Egg-In-Toast

So, what to have for breakfast with a nice cup of espresso in the morning? Eggs and toast, of course. And the simplest, most perfect way I know to do eggs and toast is egg-in-toast. For me, it has the flavors and textures I associate with soft-boiled eggs, but is even easier to prepare.

It is also known as egg in the basket or toad in the hole. I've always known it as egg-in-toast, so egg-in-toast it will be.

First, of course, you need the toast. This time we're using Sherry's first batch of "American Sandwich Bread" from Baking Illustrated.



Then, to get the egg in, you need a hole. To make one, we use the small end of a jigger (hey, "drink" is in our blog title, after all).



Put the punctured toast in a buttered frying pan and crack a yolk in (Sherry likes to use a small dish to crack the yolk into and then pour it into the hole).



Don't forget to use the "toast-hole". It makes a perfect vehicle for soaking up that first fantastic dollop of sticky yellow yolk.

An Ode to Silvia (Rancilio, that is)

Allow me to present Silvia, the other woman in my life. It's ok, though - Sherry introduced us. In fact, Silvia was a birthday present over seven years ago. Ever since then, Silvia has allowed our mornings to look like this:



Forever ruined by traveling in Italy, we are addicted to a well-made espresso. Unfortunately, here in the land of "how many shots would you like in your über-grande-mocha-madness", a good espresso is very hard to come by.

Buying a semi-commercial espresso machine, while an initial high upfront cost, has definitely paid dividends. After more than seven years of constant use, our machine is still running just as smoothly as the day we got it.



As important, if not more important than a good espresso machine is your grinder. A burr grinder is an absolute must - and don't skimp on the price. We started with a cheaper grinder, but soon upgraded to the Rancilio Rocky. The difference was significant.



Rocky makes it possible to get the perfect grind. Figuring out exactly what that is takes a lot of experimentation, but once you have it locked in you'll be enjoying a perfect espresso time and time again.



Making a good espresso is definitely a bit of a Zen art - getting the perfect grind, figuring out exactly how much coffee to use, tamping it down just right. That's probably why it is so hard to get a good one.



But when you do...



It is definitely worth it!

Tamales Ancira

Tamales Ancira, a store that has been operating in Chula Vista since 1989, opened up a location on Garnet Avenue here in Pacific Beach about a year or so ago. While they aren't going to make us forget about the tamales we had in Oaxaca, they do a very good job and we are really lucky to have such a great place just a few blocks away from our house.



They are primarily a take-out business, but they do have a few small tables if you want to eat there. You can order your tamales a la carte, or as a combo plate with rice and beans.

Here is the 3-tamal combo plate:



If you order tamales a la carte, they wrap them up nicely for you.



They also give you salsas, cheese and crema. Today they were out of their red salsa, but we got their green salsas. One is a traditional tomatillo-based salsa verde, and the other is a mixture of green and red chiles. Both are relatively mild, but very tasty.



First up, the chicken tamal. They do it in a flavorful red sauce. I love the way the redness stains the masa.



Chicharrón isn't my favorite thing in the world, but they do a good version - cooked until fully soft and not chewy like it sometimes can be.



The picadillo is generally very good, but this time around the meat was a bit dry. Like all the others however, the masa was flavorful, soft and well seasoned.



Here is the pork tamal - moist shreds of meat in a green sauce.



And finally, the beef tamal. Like the chicken, it is in a red sauce. This one has been our favorite of all we've tried so far - earthy, savory and very satisfying.



If you are near PB and are craving tamales, definitely check them out.

Tamales Ancira
1404 Garnet Ave.
(858) 270-1810
Open Mon-Sat, 9:00-9:00PM and Sun 10:00-5:00PM

April In Review

We've been a bit delinquent posting since we got back from our trip to Mexico, but that doesn't mean we haven't been eating well.

Here is April in review:

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And, since I missed posting a March review in the whirlwind of Mexico posts, here it is as well:

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Grilled Fish and Shrimp Tacos

We've mentioned before that we really like the seafood tacos at South Beach Bar & Grille. It is one of the first places we hit up when we returned to San Diego from our travels in Mexico.

Inspired by the tacos at South Beach, we've been making our own that taste almost as good. We've used a variety of different fish - this time we used black cod and grouper and but we've also used sea bass and mahi mahi. Large, firm-fleshed fish work best.



We cook the fish and shrimp indoors on a grill pan - we find it gives us more control.



The key to these tacos, though is the salsa. Tomato, onion and red cabbage are marinated with vinegar and a touch of salt.



The result is a vibrant fresh salsa with a twangy bite from the vinegar. Our recipe is at the end of this post.



To make the tacos, we use "snack size" flour tortillas. While we generally prefer corn tortillas for most other kinds of tacos, South Beach uses flour and we find that they work really well with seafood.



The small tortillas make for a perfect sized taco.



I'm not a big fan of the traditional white sauce. I find that particularly with grilled tacos (as opposed to battered and fried) it masks the fresh flavors of the seafood and the salsa. We do follow South Beach's approach with a tiny bit of melted cheddar on the tortilla however.

Salsa for Grilled Fish and Shrimp Tacos

3 tomatoes, cored and seeded
1/4 white onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (less if using table salt)
1/2 cup finely sliced, red cabbage

Chop the tomato flesh into small dice. Mix with the onion, vinegar and salt. Carefully fold in the red cabbage.

Let sit at room temperature one to two hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with a slotted spoon, or drain before using.

Making Homemade Bagels

Ok, we're certainly not New Yorkers but even we know that bagels here in San Diego leave a lot to be desired. They aren't so much bagels as they are bagel-shaped bread. They don't have the correct outer "skin", and they don't have enough chew when you bite into them.

So what are you supposed to do here when you are craving a good bagel? Make your own.



We used a recipe from Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart. You start with a loose, wet, poolish sponge that is slow fermented, then a lot of flour, plus a little more yeast, water and salt is added to create a rather dense dough. Five minutes of kneading in the stand mixer followed by five minutes on the board results in a smooth, satiny, fairly dry dough (and tired arms).

Forming bagel shapes is pretty easy: just make dinner-roll sized balls, let rest a minute, then stick your thumb through the middle and gently stretch. Done!



The bagels poof slightly after a couple hours at room temperature, but then it's important to put them in the fridge overnight to develop more flavor.

Next up, poach the dough in simmering water, a minute on each side. I'd always wondered why bagels get boiled, but now I know it's the real key to getting a chewy bagel with that characteristic shiny crust.



A quick dip in some sesame seeds is followed by a 14 minute bake.

The result - a very nice bagel indeed. We won't be a threat to the New York deli scene any time soon, but we've definitely found our best local option.

Spring Barbecue

We've been having some really nice weather recently, so we decided it was time to dust of the barbecue and initiate grilling season. The dish above we dubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin a la Mexicana. It is inspired by a really nice Puntas a la Mexicana, which was beef tips in a tomato-chile sauce. Here we are using whole slices of pork, but the flavors are very similar.

But grilling season hasn't really begun until we've done our first slab of ribs.



We served up this batch with some potato salad and some grilled asparagus.



And of course we can't forget barbecued chicken. There is nothing quite like crispy sauce-slathered chicken skin hot off of the grill.



We haven't posted a recipe in a while, so here is our house barbecue sauce. It is the recipe I grew up with and is still my favorite. We sometimes modify it a bit - adding some chile for heat, for example.

Barbecue Sauce

6 tablespoons minced onions
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a small sauce pan, saute onion in butter to soften. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer 20 minutes.