Garlic Shrimp and Corn Soup

Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope you found yourselves warm and surrounded by loved ones this holiday season!  It's cold outside, which means it's soup weather.  So here's what feels and looks like a summery soup, but is warm enough you can enjoy it in the winter. 

Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsp minced garlic, 1 lb raw peeled and deveined shrimp, 1 bag frozen corn kernels, 2 zucchini chopped, 3 cans chicken broth, 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, bacon for garnish

Start by adding the olive oil, garlic, and shrimp to a hot soup pot to cook through.

Once the shrimp are nice and pink, transfer to a bowl for later, leaving as much of the oil in the pan as you can.

Next add the zucchini to the pot and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes until softened and slightly golden. 

Next add the chicken broth and thyme and let it all stew for about 15 minutes.  Add the corn and return the shrimp/garlic to the soup.  You only need to cook about 5 minutes more, but you can stew the mixture as long as you want before adding the shrimp back because the shrimp may overcook if left in a simmering pot for a long time.

Finally, I served with a garnish of crumpled bacon, because really everything tastes better with bacon.  You can put this over rice for more substance, or melt some cheese on top too.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

  

Another produce item in the fridge just asking to be used before it goes bad (again thanks to the roommate's CSA) so I was inspired to make lettuce wraps!  More sauces/ingredients would have been ideal (like hoisin, water chestnuts, carrots), but you work with what you've got when it's dinner time and you're not up for a trip to the store.  

So this rendition of lettuce wraps included: chicken (4 breast tenders) diced, sesame oil, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1/4 cup diced red onion, ~1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar, dash of lemon juice, 1 tsp corn starch

Begin by sauteing the garlic and onion (and potentially any other veggies you have) in a skillet covered in a thin layer of sesame oil (~1 tbsp or so).  

Once suitably softened add your chicken.  You want to saute but also potentially get a little bit of crisp from the oil.  

Once cooked through, push the meat and veggies to the side and add the brown sugar to the pan and a tbsp of the soy sauce.  Stir in place to completely dissolve the brown sugar into the soy sauce, then stir with the rest of the chicken/veggies.  

Add other sauces if you have any (teriyaki, hoisin, oyster).  Again, pushing the meat to the side of the pan, add the corn starch to the skillet and some more soy sauce.  Mix thoroughly and watch as the sauce thickens.  Add your desired amount of soy sauce.  Splash with a little lemon, and when done, spoon into the lettuce (ideally Bibb, but use whatever you have).  And most importantly, make sure to eat with your hands!

Salmon and Leek Risotto

Yes, I love risotto.  I love cream sauces.  So when I don't know what to make for dinner, but I have arborio rice in the pantry and whipping cream in the fridge, this is what happens.

I had salmon in the freezer and some leeks, shallots, and garlic in the fridge.  Done.  Start by sauting the leeks, shallots, and garlic in some butter.

Then add the arborio rice.  I'm not a measurer, but I probably used a cup and a quarter of rice.  Coat with the butter and heat through for about a minute or two.  Then deglaze the pan with some white wine, about a quarter of a cup.  Now comes the adding of the broth in 1/2 cup amounts every few minutes for the next 22 minutes.  Each time you add the broth, you want to barely cover the rice, and you will need to stir constantly so the rice doesn't burn and stick to the bottom.

It's not really that glamorous looking as it's cooking, but eventually the liquid will be absorbed and the rice will be tender.  At that point, add the cream, about 1/4 of a cup.  Also now is a good time to add the salmon that is thawed and cut into chunks.  It will cook thanks to the heat of the rice, almost like poaching because of the moisture, but it will not overcook and dry out since you add it at the end.

Finally add whatever seasonings/flavoring you'd like.  I added parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and some fresh basil, tarragon, and thyme from my herb garden.  Remove from heat and let sit for a couple minutes to thicken, absorb, and meld.  Makes for great leftovers too.

Potato Leek Soup with Corn

Who doesn't love warm homemade soup on a cold winter's night?  So when I noticed my roommate's CSA leeks in the fridge the other night, I was immediately inspired.  I adore potato soups, cream soups, and thick blended soups, so potato leek was the perfect winter pick me up, and I threw in a splash of corn at the end for an added texture and flavor.

