The Sweet Sweet Salty Pig

Is there anything better than a lazy Sunday brunch with best friends? If there is, please let us know because the only thing we can possibly think of is a smorgasboard of food from all sections of the menu spread from one side of the table to the other. Well, we found THAT at The Salty Pig on the line between the Back Bay and the South End in Boston.

The Cured Board

We don’t want to say too much here…because words cannot do this meat, cheese, pickled, veggies display of glory justice beyond the picture above. It includes: Salame Milanese from Utah, Speck from Italy, aged 22 Weeks, Pecorino Fresco, made from sheep in Italy and aged 45 days, Eggplant Sott’Aceto, and Seasonal Greens tossed in a roasted shallot vinaigrette.

But because we cannot help ourselves, can we just say: the cheese. More and more of the pecorino fresco is needed in this world, especially on all of our plates.

 

Panzanella Salad

Panzanella, heirloom tomatoes, parmesan crema, market cucumbers, and tomato vinaigrette. We can stop at tomato vinaigrette. But we won’t. We’ll stop at panzanella.

The Sandwiches

The favorite around the table by far was the Grilled Lamb Shoulder sandwich. Equipped with market beans, cloumage (don’t worry, we had to look it up too), aleppo, and mint, the lamb shoulder may have been the stand alone star of the entire brunch meal. It was succulent; the meat was dripping in melting fat; and yet it had a fantastic fat to meat ratio. And the sandwich was a perfect balance of crunchy mint, soft cheese, juicy meat, all between Iggy’s bread.

On its own, the Pork Belly BLT was delicious. Again, stacked inside Iggy’s bread, it was teaming with heirloom tomatoes, smoked aioli, and little gem lettuce. The pork belly was large and in charge, which was re-assuring. But up against the lamb shoulder, it just couldn’t compete; which is no fault to the Pork Belly BLT, not much can compete with the lamb shoulder.

The Cotto Pizza

 

Among the many of our shared loves with the best looking couple in Boston, is ricotta on pizza. We are suuuuuckers for white pizzas covered in ricotta cheese. The Salty Pig, knowing the four of us were coming not only obliged with the ricotta, but had the bright idea to also add patty pan squash, prosciutto cotto, and mint, and call it a Cotto pizza. Although we ordered the pizza for the ricotta, you will not miss the squash. Through the pizza cooking process, it gains a delicious sweet char flavor that is irresistible.

http://www.thesaltypig.com/

Portobello Egg Boat

We think it’s fairly obvious that we love eggs.  We love scrambling eggs, we love dropping eggs on top of things, we love putting eggs in different things.  Well, we’ve done it again.  We found another veggie that an egg will fit inside.  Fortunately, its one of our favorite foods — we know, we know, everything is our favorite food; deal with it.– a portobello mushroom.  Meaty, earthy, savory, yet still fresh with a little bit of bite.  A portobello mushroom is a great vehicle for a vegetarian meal or as a complement to your meatiest dish.  So here we go, your gourmet breakfast, solid dinner, or Sunday afternoon experiment … an egg in a portobello mushroom.*

Getting Started:

• Ensure that you have a mushroom large enough to house the ingredients that you want to pile in there.  The average – large size at our local grocery store fit a “jumbo” egg, 1/2 roasted red pepper, and about 1 tbsp. of goat cheese.
• Picking your “mix-in” ingredients.  We used roasted red peppers because we already had them in the fridge.  You should do the same!  Use whatever you have in the house already.  Unless, of course, you have a craving…in that case, treat yo’ self.
• Be aware that your “mix-in” ingredients may affect how your egg cooks …
• As you are cooking, be aware of the moisture that your ingredients introduce to the mushroom.  Baking the mushroom will dry the ingredients but you also do not want to overload the mushroom with liquid so that it overflows.
• Choose how you want to eat your mushroom.  We put ours on a bed of greens but we’ve heard that it’s great as a side, on pasta, on its own, pretty much whatever your heart desires!

 

 

*huge shout out to the Pinterest community for bringing this idea to our attention; we’re only as creative as some of our resources 🙂

 

Boathouse Canton: Wouldn’t Mind Being Marooned Here for Brunch

On our most recent trip to Baltimore we were happy to leave the inner harbor and move towards the marina for a day full of brunching, snacking, and drinking — grapefruit crushers:  a new-found drink of choice.

