Sunday, January 29, 2006

Use your Noodle

Noodles? For Sunday Brunch?!
And green ones at that? What a wierdo...

photograph picture recipe how to make truffled Cauliflower Cheese Flatbread

Amy challenged us to use our noodles for the latest edition of IMBB. I've noticed a trend towards ribbon-like pieces of vegetable being labelled noodles, particularly in vegetarian and raw restuarants. Some people are even making beautiful fruit-based noodles. I figured, if it's good enough for them, then it's good enough for me (and hopefully it will be good enough for Amy too).

I wanted to make a delicious brunch that was healthier than usual, but still as satisfying. Leeks lend themselves easily and beautifully to ribbon-like shaping, so I decided they should be the base of my dish.

Top-a-Leekie Brunch with Crispy Spring Garlic Ribbons
1 leek, trimmed, cleaned and cut into fine ribbons
1 spring garlic, cleaned, trimmed and cut into fine ribbons
1 fresh, happy egg
half a rasher of bacon with most of the fat removed
half an oz of blue cheese
1 handful fresh breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon almond meal
1 teaspoon olive oil
dash of vinegar

-steam leek ribbons until tender, leave covered to keep warm once cooked.
-meanwhile carefully pan fry spring garlic ribbons until crispy and golden. Remove onto kitchen towel to drain of excess oil.
-in the meantime pan fry diced bacon, breadcrumbs and almond meal til golden. Add cheese and stir until it forms a nice crunchy mixture.
-whilst you are doing that, add a dash of vinegar to some water, heat it to a simmer and poach an egg.
-arrange leek noodles, like a nest. Fill nest with the bread/bacon/almond/cheese mixture. Top with poached egg and then crown with the crispy spring garlic.

(Approx 6 Weightwatcher points)

That was quite good, that was, now what's for lunch?




Links, Resources and Further Reading

Bay Area Resources:
Leeks & Spring Garlic | Chues Farm
Eggs | Marin Sun Farm
Blue Cheese | Point Reyes
Buy Cheese | Cowgirl Creamery

Other Resources:
Delia Smith | How to poach an egg

Daily weight loss, weightwatchers and diet notes:
The reason I chose Weightwatchers # 2: They don't lecture on not eating things, but they do encourage you to eat healthily. 5 portions of fruit and or vegetables a day is one of the goals that Weightwatchers set for you.

Archive Alert! On this date in 2005: Scrambled Egg on Toast with Prosciutto.

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Use your Noodle

8 Comments:

  • At 29/1/06 13:06, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Lovely idea! I love leeks, Hmm, les bons poireaux! Love your close-up pictures of the vegetables. I can "taste" them. I guess you were a better girl. I made chocolate tagliatelles for the event! ;-)

     
  • At 29/1/06 13:25, Blogger Jocelyn:McAuliflower said…

    Nice way to get more vegetables in! I heart leeks... this looks like a nice way to cut to the chase and eat them as a main component of a dish.

     
  • At 29/1/06 13:47, Blogger deborah said…

    mmm i love leeks. infact i had a weekend of leeks - but not as tasty as yours. mine was a simple leek soup, to get rid of the toxins and detox after way too much indulgence these couple of weeks.

     
  • At 29/1/06 14:06, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    that looks delicious. All I made for lunch was leek and potato soup with wholemeal bread.

     
  • At 30/1/06 02:59, Blogger Nupur said…

    Beautiful and unusual! I must say that you have terrific knife skills...I doubt my veggie noodles would be very noodle-y looking.

     
  • At 30/1/06 07:02, Blogger Sam said…

    Bea - I love leeks too. Like really love them,and so does fred. I have to thank my mum for instillling a love of leeks into me. Poireaux au vinaigrette - yum!

    I think i am going to do more with "leek spaghetti"

    Mcauliflower - I think i am going to try them with a creamy mushroom sauce. Its a psychological thing that their shape looks like noodles - but it really works for some reason.

    Saffron - Leeks are good whatever way I think - even when they are overcooked (in terms of the trend towards crunchier veggies) they still taste yum.

    mum - i think making soup is more adventurous than your "all I made" would have us believe. thank you for getting me to love my leeks.
    this dish is very simple, you should try it.

    Nupur - no fancy knife skills required - leeks are ribbon-like by the by. Just cut them lengthways and you will have auto-ribbons!

     
  • At 31/1/06 07:08, Blogger Anthony said…

    I've noticed a trend towards ribbon-like pieces of vegetable being labelled noodles

    Oh so long, Julienne, it's time that we began ...

     
  • At 1/2/06 03:42, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    In a word, yum. Anything with leeks and I'm there...

     

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