Fogel Hoy April 2, 2011

❤ on a O (love on a plate)

This exotic sounding delicacy is really just a mixed-up way of making french toast. I think it’s a better way, but perhaps that’s because it was a dietary staple of my childhood, made for me at least once a week by my Mum or my Grosli and let’s face it, the way we first met the foods we love will always be the best way. Or maybe it really is better because the bread gets all buttery/toasty first, and then the egg comes along so there’s never any mushy undercooked middle bits.

My Grosli (short form of Großmutter, grandmother in German and Swiss-German) was from Switzerland and I think the name comes from Vogelhuis which means ‘bird house’. I guess it got broken telephoned over the oceans and the decades, but we’ve always called it Fogel Hoy, and it wouldn’t make a very good home for a bird anyway.
It does however, make my little chicky chirp.

Prep time: no more than 10 minutes.

Use one egg (best if at room temp) and
about 1 tsp. cold butter
per slice of bread. We used a good multigrain today.
Pick either a pinch of cinnamon or a splash of vanilla.

Place the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Chop the bread into medium cubes and add to pan. It’s best if you get the cubes in before the butter has fully melted. That way as you stir the bread around more of it gets coated as the butter melts, making for greater golden toasty surface area. I hope that’s clear – it will be when you try it.

As the bread toasts up in the pan whisk the eggs together and add the cinnamon or vanilla. Once the bread is mostly golden pour the eggs all around and over it. Stir it all up. The eggs cook as soon as they hit the hot pan and toast, so from the pouring to the plate is only about 30 seconds to a minute.

This dish must be slathered in real maple syrup.

Is this Ivy? Or me in the 70's? Or my mum in the 40's? Or Grosli in the 'teens? ...

Leek and Potato Soup March 31, 2011

Even though it’s officially spring, some of these days just haven’t heard the news. But never mind, this soup will warm your cockles. I made it in my sister-in-law’s kitchen and it fed five and a half (Ivy) of us with enough left over for a jar to give to a flu-y friend. I was quite distracted by the familial hullabaloo while I made it but it forgave my lapses of attention and turned out beautifully.

you will need:
5 or 6 large leeks, trimmed of their root end and almost all of their green tops
2 medium sized yellow onions
2 1/2 tbsp butter or olive oil or a combination
1 tbsp thyme (I only had dried on hand)
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp red chili flakes
S & P (always always fresh ground P)
6 medium spuds (I used red skinned, yellow fleshed)
5 cups of chicken or veggie stock warm or at room temperature
2 cups of water (okay, I’m really just guessing about that – you’ll have to judge)

Slice the leeks in half lengthwise and then chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Rinse these very well in a colander while you heat the butter and/or oil in a big soup pot. Add the leeks to the pot and chop the onions mediumly (spell check loves that one). Dry your tears and toss the onions in the pot. Stir these about from time to time with a wooden spoon over medium-low heat. Add the spices now that you’re thinking of it, because you’re procrastinating about peeling potatoes.

Ask father-in-law to wash and peel potatoes. Cut these into a large dice and plop them in the pot. Stir this all around a bit, add the stock and water, cover and go play.

When the potatoes are nice and soft the soup is done. Some in the family like a chunkier soup so I just gave it a slight massage with a potato masher, but you could certainly employ an immersion blender here. Some milk or cream (<1 cup) would also be lovely.

get well soop