The day started with a filling brunch at Boathouse Canton.  Unable to sit outside, we settled for the community table with a decent-ish view of the marina and, more importantly, zero wait.  Our severe hunger and the incredible menu led us to the largest breakfast sandwiches that we could find and an entire bowl of crab soup.  We ate it all.  We can’t wait to go back.  Maybe this time we’ll try it when a little less hangry…when we can fully appreciate a full menu.

 

 

The crab soup comes highly recommended.  Originally recommended to us by a couple of friends and the Boathouse Canton staff and currently recommended to you all by us.  We were unable to decide between a creamy, classic new-england style crab soup and the Maryland-style red.  Luckily, you can get both!  Who knew?!?  Delicious and crab filled individually, these two styles complement each other quite well.  The cream adds a richness to the red that we often search for and the red adds bold acidity to the cream.  The soup truly is the best of both worlds.

The breakfast burger. Where to begin?? We’ll start next to burger. The fries that accompany the breakfast burger were fantastic. Lightly coated in flour before frying, they are crispy. They are salty. They are substantial. And when recovering from a long night out, they are a batch of greasy satisfaction.

The burger itself requires you to get messy. It is very tall with all of its parts: sizable patty, cheese, lettuce and tomato, prosciutto and a fried egg. And the bun is not small. You can ask for the egg however you’d like it. It provides a natural element of moisture for the bun and toppings. The burger is cooked to order, so with a medium-rare/medium, you can really tag-team the overall sandwich for a satisfying, moist bite. Be warned though . . . between the seasoning of the burger and the prosciutto, the burger falls on the salty end of the salty spectrum. For those looking to moderate salt intake, or who are sensitive to salty meals, the burger may be something sample but not order.

This panini-style spin on the classic and ever-satisfying BLT certainly ups the brunch game.  Adding avocado, a fried egg (we asked for over easy), and melty cheese, Boathouse Canton takes this classic sandwich to another level.  We are fully aware that a number of restaurants are offering B.L.A.T’s and even B.L.A.T’s with an egg.  Neither is this brunch order new to our repertoire.  So what makes Boathouse Canton’s sandwich special?  The panini-press finish.  Instead of icing on a cake, the panini press creates the melty cheese throughout the sandwich.

 

http://www.boathousecanton.com/

Slawandorder in Wonderland….Ballroom

Memorial Day Weekend 2015 happened to fall on one of the few perfect weather weekends during a DC “summer.”  Not only was the sun out and shining, the humidity was low.  Add in the breeze with an actual desire to sit outside and eat a meal, even with the high pollen count, and we really believe that we have fallen down the rabbit hole.

Luckily, instead of mad hatters and cheshire cats, we were greeted with bottomless mimosas, bloody marys, and a glorious menu at Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights, DC*.  Between five of us, we were able to hit a lot of the menu.  This is a good thing.  We want to eat everything on the menu.  We settled for The Gypsy, a skillet, and Mac & Cheese Pancakes.  Others in the group got Steak and Eggs, The Victory Bagel–an intense egg sandwich, and The Hollywood–one of the many vegetarian skillets and dishes.

The Gypsy:

With eggs your way over toast, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, and the works.  The works you ask?  Grilled peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheddar, and home fries.  DONE.  Wonderland Ballroom has combined all of our favorite ingredients into one skillet.  How could we not order this?  And, the skillet was executed well.  Neither the potatoes nor the vegetables were over- or under-cooked, adding a variety of textures.  The eggs were actually over easy and the toast was not burnt.  We don’t ask for much on a Saturday morning.  Drizzled with the hot sauce the just comes on the table (FINALLY), this skillet left us happy until and after dinner.

Mac & Cheese Pancakes (with a side of bacon, because obviously):

You heard us.  Macaroni and cheese in the pancake.  Pancake around macaroni and cheese.  Macaroni and cheese under the pancake.  Pancake on top of macaroni and cheese. To delay the obvious temptation, let’s start with the pancake itself. Delicious. We have eaten many pancakes: buttermilk, wheat, blueberry, banana, chocolate chip, light, heavy, even pancakes as a grilled cheese sandwich. Wonderland’s pancakes rank in the upper 25th percentile. They are light and airy, almost sweet. Not to mention, they are very large. They are porous (in a good way) and soak up and retain toppings like butter and syrup.