Ingredients: 3 large russet potatoes, 2 large leeks, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp butter, 2 cans chicken broth, water, 1/4 cup fresh taragon, 1/4 cup fresh thyme, 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp dried saffron powder, 1/2 cup corn, 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, dollop of pesto sauce as garnish

Start by peeling the potatoes and chopping everything.  Add butter, garlic, and leeks to a large soup pot over medium heat.  Saute and stir for about 10 minutes until nicely softened.

Add the potatoes and chicken broth.  Add water until potatoes are just covered.  

Throw in your fresh herbs and let simmer for about 20 minutes or so, until potatoes are nice and tender. 

When flavors have melded, veggies softened, and you're so hungry you can't wait anymore, go ahead and blend the soup.  I'm a big fan of immersion blenders, but if you don't have one, puree in batches in a regular blender.  I blend on the lowest level so that most everything is blended, but there's the occasional piece of leek or potato.  Next I added the cream, saffron, and salt and pepper.  I threw in the corn, straight from the freezer bag, and let it heat through.

To serve I sprinkled in some cheese and spooned a little pesto sauce over the top.  Delish.

LND: Lunchbox Edition - Grilled Cheese

The art of the grilled cheese sandwich.  It does not involve a microwave or toaster oven, but rather a skillet or grill if you are lucky enough to have an industrial kitchen at your disposal.  Get yourself some nice rustic bread, pick your favorite cheeses, and decide what other veggies or fillings you might be in the mood for.  I'm a big fan of avocado and tomatoes in my grilled cheese, but some days you work with what you've got.

This grilled cheese consisted of: Sourdough Rye bread, shredded cheddar cheese, herbed goat cheese, and red onion. 

The trick is to prepare the sandwich without burning the bread, but still completely melting the cheese.  Here's how I do it.  Heat the skillet over medium heat and add two bread slices.  Let them get warm, then remove.  Add a little butter to skillet, flip over the bread slices, and put them back in the skillet.  This way the side that will be touching the cheese is already warm while the outer side can begin to crisp in the butter.  Add the cheese at this point.  I added the cheddar to both slices of bread so there wasn't one piece covered in cheese that needed to melt, but both sides could take the same amount of time to cook.  I then added the red onion slices and the goat cheese to each slice of bread.

Since I love cheese, I piled a little more cheddar on top of the goat cheese at this point.  Once ~90% melted, put the two slices together and continue to cook about a minute on each side until the cheese fully melts and the slices meld together.

Slice asymmetrically, pile artistically, and take a picture.  Or just start eating.

LND: Wake Up and Smell the Bacon

My favorite brunch item is most definitely Eggs Benedict.  It's because of the Hollandaise sauce. but I could do without the Canadian bacon.  So when I have time for making my own weekend brunch, I'm a fan of Benedict variations, with or without the sauce. 

Thanksgiving weekend we had leftover mini english muffins from the shrimp melts, but no hollandaise sauce so I came up with this version: Toasted English Muffin, Bacon, Avocado, Pesto sauce, Garlic/herb cheese spread, Poached Egg.  The runny yolks provided all the "sauce" we needed for what a restaurant might deem a "California" benedict.  (apparently California is all about avocados and bacon, at least that's what I've learned from ordering the "California" version of many restaurant menu items).

To prepare, toast the English muffin halves, crisp the bacon, slice the avocado.

To get perfectly poached eggs, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Using a slotted spoon, spin the water in a circular motion to create movement in the pot.  Crack an egg into a small prep bowl and quickly remove the spinning spoon and add the egg to the center of the spinning water in the pot.  This causes the white to wrap around the yolk and avoid all the extra stringiness that can come from plopping a raw egg into a regular pot of boiling water.  

Assemble.  Spread a light layer of pesto on the toasted english muffins.  Add a dallop of cheese (I used Alouette brand spreadable garlic/herbs cheese).  Top with bacon, two avocado slices, then nestle the poached eggs on top, using the slotted spoon to remove them from the boiling water.  Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

LND: Entertaining Recipes - Puff Pastry Pizzas

 

Yes, I cropped the same picture from the last post.  I was too lazy to differentiate between the two appetizers last time, but I couldn't start a new blog post with the same header.  I originally had envisioned some mad photo shopping to be involved.  But this blog is about my cheffery, not my computer design skillz.  So focus on the stuff without shrimp in the above picture and be glad I didn't resort to arrows and borders a la MS Paint. 

