I’m on a breakfast post roll, can you tell?
This breakfast casserole turned out so dense, heavy and rich that from now on I’ll be serving it as dessert. I kid you not. This with some whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream – oh my, it’s be great!
This casserole was an experiment. I wanted to make the French toast casserole I’ve made before. But didn’t think of prepping it on time and didn’t have (enough) of all the ingredients. So I improvised. It turned out to be like a dense bread pudding. Delicious, so incredibly tasty, but soo very much too rich for our breakfast tastes.
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Laurens and I aren’t heavy breakfast people. We much prefer the Italian or French style breakfast – just a pastry or a small roll with some cold cuts – over heavy American or English style breakfasts. Sure, once in a while we indulge with a French toast casserole, Cinnamon rolls or pancakes, but in general that’ll consist of very small portions. On those days we’ll definitely won’t eat lunch either.
However much I love my morning croissant on the weekend, once in a while I prefer something different. Just not the same thing each day every day. As I usually roll and bake my own croissants (from ready made dough, still haven’t gotten to that challenge), I’ll embellish them with some cheese, chocolate, almonds or herbs. A little variation goes a long way.
But what if you want something light, something different and something easy? I found myself asking that question which got me thinking of kitchen staples and how to make them into a nice breakfast.
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear blog,
Happy birthday to you!
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One year ago today, on a dreary Saturday afternoon, I had Laurens upload wordpress on a domain that hadn’t been used since I’d bought it a couple of years earlier. A couple hours later, after some major installing of themes and tweaking them, this blog was born. The first post was made and remember wondering how long it would last. How long would food blogging be fun.
While in Milan my in laws took us to their favorite neighborhood restaurant. When looking at the menu, Laurens knew what I’d order as a primo before I did. He spotted the risotto alla Milanese on the menu and figured I’d want to eat that in Milan, just so I could compare my own version.
Him handing me his iPhone (which takes way better pictures than my phone and I hadn’t thought to bring a camera to the restaurant) resulted in wondering stares from not only our own table, but other tables as well. Why the heck would you want to photograph your risotto?
The verdict: Hot Meeting’s risotto was fabulous. The grains of rice were full bodied, flavorful, just done enough, with a beautifully balanced amount of saffron, good quality stock, parmigiano and butter. It was creamy and wonderful. Simply presented as a little yellow circle on a big white place. Elegant simplicity at it’s best. And the best part – for me personally – my own risotto comes pretty close in taste and texture.
Hot Meeting at the corner of Via Sansovino and Via Fillippino Lippi (At Piazza Gian Lorenzo Bernini) was the first ‘new’ restaurant we tried this year, thanks to my parents-in-law. This puts me 1 restaurant into this year’s goal of visiting 4 new restaurants. And to finish up the review, my steak was wonderful as well, the house wine was fine, nothing extraordinary, just a good glass of white. Our whole party was pleased with their food, between the several fish and seafood dishes, the veal cutlets and the gnocchi alla sorrentina eerybody enjoyed their dinner. We skipped dessert, but did have coffee and a limoncello, which was the perfect ending to a very nice dinner. Hot Meeting is slightly less of a romantic setting than Tarantella, which I reviewed before. The food they serve is more the standard Italian fare, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The quest for good quality products and balanced tastes is ever present in Italian cuisine, so if you’re not looking for a romantic candlelit dinner, but just good quality Italian food with friendly service, Hot Meeting sure is worth the visit.
While Laurens was in New York for business, I attended a cake decorating workshop one evening. The reason I liked the sound of the workshop, was because it covered tiered cakes and fondant decorating. Both things I just hadn’t been wanting to try on my own. Sure, I had all the tools I needed at home. Ingredients too. But something held me back, made me want some instruction and tips.
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The class started with everyone receiving 2 already baked sponge cakes and bowls of buttercream and preserves. Since I don’t eat fruits, I skipped the preserves, and after I torted the cakes, I filled them with the delicious vanilla buttercream.
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