MONDAY

Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère & Egg  |  Ruby Grapefruit

 

The sunshine, mild temperatures & gentle breezes we have been experiencing here in Northern California these last few weeks gradually slipped away throughout the day today giving way to darkening gray skies and wind.   The rain is expected to begin later this evening and continue for a couple of days.  I don’t mind though.  I know we need the rain and, the blanket of gray which fell over us this afternoon brought with it a quiet peace to this little island.  Today, the Bay waters stretching out just beyond my living room window, which had been cluttered with hundreds of sail boats this weekend, were practically empty.  Tonight we will enjoy a simple dinner and relax by a blazing fire.

Tonight’s dinner came to me via the March 2013 issue of Food & Wine magazine.  It is from Suzanne Goin, owner of A.O.C. Wine Bar & Restaurant in Los Angeles, California and recipient of a Food & Wine “Best New Chef Award”…this is one of her most requested recipes.  Yesterday, Michael and I travelled by boat to the San Francisco Ferry Building to pick up a few things for this “breakfast for dinner”…

At Acme Bread Company for the brioche ~

But, no brioche today.  Instead we picked up a hot, just-from-the-oven, loaf of challah bread {which contains eggs, similar to brioche}, soft, buttery & warm…

Picking up the frisée…

And now, the prosciutto @ Boccalone…

There is my prosciutto crudo…right behind those tasty {and famous!} salumi cones…

While we were waiting for our prosciutto to be sliced…these views tempted Michael ~

We picked up everything we needed for the week & enjoyed a lovely outing together {a.k.a. “date”}.  The sun was beaming and we enjoyed the ferry ride home from the top deck!

Back home tonight…Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyère & Egg {adapted from Food & Wine, March 2013}

• 4, 1-inch slices of challah bread
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
• 4 ounces frisée, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons, freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 4 large eggs
• ¾ pound Gruyère cheese, coarsely-grated
• 12 slices of prosciutto crudo, thinly-sliced

1. Preheat the broiler and, at the same time, heat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Generously spread softened butter on to both sides of the challah slices & grill the bread in the hot skillet, on each side, until golden brown.  Set toasted bread slices aside and reserve skillet.
3. In a medium bowl, toss the frisée with the scallions, lemon juice & olive oil.  Season the salad with salt & pepper.
4. Top each challah slice with the Gruyère cheese, covering as much of the toasts as possible.  Broil the cheese-covered toasts until the cheese is melted & bubbling.  Remove from oven and set aside.  Top each cheese-toast slice with a bunch of the dressed frisée.  Followed by 2 thin slices of prosciutto.
5. Return skillet to moderate heat and melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Crack eggs into the skillet and cook sunny-side up, until the whites are firm and the yolks runny, about 5 minutes.  Top each of the open-faced challah, cheese, frisée & prosciutto toasts with a sunny-side up egg and serve with a ruby grapefruit halve.  Season open-faced sandwich with salt & pepper to taste.

And the finished entrée…

Add one of these lovely ruby grapefruit halves to each plate for a FABULOUS “breakfast for dinner”…