So here's what you need to make this crowd-pleasing hors d'oeuvre (do you add the s at the end even when you want it to be singular? French is not a language I know.):

Puff Pastry (buy it in a box from your grocer's freezer section that contains two sheets of dough)

Onion

Garlic

Pesto (I buy the Trader Giotto's premade variety, but choose your fav)

Balsamic Vinegar

Brie Cheese

Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce (didn't see soy sauce coming with the S&P did you?)

1. Slice puff pastry sheets while still chilled, but not completely frozen because they will crack, but when too thawed they'll stick to things and lose their shape.  Good luck.  Cut into whatever size you want for your party and place on a greased or non-stick cookie sheet.  Spread a little bit of the pesto sauce on them.  

2. Slice your onion.  Saute with a tablespoon or so of garlic over medium/low heat in butter/oil/bacon grease, whatever you prefer! (I opted for EVOO this time).  Stir often so as to avoid burning.  Carmelization will occur in due time.  Patience, young grasshopper.  It can take up to 45 minutes if you're working with a bad stove, a lot of onions, and low heat.  

3.  Once carmelized, add the balsamic to the onions.  Start with 1/8 of a cup and add more to your taste.  You don't need too much for it to pack a punch.  Salt and pepper at this point and if you're so inclined, and add a dash of soy sauce to cut the bitterness of the balsamic.  

4. Now the fun parts (i.e. the time-consuming, potentially finger-burning, not so fun parts).  Put some of the carmelized onions atop the pesto-covered pastry sheets.  Then add a small slice of brie cheese atop the onions.  

5. Bake.  I'd follow the package directions if they recommend a particular temperature setting.  I used 375 degrees for 12-18 minutes, until the puff pastry puffed and was light golden brown.  Serve warm, but they're not bad at room temp either (so no worries if you don't consume them all within the first 5 minutes).  

*photo credits for the past 2 thanksgiving appetizer posts given to LND's father and his fancy DSLR camera that far outperforms my point and shoot.  But do not get comfortable with this level of photo-quality because this blog hasn't made it to the big leagues yet.  That, and I haven't resorted to moving back home where the nice camera lives, so for now you'll have to settle for quality photos only during the holidays. 

LND: Entertaining Recipes - Shrimp Melts

 

Happy week after Thanksgiving, loyal readers!  I hope you find yourselves well-fed, well-rested, and with plenty of leftovers.  This year, I was in charge of the appetizers for our 35 person Thanksgiving dinner, so I present to you, recipes for entertainment.


Ingredients: English muffins, Shrimp, Mayonnaise, Tarragon, Scallions, Cheddar Cheese, White Wine

To make these delightful morsels bite sized, we searched high and low for miniature english muffins, since we wanted to be classier than cutting the larger-sized ones in half.  We resorted to ordering them from the internet.  Great for presentation, also great if you're happy to have 6 bags of 12 muffins each to satisfy those english muffin cravings.

Step 1: Cook the Shrimp.  I like to buy the giant bags of raw, peeled/deveined shrimp.  It's easy, it's quick, but you don't sacrifice taste or texture by settling for the precooked variety.  I poached the whole shrimp in white wine, water, and tarragon over medium heat.  Fill the pot with enough liquid to fully cover the shrimp, and add a couple tablespoons of fresh chopped or dried tarragon.

Step 2: Slice the shrimp.  Our shrimp were medium sized, so I cut them into thirds.  Put into a bowl and mix with mayo and sliced scallions.  I add enough mayo to coat the shrimp, but not overdo it.  For this recipe we had 2 lbs of shrimp and I used about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of mayo, and 3 sliced scallions.  

Step 3: Halve and toast the english muffins, then set on a cookie sheet.

Step 4: Spoon the shrimp mixture onto the muffins.  Top with grated cheddar cheese.  Place in a 375 degree oven for about 8 -12 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted.

Delicious shrimp melts in bite sized portions!  I also enjoy making this is larger quantities and sandwiching between some thick rustic bread for lunches.  Reheat in the toaster oven at work and it's just as good.

Fried Chicken Tenders

I was craving fried chicken last night after I saw a KFC ad on tv, but was too lazy to leave the house.  (Because making fried chicken from scratch is clearly less involved than getting in a car and grabbing a bucket of chicken from the window.)

So there are two ways of going about pre-flavoring meat.  Wet marinades or dry rubs.  Wet marinades typically need to sit/soak for awhile, often overnight.  Dry rubs are good to go.  But I wanted a wet marinade.  So thanks to the internet I found a recipe for a 25 minute wet marinade before frying.  (I was mostly wary of this since even when I have marinated chicken overnight, the flavor rarely shines through the fried exterior.)  And it didn't really work, but I'm ok with that because my chicken was incredibly juicy and tender.