But again…Macaroni and cheese…in the pancake. Please, can someone find the head chef and bestow a Nobel prize upon them? The concept is incredibly simple. Take a griddle, place Mac n’ Cheese upon said griddle, and then pour pancake batter on and around the Mac n’ Cheese until you have 1 cohesive, magical, ooey-gooey filled, yet airy pancake. Then doused with butter and syrup….again, why did the James Beard awards just pass because they missed one. The Mac n’ Cheese is great. It is tasty yet allows the pancake to be the predominate flavor. It also keeps the pancake moist from the inside out. With the butter and syrup keeping the pancake moist from the outside, this pancake is a dense and light balance of…well, a cheesy pancake.

The Drinks:

Not the best we’ve ever had; not the worst.  The bloody marys tasted fine.  The mimosa comes pre-mixed in a champagne bottle.  It’s a very light orange–a good thing. The beer list includes intriguing options such as (in a similar theme) blueberry pancake beer. It fell much flatter than the Mac n’ Cheese pancakes. But we approve enough.

Crazy happy with this brunch, all around.  Outdoor seating?  Relaxed attitude?  Good food?  Veggie friendly menu so we can play with all of our friends?  We’re in.

http://www.thewonderlandballroom.com/

http://www.thewonderlandballroom.com/menu/#brunch

*located with help from the Bitches Who Brunch

“Runch” at Toast Montclair: Our First “Worth-It” Brunch without the B

Five minutes away from Toast Montclair, we learned the impossible:  Toast advertises a ridiculously appetizing brunch menu without mentioning that the restaurant is BYOB.  Our brains go into overdrive.  It’s official, we about to attend Runch, brunch without the “B.”  The “B” in brunch referring to booze instead of the beginning of breakfast, clearly.  Don’t get us wrong, we love BYOB.  What we do not love?  Getting blind-sided by a BYOB.  Just give us some warning, people!  Word for the wise:  if a brunch menu does not list its boozey drinks, it probably doesn’t have boozey drinks.

Enter Merit Wines to the rescue.  About a block away from Toast, we were able to pick up a bottle of champagne to pour over some orange juice. Given the usual 30-40 minute wait time for a table, it’s completely reasonable to walk down the street and peruse for your preferred libation.  While we did not take that chance and bought our champagne prior to putting our names in, we are also here to spread some extra words of wisdom (or at least, experience).

We were seated sooner than our expected wait time and started delving into Toast’s menu (again).  Then came the timeless questions of brunch.  (1)  Lunch or breakfast?  (2)  Share or get our own plates?  (3)  If breakfast, then sweet or savory?

Answers:  (1) Breakfast; we’ll probably have a sandwich for dinner.  (2) Obviously both.  (3) See (2).

After an insanely long intro, here are the goods.  Red Velvet Pancake, Carrot Cake Pancake, Crab and Asparagus Omelet, Bacon and Brie omelet, Iced Chai Latte, and Cappuccino.

• Red Velvet Pancake — Yes. Think of your favorite red velvet cake or cupcake. Flatten it while maintaining its fluffy, moist qualities and you get Toast’s red velvet pancake.  It seems oxymoronic that a flat piece of cake would also be fluffy and moist but Toast nails its pancakes right on their heads.

• Carrot Cake Pancake — Also, Yes. See above.  Add walnuts and a thin drizzle of icing. Delicious.  Toast’s “Peace, Love, Pancakes” motto shines brightly in this flattened, fluffy, moist Carrot Cake.

• Crab and Asparagus Omelet — we were very excited about this combo. We were even more excited that Toast drizzled hollandaise sauce on top of the omelet, meaning that we didn’t feel bad abandoning our usual Eggs Benedict.  We were also very let down by this omelet, as well as the bacon and Brie omelet.  The egg was thin and fluffy but the egg to filling ratio was off.  There was too much egg to filling.  Additionally, our eggs did not come to us steaming hot. They were not cold, but with a full table, we were forced to eat a little faster than we would have liked.

• Bacon and Brie Omelet — Same issues as our other omelet. Not enough Brie, too much egg, and the bacon was not as crispy as we would like.  The bacon thing is a personal preference, but still worth noting.

