Mother’s Day Brunch-Eggs for Dinner

This last Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day with a brunch. This may sound all too common but in our uncommon family we served it as an evening meal. Cinnamon rolls, omelet bar, fried potatoes, fruit, it was all a brunch should be. Most of us have experienced having a breakfast meal for dinner. After all, is there any thing more comforting than pancakes drenched in butter and syrup? It has to be the ultimate comfort food. It reminded me of a time I had invited some friends for dinner and found little in the pantry and refrigerator but worst of all little in my wallet. So as any good cook does, I improvised. I had some fresh corn, peppers, squash and tomatoes that I had purchased at the farmers market. I also had a dozen eggs, that’s four times three good eggs;-). I decided to make a corn waffle, top it off with ratatouille and a poached egg covered in hollandaise. The meal was a smashing success. My friends still talk about the creativity of the meal. I was glad because it only required I buy a lemon from the store. It left me money in my wallet to buy a sherbet to end the meal.

Eggs are a great protein that is highly appropriate to serve at dinnertime. In the early nineties I use to frequent a lovely little French bistro in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Café Jacqueline served soufflés and salads. It was my habit at first to have dinner at one of the great Italian restaurants, then walk over to Café Jacqueline for a dessert soufflé to share. One day I took a look at the complete menu and vowed to come back for a romantic dinner of a shared salad, shared savory soufflé and a shared sweet soufflé. It is still one of my fondest food memories. Now I find myself in Dallas and had discovered a restaurant called Rise in University Park. I was only lacking a companion to go and share a meal with me. Rise serves individual soufflés as well a plethora of other contemporary Bistro food. But I was there for the soufflé. The soufflés were light and moist. They were the perfect size for an entrée followed by a salad. The dessert soufflés also come in individual servings though we ordered just one to share. So it seems there is plenty of good reasons to have three good eggs for dinner.

Corn Waffle Recipe

2 ears corn, grilled
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups milk
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Remove kernels from cob and puree in a blender.
Pour into a mixing bowl with eggs milk, vanilla and oil. Mix well.
Add mixed dry ingredients of flour, salt, baking soda and sugar to the wet mixture. Stir with a whisk until wet. Do not over mix.
Pour batter into waffle iron according to directions.

Note: If using a Belgium Waffle Iron I always separate the eggs and whip the egg whites to a stiff peak, then fold them into the other ingredients.