I have had a copy of Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth on my stack of cookbooks for eight weeks now (I know exactly how long its been because I posted a photo of the book to Instagram the day it arrived). I’ve long been a fan of eating delicious breakfast foods for my evening meal, so I couldn’t wait to take this one for a spin. I flipped through soon after it arrived and tucked a handful of sticky notes onto its pages, marking things I hoped to make.
For the last two months, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve plucked it off the pile with the intention of making something before being sidetracked by some other task (being in the midst of a giant writing project will do that). However, earlier today the stars aligned for me to try one of the jam recipes in the book. I had ripe tomatoes leftover from recipe testing and enough time to try a batch of the tomato peach jam. I didn’t have any peaches, but I did have a couple of ripe mangos that I thought would sub in nicely.
I peeled 2 pounds of tomatoes using the score and blanch method and dropped them into the high-sided skillet that is one of my favorite small batch pans. I added 1 cup of chopped ripe mango (it was 1 1/2 champagne mangos), one well-chopped small, spicy red chili pepper and broke everything up with a pastry blender (a potato masher does the same job nicely).
I added 3/4 cup sugar (it’s a bit more than the original recipe called for, but after a taste, I determined that it needed a bit more sweetness), 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (not included in the recipe, but I wanted it to have a bit more pucker), 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (those last two are also my additions). And then I cooked, stirring regularly, for about 25 minutes, until it was quite thick and spreadable. The end product is sweet, tangy and slightly spicy. I am really pleased with it!
Once the jam was done, I funneled it into jars and processed them for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. I managed to fill three half pints, though they had slightly more generous than desired headspace. If I had to do it again, I would have swapped out one of the half pint jars for a quarter pint. Hindsight.
As I’ve written this blog post, I’ve realized that I took a number of liberties with the recipe. However, the inspiration and recipe framework really do belong to Lindsay and Taylor. I never would have thought to combine tomatoes and mangos had it not been for their pairing of tomatoes and peaches. What’s more, I betcha that if it was late summer and I had sun-ripened tomatoes and peaches to work with, I wouldn’t have needed to tweak things so much to boost the flavor. I’m looking to trying this one (exactly as written!) again in August.
Thanks to the nice folks at Quirk Books, I have a copy of this book to give away. I’m doing this one as a flash giveaway over the weekend, so we’ll have a winner for this one on Sunday evening. Here are the details:
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your favorite breakfast for dinner meal.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Sunday, March 31, 2013. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog that evening.
- Giveaway open to all.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post.
Bacon hash with scrabbled eggs…yum!
French toast! Maybe with sausage of some kind.
French toast with rum caramelized bananas. Super fast and soooo good!
Chilaquiles, with or without chicken. Yummy.
Pancakes have always seemed to me to be the ultimate breakfast-for-dinner meal 🙂
Our favorite breakfast for dinner is French toast with leftover bread. It is fast and easy and perfect when there’s nothing else to eat in the house.
sweet potato pancakes!
Because I don’t really like breakfast for dinner, quiche is about as close as I get.
What I had tonight :black rice with coconut and mango. 🙂
Pancakes, eggs, and melon balls!
pancakes and bacon!
Hands down fried eggs with melted cheese and pesto with toasted pumpernickel bread. So simple and delicious. I could eat it every night….or morning!! Thanks for the chance.
Anything involving eggs, homefries, and bacon or sausage. Bonus points if there’s a homemade biscuit involved. Though blueberry or granola pancakes rock too.
Favorite is hard (I love breakfast for dinner), but I think I’ve got to omelets – quicker and easier than a casserole for using up random leftover veggies and meats, and so satisfying. Though if I was craving sweets today I’d probably go with french toast made with russian black bread. 🙂
Cheese omelet with whatever is lurking in the refrigerator.
My favorite thing to fix for breakfast for dinner is either waffles with fruit toppings or sometimes I make steel-cut oats in the rice cooker with maple syrup and cranberries mixed in. That’s especially good on a snowy day!
Midnight breakfast was one of my favorite college events, because bacon! For dinner! And french toast sticks! For dinner!
It was wonderful. Very fond memories.
My favorite breakfast for dinner meal is an overnight French Toast casserole. Can be prepared the night before, and popped in the oven when my husband leaves from work. Hot “dinner” when he gets home, and the kids will eat it without complaint.
Over-easy eggs on English muffins with crispy bacon.
Pancakes! And/or anything with bacon!
Shirred eggs with caramelized onions, goat cheese, garlic-hot pepper jelly & toast
I love waffles for dinner. I throw in some corn or spinach into the batter.
Waffles & sausage – a favorite from my childhood. (that jam looks wonderful!!)
I have a recipe for waffles that a family friend shared with me before she passed away. She lived until she was 100!!!!! My family and I love this recipe and breakfast for dinner….
Oh my, this looks like a great cookbook! We eat a LOT of breakfast tacos for dinner–today’s were egg, sauteed collards, bacon, & roasted red pepper spread. This tomato jam would be a magical addition, I’m sure!
Anything with syrup! Better if you can add bacon. I also have an excellent bacon, caramelized onion, mushroom, and gruyere quiche recipe that’s hearty and dinnerlike.
Waffles and Bacon!!
Oh, my, right now we love egg and potato tacos w/a side of bacon or sausage!
Waffles with peanut butter and yogurt slathered over top, eaten open faced sandwich style. Don’t diss it until you try it!
Our favorite breakfast for dinner meal is Quiche. We do it at lease once a month or more. We just love the flaky crust, cheese, spinach, and ham, num.
Eggs and bacon!