"savory" news and stories

Savory bread pudding. Photo: Sarah LeTrent

Few of us want to make a complicated lasagna for solo dining -- by day six, you'll never want to see lasagna again! In this series, AOL Food staffer Sarah LeTrent taste-tests simple recipes suitable for a "table for one."

Bread pudding may be the darling of fall and winter dessert menus, but the casserole also has a reputation as being quite customizable. Sweet or savory? For brunch or for dinner? With meat or without? Bread pudding can be prepared in a myriad of ways and economically designed to help singletons use up stale bread and odds and ends in the fridge.

As a meatless main dish, it spotlights one of the most beloved vegetarian-friendly proteins of all time: the egg. Make it a meal with a side green salad.

This variation is an individual meal that's perfect for those pajama-and-fuzzy-slipper nights.

Sugar might dominate the cookie world, but going savory can open up a whole new world of options.

It sits alone and untouched at the end of a long buffet table -- a bowl full of apples and bananas, maybe a seedy orange tossed in as an afterthought. Don't let your fruit salad meet this awful fate, spruce it up instead!

I once whined to my mother (aka: Knower of All Things Culinary, and Go-To Person for All of Life's Quanadries) that I couldn't make a decent crepe without a crepe pan, and she waved my complaint away with her hand, insisting that while a crepe pan is nice, it's definitely not necessary.

On NPR's Kitchen Window series, we're reminded of this glorious food. Really, how can one simple butter-flour-milk mixture hold so much potential? NPR provided two simple recipes - one for a sweet crepe, and one for savory. I decided to tackle the savory one, substituting Morningstar faux chicken strips for real chicken. (The greenish blob on the top is 365 Brand Pesto - I really have to work on presentation).

As I attempted the little devils, I came to some important conclusions:
1). Let the butter soften before mixing it in the food processor. Otherwise, you will wind up with weird lumps in your batter.
2). Make sure your pan is really, really hot and really, really well-oiled.
3). If you do not like gummy, rubbery crepes, add ONLY 1/4 cup of batter and cook until the thing is lightly dotted with brown spots.
4.) If at first you don't succeed...

As you can see by the myriad conclusions, it took one or two tries before I figured it out. Granted, they aren't as good at the ones at Philly's Beau Monde, but I was pretty darn proud of myself. But if anyone has any tips for next time (I still have some batter left), please - I'm all ears!

(Oh - and mom was totally right about the pan thing).

Source

Over on my personal blog, I played a game with my readers, and one of the questions that I asked them was about their breakfast preferences: Do you prefer savory or sweet?

A long time ago, I wouldn't have eaten anything other than pancakes, waffles, or French toast dripping with sugared fruits, maple syrup, and whipped cream. These days, however, I find those types of breakfasts more like dessert than a way to start the day. Is it my old age? Who knows? Regardless, I absolutely love a delicious breakfast of eggs in any format, whether it's huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict, an omelet stuffed with cheese and vegetables or simple scrambled eggs.

Which do you prefer for breakfast: savory or sweet?