The recipe called for soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, and dark rum.  I opted for soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, sesame oil, and a splash of light rum.

While the chicken soaked I prepared the flour.  On a plate I mixed flour with paprika, chili powder, onion/garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  So with breading/frying, there are a couple approaches.  You can dip in flour, put in an egg wash, then dredge in bread crumbs.  I went for a simpler approach of dredging directly in the flour from the marinade.

From here, I put the tenders directly into a pot of oil on medium heat on my stove.  The goal is to get that sizzle when you first add your chicken, but not have the oil so hot that it immediately burns the flour.  You need enough time for the chicken to cook through without burning the exterior.  I recommend a practice chicken tender that you cut in half when it's cooked to the color you want, and then adjusting the oil temperature/cook time accordingly.

When done frying, put on a paper towel to drain, and serve.  I found that right out of the oil it was incredibly crispy and the inside was super moist.  But when I ate one that had been sitting for awhile, the juice from the inside started to take away the crunch from the exterior.  I'd recommend serving immediately, or being more careful to remove excess liquid before dredging in flour and frying if you want the crunch to last longest.

Swedish Meatballs

No need to buy the frozen bag from Ikea, make your own Swedish meatballs!  The key to the flavoring that differentiates these from their Italian counterpart is nutmeg.  No oregano for these puppies.  So here's how it works.

1. Rip up a slice or two of white bread into small pieces and soak in about a 1/4 cup of milk.

2. Chop 1/4 - 1/2 cup of onion and saute in butter until softened.
3. Combine bread/milk mixture with 1 lb ground beef, 2 egg yolks, onion, 1 tsp nutmeg, salt and pepper

4. Mix, form into meatballs, and brown in a skillet on all sides until almost cooked through.

5. Transfer to an oven-proof dish and bake in a 250 degree oven to finish cooking through.  
6. Add 1/4 cup flour or corn starch to the pan drippings from the skillet to make a roux.  Slowly and in small portions, add a 14 ounce can of beef broth, constantly stirring over low heat.  As the sauce thickens, add 1/4 cup of heavy cream.  I added some salt, pepper, and fresh thyme from my herb garden for flavor.  
7.  Pour the sauce over the meatballs in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.  Then plate and serve!


I'd recommend mashed potatoes, or egg noodles to accompany these meatballs. 

Ground Beef Nachos

Dear blogosphere,

I apologize for my lack of dining/cooking at home.  This past week has been full of restaurants and microwave dinners.  I will make it up to you with fabulous home-cooked amazingness.  But that won't be tonight.

Sincerely,
LND Rookie Week

I was tired, but I told myself I had to make something that utilized the stove and at least one vegetable.  So I went for Mexican.  Nachos.  Simple.  You probably don't even need me to tell you how to make these.  Well, I will anyway, because then I can tell you all about the key ingredient: taco seasoning.  Browning ground beef is half the battle, but the taco seasoning takes it across the finish line (yes, I am mixing my metaphors).

Taco seasoning comes in packets near the rice/pasta/soup section.  The package says to brown the beef, drain the fat, add the package, then add a cup of water.  I leave a little fat and add about 1/2 cup of water.  Then I'll add more water if it's too dry.  Last night's taco beef then saw the addition of corn, tomatoes, and fresh cilantro (the first pruning of my new herb garden!).  Spoon the beef mixture over chips, add some shredded cheese, and a dollop of guacamole (sour cream if you're so inclined).  Straight from the cafeteria to your kitchen! (It's not one of my prouder home-cooking moments.)

Salmon and Chive Mashed Potatoes with a Goat Cheese Pancetta Cream Sauce

Determined to get out of my frozen and snack food rut, I decided to class up dinner with some salmon I found on sale at Safeway yesterday.  I created the sauce based on what I knew was in the fridge, and in retrospect most people might prefer this on a chicken or maybe a steak, but since I love rich cream sauces on everything, I thought it was delicious on my salmon.  So here's what you need:

Sauce Ingredients: Pancetta, Garlic, Onion, Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Flour, Cream
Other Ingredients: Salmon, Chicken Broth, Potatoes, Milk, Butter, Chives


I began with boiling the sliced potatoes and poaching the salmon in chicken broth over medium heat until cooked to a nice medium well.  You can cook the salmon however you prefer, but I'm a fan of poaching because it yields the moistest result.  