Also notable:  First, the potatoes.  We do not regret eating ALL of these potatoes.  They are lightly spiced, crispy on the edges, and break apart into a well-cooked potato.  Second and accordingly, doesn’t hurt that Toast leaves Frank’s Hot Sauce on the table for dipping.  Always a plus.  Third, our coffee was delicious.

Moral of the story:  Eat the pancakes.  Seriously, Toast, thank you for selling single pancakes.

http://toastmontclair.com/

The Sinclair Brunch, Waffles with a Side of Food

The sun is out. The weather is warm (which is a sensation that most Bostonians have forgotten after the past winter) and so naturally, we all really want to eat outside. With the help of Eater Boston, a quick scroll brought us to The Sinclair in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Part music venue, part restaurant, The Sinclair has a rooftop patio to provide the rays we were desiring, and a brunch menu straight out of Leslie Knope’s fantasy land. Now, it has the brunch staples. Several options of Benedict, including one with duck. There are omelets, oysters, donut holes, and steak and eggs (which may or may not come with bacon and an English muffin). BUT, what is unavoidable, is the  amount of waffle on the menu.

First and foremost, there are 3 types of waffles. But even better, you can get the waffle flight that samples all 3: 1) berries, bacon, and marshmallow fluff (thank god for New England); 2) bananas, caramel, and pecans; and 3) fried chicken and Sinclair butter.

In addition, there is the waffle burger. It has grass fed beef cooked to order, shallot jam, applewood bacon, cheddar cheese, fried egg, and maple syrup all between 2 buttermilk waffles. The burger is a wonderful blend of sweet from the syrup and jam, and salty from the bacon. In addition, the juicy burger and the egg keep everything in between the waffles moist and juicy. If there is 1 complaint, the waffle was a little dry. However, the fries MORE than make up for any insufficiencies with the waffle. The fries are incredible. Crispy, warm, and salty. You and everyone at your table will not be able to stop picking.

Don’t forget, all of this is possible outside in the warm sun with homemade cocktails, bloody mary’s, or the occasional manmosa.

http://www.sinclaircambridge.com/kitchen/

Building Blocks of Brunch at Home: Cured Salmon

We love brunch. It’s hard to hide. A joy of brunch is that there are so many different types of brunch dishes. One brunch delicacy that we will never tire of: salmon lox. It helps that we love bagels, but lox are a wonderful compliment to add onto a bagel for some salty, smokey flavor, and the additional protein doesn’t hurt. But one of the worst parts of salmon lox at the supermarket or at the bagel shop is that they can be very expensive.

There is a solution: making them at home in a surprisingly easy process. Full credit for the genesis of this recipe goes to Deep Ellum in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, which displayed the basis of this recipe on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Ingredients:

• Salmon filet (size is up to you)
• Kosher salt, a LOT
• White sugar, less than the salt but still a lot
• Black pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• Fennel seeds
• Lemon zest
• Sumac

The beauty of this recipe is the ease of execution. In a large bowl, place and mix the kosher salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, sumac, and freshly zest the peel of a lemon into the bowl. The key is when you think you’ve added enough salt, add some more.

With a sharp knife, begin to to separate the skin from the meat of the salmon filet. Stay as close to the skin as possible with your knife and work your way down the filet. Once you feel like you can firmly grip the skin but not the filet, you can try tearing the rest of the skin off in one strong motion. Take a long sheet of aluminum foil and lay it flat. On the foil, pour half of the curing mixture and spread it out. Sit the fish on the cure and then pour the other half over the fish.

Fold the foil as tightly as possible around the fish. Place and fold another sheet of foil around the fish to ensure that the wrap is as complete and tight as possible. Once wrapped, place the fish in the refrigerator and leave it there for at least 24 hours. After the 24 hours, the curing mixture should have worked to extract moisture out of the fish.

Once it’s ready, wash the curing mixture off of the fish in cold water. Slice the cured salmon to your desired cut and enjoy! It’s wonderful on or in bagels, omelets, and many other places!

Mom’s Famous Pancakes

It’s hard to argue that many of the best recipes come from those who spend years perfecting a recipe before we walked into a kitchen. The recipe can be for a sauce, a rub, or….pancakes. Here is a very simple and fun to tweak pancake recipe that has been in our family for a long time and is a fabulous start to a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose white flour *
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder (1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
• ½ teaspoon salt (or less)
• ¼ cup white sugar (or less)
• 1 ½ cups milk**
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup vegetable (canola) oil (or less)
• Optional: 2 cups (about) blueberries, other fruit, or chocolate chips

Method

Gently stir dry ingredients in a large bowl (wire whip works well). In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, mix liquid ingredients well (with a wire whip). Pour liquids into dry ingredients, mixing with a spoon or wire whip. Batter will be lumpy.

