Breakfast

Lox Bagels with Fluffy Ricotta-Chive Eggs, Herbed Cream Cheese, & Arugula

/ Alex Stromberg / Leave a comment

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If you’ve read the “about” section of this blog, you may have noticed that I said I cook and eat mostly vegetarian meals. Although I don’t usually cook meat or fish for Eric or myself anymore, I still eat meat occasionally and experiment with recipes for my parents. Sometimes you will see these experiments on the blog, like these bagels I made my Mom for Mother’s Day. These are sure to satisfy all of your brunch dreams!

This bagel looks and tastes like a million bucks, but trust me—it’s so easy to put together! Let me break it down for you, because there are a lot of different textures and flavors going on.

I know the smoked salmon is the star ingredient of the bagel, but I have to take a moment to gush about these scrambled eggs. If you’ve never put ricotta cheese in your eggs, prepare to be blown away. A few years ago, I discovered that a few dollops of ricotta cheese and a handful of chopped fresh chives do magical things to scrambled eggs. These eggs are so incredibly silky. I make these eggs every single time I do a brunch spread. They are seriously delicious!

Next we’ve got this herbed cream cheese. Everyone knows that smoked salmon + bagels + cream cheese are a match made in heaven, but I wanted to spice it up with some fresh herbs and lemon zest. The dill, parsley, chives, and lemon zest perfectly complement the richness of the salmon and give you a light spread for the bagel.

Finally, it’s all topped off with a small mountain of peppery arugula, simply dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. What more could you want in a bagel sandwich?

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Lox Bagels with fluffy ricotta-chive eggs, herbed cream cheese, & arugula

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 bagels (I used everything bagels), cut in half and toasted

8 slices of high-quality smoked salmon (I used Scandinavian-style Gravlax)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 heaping cup of arugula

1 tablespoon olive oil

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon butter

2 heaping tablespoons ricotta cheese

Pinch of sea salt

 

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 20 seconds. Add in the dill, parsley, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of the chopped chives. Season with salt and pepper. Beat again until everything is nicely combined. Set mixture aside.
  2. In another medium bowl, toss the arugula with the olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (about ½ of a lemon, depending on how juicy it is), sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Set aside.
  3. Scramble the eggs: beat the eggs in a medium bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of chives. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggs to the skillet and gently pull them across the skillet using a spatula as they begin to set. When the eggs are almost done, turn the heat off and fold in the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle the eggs with sea salt, and stir everything together until eggs are light and fluffy and the cheese is nicely incorporated.
  4. To assemble the bagels, spread cream cheese on each bagel half. Top each bagel bottom with 2 slices of smoked salmon, a large spoonful of eggs, and a pile of arugula.

Strawberry Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast with Orange Whipped Cream Cheese

/ Alex Stromberg / 2 Comments

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My favorite things in the world right now are South Carolina strawberries. I don’t know what it is, but this season they are exceptionally good. When I was at the farmer’s market last weekend, I felt like the strawberries were calling out to me from every booth. I couldn’t resist. So a few days ago, I bought some and made this cake:

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Ohhh my. I first made this cake a few years ago, and I don’t know why it took me until now to make it again, because it is seriously delicious. It’s one of those cakes that you’re tempted to eat for breakfast because the next morning you see it sitting in the fridge and you have to question if it’s okay to eat cake at 9 AM. But you don’t have to! I have the solution:

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I wanted the flavors of this cake in a more breakfast-friendly format, and it came to me: Stuffed. French. Toast. Have there ever been three more beautiful words in the English language? Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you I have a thing for stuffed desserts. There’s nothing like the look of wonder when someone is surprised by a sweet filling. It’s basically like a present inside of a present; am I right?! I used the same filling from the cake recipe, but instead of topping the French toast with boring old whipped cream, I combined whipped cream with cream cheese and added orange zest and vanilla.

These pieces of French toast are like little clouds. The brioche is the perfect, pillowy vessel for the tangy strawberry-rhubarb filling.  The rubarb gives you a nice balance to offset the sweetness of the strawberries. The whipped cream/cream cheese combination gives you an exceptionally light topping for the French toast with a burst of orange flavor.

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Just look at that beautiful filling! Strawberries and rhubarb are not in season for much longer, so you need to make this dish ASAP. It would make for a perfect Mother’s Day Brunch.

Strawberry Rhubarb Stuffed French Toast with Whipped Orange Cream Cheese

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 loaf brioche bread

3 eggs

1/3 cup half and half

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp vanilla extract

4 tablespoons butter

Extra sliced strawberries and powdered sugar, for garnish

For the strawberry-rhubarb filling:

2 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces

¼ cup plus ½ tablespoon granulated sugar

½ cup thinly sliced strawberries

For the whipped orange cream cheese:

½ cup cold heavy cream

4 oz softened cream cheese

1 tsp orange zest

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions:

  1. Combine the rhubarb, ¼ cup sugar, and 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and continue to cook until it becomes a thick puree, around 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  2. Once the rhubarb puree has cooled, fold in the sliced strawberries and the ½ tablespoon of sugar. Set aside.
  3. Whip the heavy cream in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form, around 6 minutes.
  4. In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 20 seconds.
  5. Add the cream cheese to the bowl with the whipped cream. Add the orange zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Set aside.
  6. Combine the eggs, half and half, cinnamon, and vanilla in a shallow bowl.
  7. Slice the brioche bread into 1.5 inch slices. You don’t have to break out the ruler here, but you want the bread to be thick enough to form a pocket for the stuffing.
  8. Using a knife, make a slit in the bottom of each slice. This is the pocket where your filling will go. Stuff each slice with around 2 tablespoons of filling.
  9. Dunk each slice of stuffed brioche in the egg mixture. Make sure that each slice has a nice coating.
  10. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Fry the brioche, 2 slices at a time, in the skillet until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and the remaining 2 slices of brioche.
  11. Top each slice of French toast with a healthy dollop of the whipped orange cream cheese. Garnish with additional sliced strawberries and powdered sugar, if desired.