Then I mashed my potatoes with butter, milk, and chives and plated them with the salmon on top while I made the sauce (I did the sauce after the salmon because I used the same saute pan, but if you aren't frugal with your saucepans feel free to make the sauce concurrently with the poaching of the fish).


I started by sauteing the pancetta with garlic over medium heat and added chopped onion and sliced mushrooms.  There wasn't enough fat from the pancetta so I added a little butter to help with the cooking process.

When everything was cooked to the desired doneness, I added a little flour to the pan to make a roux.  Next I added some cream and it thickened as I stirred (about 1/4 cup at this point).  I added the goat cheese last (maybe about 1 ounce) and added a little more cream to create more sauce.  I poured it over the salmon and potatoes and voila!  When you're working with roux and cream sauce, you want to make sure to prepare it as close to when you're serving the food as possible because it could thicken too much or if it sits too long it could separate and all these things make for grossness.

Pesto Pasta with Pancetta

This boring meal is brought to you by laziness and leftovers.  It's not really even worth a blog post, but there has been too much eating out and leftover reheating lately that home cooked meals have been scarce.  My stove feels neglected and my produce is going bad. 

So this five minute meal involved heating a saute pan.  Adding pancetta. Adding cooked angel hair pasta.  Adding pesto sauce.  Adding fresh goat cheese.  Yeah it was quite tasty.  But it was also quite easy.  It's amateur hour here at LND, but I suppose we can't make five star meals every night.  Especially on nights when spontaneous naps occur right before dinner time. 

Irish Nachos

Once, at an Irish pub, some friends and I saw Irish Nachos on the menu, basically potato skins in lieu of tortilla chips smothered in nacho glory.  As you might assume, they were delicious.  So in honor of the Giants game on Saturday, I decided to make my own version.

Ironically, my least favorite part of potato skins, is the actual skin.  So i decided to just peel my potatoes and slice them.  I lined them in a butter-coated pan, drizzled a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them in a 350 degree oven while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.

potatoes after about 20 min in the oven

Next I chopped a tomato (organic, courtesy of the roommate's CSA), and a little bit of onion.  I sprinkled the onion on the potatoes and put them back in the oven to cook together longer.  Meanwhile I defrosted and chopped some chicken.  I threw it in a skillet w/ a little oil and spices (paprika, chili powder, oregano) and cooked it through.  Out of the oven again I now sprinkled the tomatoes, chicken, and a can of black beans atop the potatoes and onions and baked for about another 10 minutes.

potatoes, onions, tomatoes, chicken

Finally I took the nachos out one last time, grated some white cheddar and snipped some chives for the top (I was out of scallions).  Back in the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese and it was Irish Nacho game time.  I served them with a hefty dollop of sour cream (sadly i had no avocados or guac in the fridge).  Even the vegetarian roommate pushed aside the chicken and found this dish delicious.  Let's hear it for a little south of the border and overseas fusion.

Three Cheese Mac and Cheese

I discovered this recipe in food and wine magazine a few months ago and made a mental note that I needed to try it.  Well, this week I finally bought the ingredients, and several pots/pans/messy stoves later we had more three cheese mac than we knew what to do with.  aka an entire casserole dish of this stuff is currently sitting in the fridge at work.

The best part about this dish is the sauce.  It seems like a lot of sauce when you first make it, but it reduces when you bake the pasta.  Basically you cook some chopped garlic and onions in 3 cups of cream or half and half (we did 2 cups cream 1 cup milk).  Take some cream out to mix with flour then add the mixture back to thicken the suace.  Next comes the cheese.  Goat, white cheddar, and parmesan.  Sour cream, herbs, salt and pepper to season.  Then remove some of the sauce and mix with egg yolks and return that to the pan.  Then take some of your cooked pasta and sample it in the sauce if you can't wait for it to bake (that wasn't in the recipe).  45 minutes in the oven later and you've got dinner.

Well, I loved this sauce so much when it was on the stove that I was kind of sad to see it reduced so much in the oven, so next time I think i'll only bake the pasta for about 10 minutes, rather than 45, so the parmesan cheese on top can melt, but I don't lose the cheesy goodness coating the noodles.  I scanned the original recipe for all y'alls if you want to try it for yourselves.  Cooking the amount listed fills up a good 2 casserole dishes.  I'm thinking this will make an appearance at my next dinner party. 