Heat griddle until a drop of water sizzles on it. Cook at medium heat.

Serve with real maple syrup. The recipe makes 12-14 generous pancakes. This is a double recipe; a single is never enough. Leftovers can be microwaved.

*Can use 2/3 cup oat bran + 2/3 cup white flour.

**Can use buttermilk, but you should use a little less baking powder and let the batter sit for at least a half hour before cooking.

Once done, serve with maple syrup, cottage cheese, fruit salad, turn the pancakes into a grilled cheese sandwich...really the world is your oyster.

Blueberry Pancake Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Grilled cheese sandwiches are too good to not celebrate for days and days. And too good to limit to just lunch…or dinner. You might have noticed that going big or going home is a theme for our brunch recipes, and grilled cheese sandwiches have not been spared.

What started as a situation where the ingredients present were pancake batter left over from Momma’s pancake recipe, cheddar cheese and a burning desire for a grilled cheese sandwich, the end result turned into a Vermont-inspired sweet, gooey, sticky breakfast sandwich.

Ingredients:

• Pancake batter for blueberry pancakes (any homemade pancake recipe is perfect)
• Maple syrup (we really REALLY prefer the real stuff)
• Sharp white cheddar cheese (2-4 wide slices)
• Cottage cheese
• Butter

Start out by heating up a griddle or saute pan over medium-low heat (a little lower than if you were making pancakes) and toss a glob of butter on once the pan is up to temperature. Ladle batter for 2 pancakes onto pan and let that 1st side cook uninterrupted…except before you flip, drizzle some maple syrup onto the top of the pancakes. After a few minutes flip both pancakes.

Right after flipping, place 1-2 slices of cheddar cheese on the top of each pancake and cover both with a pan lid (or 2-3 slices onto 1 pancake). After 3-4 minutes, check to see that the cheddar cheese is melted. Once it has melted, spoon some cottage cheese onto 1 of the pancakes and flip the other pancake on top (cheddar cheese side down).

 

Place the lid back over the pancake sandwich. After a minute or 2, remove the pancake grilled cheese sandwich from the pan and enjoy!

What Do You Call a Pressed Breakfast Sandwich with Ham, Egg, and Cheese?

If you’ve been following along, you could probably guess this post will be more than a typical breakfast sandwich.  It’s, get ready….our brunch grilled cheese!

If you are anything like us, your usual week day breakfast consists of coffee and whatever other easily-grabbed sustenance that promises to keep us full longer than 20 minutes.  Because of that, weekend breakfasts/brunches are the holy grail.  There’s nothing wrong with spending a few extra minutes making breakfast because, worst case, now you have brunch!

Ingredients:

• 2 thick slices whole wheat, crusty bread
• cream cheese (we used Philadelphia’s with chives)
• two slices swiss cheese (ripped in half to fit)
• two slices colby jack cheese (ripped in half to fit)
• 1 egg
• hot cherry pepper sandwich spread (if we can’t use our homemade…we’re partial to Potbelly’s)
• sliced ham
• onion (we use about a quarter of a medium sized Vidalia)

The instructions to make this grilled cheese are similar to the Pepper and Mozzarella Grilled Cheese and the Feta Salad Grilled Cheese.  The minor differences:

• saute the onions and “pan-sear” the ham first to get a little texture in the sandwich
• meanwhile, spread cream cheese on one slice of bread, the other sides buttered for grilling
• layer one slice colby jack and swiss on top of cream cheese, ham and onions on top
• fry an egg to desired consistency, piling cherry peppers on top
• pile egg on to sandwich, top with more colby jack and swiss
• cover with second piece of bread, buttered side out
• GRILL IT UP!
  • With a sandwich piled this high, we recommend pressing the sandwich for about 30 seconds in addition to covering.  We were able to use an actual grill press this time, but we’re not above using a tea kettle, smaller frying pan, a spatula…really whatever is at the ready and heavy enough to smoosh that cheese together

Continue your National Grilled Cheese Day into the weekend, or show up to work a little late today…we won’t tell 😉