
1 T. Old Bay seasoning
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. chopped parsley
2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. cayenne pepper
1 T. oil (for griddle)

8 eggs
2 T. white vinegar

1 C. sour cream
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 T. minced fresh dill
1 T. white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat griddle to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a large sauté pan on the stove and add vinegar. Heat water to boiling, and then reduce heat to simmer.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, shallot, dill and white wine. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Flake salmon in a large bowl. Add in mayonnaise, bread crumbs, celery, onion, scallions, 1 egg, seasoning, lemon juice, parsley, salt and peppers. Mix together until combined. Taste for seasoning. Form mixture into 3 oz. patties. Place on well oiled griddle and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.

In the meantime, poach the eggs in the sauce pan.

When salmon and eggs are done, place salmon on a warmed plate. Place egg on top of salmon patties and dollop with a generous amount of sauce. Serve immediately.

Enjoy your salmon cakes!

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups applesauce
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Glaze
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon and 2 teaspoon water
¼ teaspoon vanilla
Dash salt

Heat oven to 350°F. For bread, in a large mixer bowl combine brown sugar and butter. Beat at medium speed until creamy, 1-2 minutes. Scraping bowl often. Add 1 cup melted chocolate chips. and eggs; continue beating until well mixed, 1-2 minutes. Add flour, applesauce, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; continue beating, until creamy, 1-2 minutes. Scrape bowl often. By hand, stir in ½ cup chocolate chips. Spoon batter into a loaf pan. Pan should be 2/3 full. You will have some extra to put into muffin tins. Or for smaller loaves divide batter evenly between two loaf pans. I like a high bread, so I only use one loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until top cracks. Muffins will take 15-20 minutes.

For glaze, in a 2-quart saucepan combine chocolate chips, butter, and water. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth and creamy. Drizzle each warm loaf with glaze.

Serves 2
Ingredients:

2 Plain bagel halves
2 T.Cream Cheese, soft
1 T Fresh Herbs, chopped. (chives, dill, basil, etc..)optional
6 slicesCanadian Bacon or meat of choice (smoked salmon is good)
2 Roma tomato, sliced thin
2 eggs, scrambled
1 T Parmesan Cheese
1/4 of an Avocado, sliced
Sprouts (optional)

Toast bagel lightly. Combine fresh herbs with cream cheese and spread onto bagel halves. Top with sliced meat, then sliced tomatoes. Top with the scramled egg. Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese. Place bagels onto serving plates. Top with sliced avocado and sprouts. Serve and enjoy.

serves 6:
1 C. milk
3 T. cornstarch mixed with 3 T. water

2 C. sliced mixed mushrooms (such as chanterelle, shiitake, oyster, crimini)
2 Shallots, sliced
2 T. butter
1/2 C. white wine
salt and pepper
teaspoon of Rubbed Sage

6 egg yolks, slightly whipped
6 egg whites

1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1 C grated monterey jack cheese, or other mild cheese

Preheat oven to 365. Butter 6 soufflé dishes (6-8 oz. size). In a small saucepan, heat the milk on medium until scalded. Stir in cornstarch until mixture is very thick. Remove from heat. In a sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions add cook until softened. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until softened. Add white wine and let the mixture cook until wine has been reduced to about 2 T. of liquid. Salt and pepper to taste and add teaspoon of rubbed sage. Stir egg yolks in a large mixing bowl. Add a spoonful of the milk mixture to the eggs, while stirring continuously, so as not to cook the eggs. Repeat until all the milk mixture is incorporated. (This is called tempering) Stir in the mushrooms and onions and finally the cheese. Whip egg whites to medium peaks. Add about 1/4 of the whites to the yolk mix and stir in. Gently fold in the remainder of the whites. Distribute the mixture among the six soufflé dishes and bake on a sheet pan for 25-30 minutes. Do not open the oven for at least 15 minutes. Soufflés will be golden brown and very puffy. Serve immediately with some creme fraiche or sour cream on top.

Serves 8

8 c. leftover bread, 1 inch cubes (any kind, banana is good, croissants too)
1 c. raisins
4 c. milk
1 c. cream
1 vanilla bean pod, cut lengthwise and bean mass scraped out
1 c. sugar
6 eggs
2 yolks
dash salt
1 t. cinnamon

The night before: Spread leftover bread and raisins into a buttered 8×8 baking dish. Heat milk, cream, vanilla bean pod and bean mass in a saucepan on high heat. Scald mixture, but do not bring to a boil. Combine eggs, yolks, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl and mix until combined. Ladle about ½ C. of the hot milk mixture into the eggs stirring constantly, so as not to cook the eggs (this is called tempering). Slowly pour the remaining milk into the eggs, continuing to stir as you go. Pour mixture through a strainer and slowly pour over the bread. Press all of the bread down so it gets saturated with the mixture. Let cool and then refrigerate overnight.

The Morning: Remove pan from refrigerator half an hour before putting it in the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place baking dish into a larger roasting pan that is at least as tall as the baking dish and that is at least 2 inches wider all around. Place in the middle of the oven. Pour warm water ¾ up to the height of the baking dish into the roasting pan. Cover with a sheet pan or foil (loosely) and bake for 1½ hours. A half hour before it is done remove the cover to brown the top. To check for doneness poke a knife in the middle and if no liquid is seen it is done.

Serve with warm berry sauce and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

1 loaf (about 16 slices)

3 eggs
2 C. sugar
2/3 C. oil
2 C grated zucchini
2 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 340. Grease a loaf pan. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and zucchini in medium bowl. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl. Add dry ingredients, all at once, to egg mix and stir until just combined. Pour into loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Test for doneness after 1 hour with a wooden skewer.