Homemade Pizza

Last week the roomslice was craving pizza and while we were debating which Mission pizzeria would provide the shortest wait for a Friday night dinner, we came to the conclusion that we should just make our own.  I've made the dough from scratch before, but this time we opted for the Trader Joe's uncooked packaged variety.

mmm dough. sitting for twenty minutes.

We portioned the dough into quarters to make two pizzas each.  One for dinner and one for lunch at work this week.  Now this is where the fun part starts because you can basically just throw on whatever you've got in the fridge.  I opted to first knead some chopped garlic in my dough for a kick of flavor.  Roommate went for a tomato sauce and I used a hummus guacamole for my base.  If I had had any, I likely would've opted for pesto instead, but we made do with what we had.

Roommate's more traditional pizza on the left.  My noncomformist pizza on the right. 

Toppings: I decided on shrimp, bacon, mushrooms, red onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese.  I was debating adding a fried egg on top at the end, but decided there was already enough going on on my pie.  Tip: I cooked the bacon and the shrimp about three-quarters done before putting them on the pizza so that they wouldn't be raw going into the oven, but wouldn't become overcooked.  This was good because it meant I didn't end up with a pizza dripping with bacon grease, (though we all know I probably wouldn't have minded).

We cooked the pizzas on one of those no-stick cookie mats which still produced a good crust, but no sticking.  Perfect.  About ten minutes at 450 degrees and we were enjoying our home-made pies without the wait or the bill that comes with a restaurant. 

LND: Wake Up and Smell the Bacon

I'm definitely more of an eggs and bacon girl than a milk and cereal girl when it comes to my breakfasts.  So in this blog edition we recount a common brunch fare I make for myself and friends on the weekends.  Breakfast potatoes with a fried egg on top.  Just remember, the key to this meal is bacon grease! Mmmmm.

So first, choose your ingredients for the potatoes wisely.  We opted for garlic, mushrooms, onions (more than were shown), and bacon (obviously).  Now you may want to cook bacon strips to eat on the side, but I'm a fan of chopping the bacon and having it mixed with the potatoes.  My suggestion for you: try both.  The more bacon, the better.

Once the chopping is done, you're ready to start cooking.  Take your skillet and add the bacon, no additional butter/oil/grease required.  Once rendered (fancy term for cooked), remove the bacon to a paper towel, but leave all that delicious and fatty grease behind.

With the bacon set aside ever so gracefully, you can start cooking your other ingredients.  Begin with the garlic and onions.  Once the onions are soft you can add the mushrooms.  It's important to space out your veggies based upon what will take the longest to cook.  Also, with mushrooms, they're full of moisture, but initially they will suck up the cooking liquid and once they're sauteed, they will release it again, so don't worry if your pan suddenly appears too dry.  After a couple minutes of cooking your veggies, you can add the potatoes.  The bacon grease will ensure they get nice and crispy on the outside, but we're concerned about cooking through to the center as well.  So a trick I use is that after about 10-15 minutes of sauteing and crisping I'll add a liquid.  I usually go for white wine or chicken broth.  The liquid will after a few minutes evaporate completely, but not without first helping to poach the potato and promote a softer interior.  I'll add about a quarter cup of liquid at a time.

When the potatoes are cooked to your desired level of doneness, add cheese, herbs, scallions, etc.  Anything you don't want to cook, but want in the potatoes.  This is also the time to add back the bacon.  (We opted for shredded cheddar at this point in the game).  If you want to keep the potatoes heated until you're ready to serve them, the oven is another option for finishing these babies off.  All in all I'd say you're looking at about 15-30 minutes of potato cooking time to achieve your desired level of softness or crunch as the case may be.
Now for the final touch, I add a fried egg on top.  Of course, the egg must be cooked in bacon grease.  Cook it to your liking, but I highly suggest leaving the yolk runny to seep down over your potatoes.  To serve, plate the potatoes, put the egg on top and add whatever else you'd like on the side.  Delicious, full service breakfast on a plate or in a bowl.

Ingredients: Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Mushrooms, Bacon, Chicken Broth, Cheddar Cheese, Eggs

And to prove we aren't giant grease-eating carnivores, we even sliced some peaches and strawberries to balance out the meal.  (Though I won't comment on how much of this fruit we actually managed to eat).