Interlude Part Deux - leftover bbq breakfast

Yes, I had my munchie induced, munchie inducing bbq night snack just a matter of hours ago, but I'm much more of a napper than a sleeper, and I'm up and hungry again already. So, I'm following through on the idea mentioned last night - cheeseburger omelet (or cheeseburger egg scramble if I don't manage to keep it all pretty - we'll see). This will be a simple preparation - leftover cheseburger from the Interlude 1 bbq, a couple of eggs, a splash of milk, and hopefully a little finesse with the spatula. Wish me luck! Here is my prep table...



I'm sure I'm not the only person around who has a strong emotional connection with some foods. If I was the only one, the term "comfort food" wouldn't even exist. Omelets are one of those foods for me. When I was a kid, my dad loved to cook breakfast on weekends, and he was especially proud of his omelets. I remember standing on a kitchen chair by the stove on Sunday morning, with my dad explaining how you had to beat the eggs just so to get enough air folded in to make them light and fluffy. He told me all about how you had to have the pan at just the right temperature so that the omelet stayed delicate and didn't burn but fully cooked so that the cheese was the only gooey thing. These are special memories for me - I didn't have my father in my life for about a decade starting when I was 15, and during those lonely times, it was sometimes food that I remembered sharing with him or making with him that reminded me of some of the best times of my childhood. I know, pretty deep for breakfast time, huh? But it is what it is. If you have kids, cook with them. The time spent together teaching, sharing a learning experience, is incomparable.

Anyway, back to my prep. I have decided to also pull a couple of the leftover fixings from the burgers the other night into the mix here, too, so I am adding chopped onions (sauteed) and some fresh tomato cubes to the mix. So, the final product wasn't the prettest omelet I've ever made, but it was passible. And the taste? Friggin' awesome! I only added the tomatoes at the last possible second before folding and plating the omelet, so when I bit into it, they still had their fresh texture and lightened the entire meal. The meat and onions blended perfectly and the cheese held everything together with the tang of colby jack. Hell yeah!

An interlude - Food At Home - A 4 a.m. Snack (or, Goddamn I love BBQ!)

I saw some Facebook comments about my tour food last night, and found out I was giving people the munchies in the middle of the night. I cackled an evil cackle, rubbed my hands together, and then got the munchies myself!

So, 4 a.m. or not, I'm indulging in some leftovers from our bbq on Sunday night. That day, we hit the store and my amazing girlfriend picked up boneless skinless chicken breasts, Nathan's all-beef hot dogs, big juicy brat wursts, ground beef, and boneless pork loin, all of which was intended to be put onto the grill, which I was fortunate enough to be responsible to run. She also picked up all the fixings for burgers and dogs, plus ingredients for her famous fill based potato salad, sodas, and chips. I got to play with the boy and zoom him around the store. I'm not sure whether he has more fun or I do on store trips.

When we got back to the house, we installed the new tank of propane, got the grill fired up and began prep work. For my party, I made a spice rub for the pork, ready to prepare it two different ways: some bbq ribs style and some Chinese boneless rib style. We had 3 kinds of Sweet Baby Ray's, and we had the red sauce for the other stuff. Once the pork was spiced, I staged it by the grill and started making burger patties.
I put the beef into a big mixing bowl, cracked an egg into it, then some salt, pepper, and a few other secret spices, then used Mom's trick and loaded up a bunch of Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Form into big but semi-thin patties, sprinkle with a little Worcestershire sauce, cover and stage near grill.

The chicken was pretty straight forward - spice it up a little, throw on grill, baste with bbq sauce and turn every now and then until fully up to temp internally, which I was checking with a digital food thermometer. I leaded the grill with some of everything, she worked on the potato salad and on getting fixings ready and on being all around awesome, and our friends that were over cracked some ciders and beer and we were well on our way. The brats came off first, closely followed by the hot dogs, and those brats were so juicy that I wished I had put my apron on before I took a bite. Dayum!

I started basting the pork with the various sauces, flipped the burgers and near the end, hit the burgers with a thick slicer of cheese. Some had Colby Jack, some got straight sharp cheddar.

It all came out great, every one of us got full a hell, and we still ended up with pretty much a full sheet pan's worth of leftovers. Tonight, (or would that be this morning?), I'm chowing down on Chinese style boneless pork and potato salad, and I think tomorrow when I wake up that it'll be time for a cheeseburger omelet, which was totally my girlfriend's idea because she's a genius.

Eat up!