COCOBELLA BALLERINA: August 2014

Are you guys sick of Puff Pastry yet? HAHA. I swear this is the last of it.. maybe. As our time in Germany winds down I'm trying to use up everything in the fridge/freezer/pantry. And seeing as I always have Puff Pastry in the freezer... lol.

Anyways this all-in-one baked dish is ideal for brunch w/ friends & family!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Sauce
3/4 Cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Paprika
Salt & Pepper (To Taste)
3 Sheets of Puff Pastry
8 Eggs
10 Slices of Cooked Bacon
1 Large Onion
3 Small Potatoes
1 Container of Cherry Tomatoes

Allow your 3 Sheets of Puff Pastry to defrost about 30 to 45 mins.

Pre-Heat oven to 400 Degrees F.

Individually wrap your 3 potatoes in a wet paper towel and microwave for 5 mins.

Take out of the microwave and TURN each potato so the underside is on top and microwave for another 5 mins.

While your potatoes are in the microwave dice your onion into small pieces.

Add your oil to a hot pan.

Add your sugar and allow it to dissolve.

Add your diced onions and saute.

While your onions are sauteing you can slice your Cherry Tomatoes in half.

Take ONE of your puff pastry sheets and using a fork poke lots of small holes in it. This sheet you will use as the top of your puff pastry pie.

By now your onions should have turned into caramelized onions and you can take them off the heat.

Now spread your Sun Dried Tomato Pesto sauce. I like to do 1 to 1.5 heaping Tbsp per puff pastry sheet.. so roughly 5 Tbsp. or 1/4 cup.

If your Sun Dried Tomato Pesto sauce is too thick and difficult to spread just add some olive oil into your jar and mix with a spoon.

Spread all over so that it's evenly distributed all over your puff pastry.

Take one of your puff pastry sheets and attach extra depending on the side of your baking dish. Each sheet is 3 panels and as you can see I had to attach a 4th panel to my puff pastry sheet.

Take a cookie sheet and place your puff pastry on top and fit it on the bottom and sides of your baking pan.

(I know it looks scary but I promise it won't look like this at the end lol!)

Now that your potatoes have cooled a bit you can slice them into slices and just use a paper towel and crumple up your bacon.

(I pre-baked my bacon in the oven because I don't like to mess with bacon on a frying pan.)

Now add a layer of sliced potatoes to the bottom of the puff pastry.

Oh I should also mention this is where you should season with some salt as potatoes are a bit bland.

Now add half of your caramelized onions and distribute evenly over the potatoes.

Add half or your bacon and distribute evenly over the caramelized onions.

Repeat the same process again.

Potatoes, Salt, Caramelized Onions & Bacon.

After you've completed the 2nd layer of your Potato, Salt, Caramelized Onion & Bacon your final top layer will be your Cherry Tomatoes.

Now it's time to make the custard part of the dish.

Combine 6 eggs & milk.

Add your cracked pepper

Add your Paprika

Stir together until smooth.

Now pour all over your dish.

This is what it should look like. You should leave a bit of room for the pie crust edge to seal your pie later.

Also don't use ALL of your egg/milk custard. Reserve a little bit at the end to brush the TOP of your pie.

Now you can just take your last puff pastry sheet and add it to the top of the pie seal it and call it a day.

But I did a lattice weave top so I like to crack 2 eggs on top.

Once it bakes the whole egg yolk looks really pretty on top peeking through the lattice weave.

So if you want to continue and do the lattice weave top you'll take your last and final puff pastry sheet and cut it into equal sized strips.

Then you'll turn them over so the Sun Dried Tomato side is on the underside and make sure there's equal spacing on your pie. I like to space it around the whole egg yolks.

Then I fold it over.

And then add strips the opposite direction going horizontally.

If you've ever made plastic friendship bracelets at summer camp or one of those paper weaved Turkey's at Thanksgiving in Elementary school. It's the same exact concept. You're just doing a weave pattern with your pastry strips.

Repeat until you've "weaved" your whole pie.

Then with a knife cut off the strips that dangle on the ends of the pie.

Tuck all of the edges together so everything is sealed properly.

Use the remaining egg/milk wash from earlier and brush it on top of your pastry.

Into the oven covered with a aluminum foil top for 1 hour.

And then 15 min WITHOUT the foil top.

So many many layers of yumminess!

You can see that egg yolk peeking out between the pastry :p

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Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
1 Can of Spam
2 Cups Kimchi
1 Tsp. Grated Ginger
2 Tbsp. Oil
8 Cups cooked (day old) Rice
8 oz. Imitation Crab Stick/Surimi
1 Cup Peas
2 Large Onion
4-6 Eggs
Non-Stick Spray
Cracked Black Pepper to taste
2 Stalks of Green Onion
Furikake

Dice your onions.

Add in your oil and your onions and saute.

While your onions are cooking you can make your Spam "marinade".

Combine your Sesame Oil, Ginger, Soy Sauce & fresh cracked Black Pepper.

After your onions have sweated for a little bit add in your rice.

I leave the rice spread out on the pan and let it "fry" for 10 mins and then I'll flip it over and let it "fry" for another 10 mins this makes it really crispy.

I like to use day old rice and if I know I'm going to use the rice to make fried rice I'll also use less water when I'm cooking it initially. By utilizing these tactics you end up with much crispier fried rice.

Dice your Spam into bite sized pieces.

Add the diced Spam into your "marinade" and combine until it's evenly coated and let it sit for about 10 mins.

Take your Kimchi and chop into small pieces.

In a separate pan fry your Spam and chopped Kimchi together until the juices have cooked down.

The Hubs prefers crispy fried rice but I know a lot of people like their Kimchi fried rice "wet" if you do then you don't need to let the juices cook down.

Add your Spam & Kimchi mixture into your rice and combine together.

Dice your crab stick into bite sized pieces.

Chop your green onions and leave to the side for later.

Add in your diced crab stick & peas and mix into your fried rice.

Wipe the pan you used to fry the Spam & Kimchi with a paper towel.

Then spray some Non-stick cooking spray.

Fry an over easy egg.

In the above ingredients I listed 4-6 eggs because it'll depend on how many people you'll be serving. The fried rice cooks out to about 4-6 servings. So just fry 1 egg per person and you can fry them all at once on a larger pan.