Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon was my ode to “breakfast for dinner” night.

“Breakfast for dinner” is my specialty. Back in the day as a poor but resourceful college student, I balanced my checkbook by having breakfast foods for dinner. Savory oatmeal required very little ingredients to make, and really just a small saucepan and a wooden spoon to make with. Quaker oats, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a jar of furikake made for an indulgent weeknight meal. A bacon egg sandwich turned into a dinner-on-the-run. And if my checking account looked REALLY pathetic, I’d settle on a bowl of cereal. Despite the “need over want” scenarios, I didn’t mind eating out of sequence. Breakfast had always been my favorite meal of the day, anyway. It’s the most comforting, I think, and the only time when eating something sweet isn’t considered ruining one’s appetite or stunting one’s growth (thanks, Mom). Hurray for pancakes!

I decided I wanted breakfast for dinner last week. I had seen an “English Breakfast” recipe on Jamie’s site but was picturing my painful morning meals when I studied abroad in Stratford-Upon-Avon one summer, many moons ago. So I looked up “potatoes” and found this. I was sold on the combo of all of my favorite foods. I also like edible things, stacked neatly on top of each other. This required stacking four breakfast-appropriate items starting with the potato pancakes working all the way up to the dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche. I was thrilled!

This recipe was a big fat winner. From start to finish, the steps were easy to follow. Timing was important however, what with boiling the potatoes until cooked but still firm, and boiling the egg until soft and runny, but not raw. I bought the smoked salmon from Trader Joe’s, but am feeling a inspired to try smoking my own next time (any suggestions, Jamie?). I opted for crème fraiche instead of sour cream since the former just is a tad richer in texture and flavor. And last but not least, the chopped green onion mixed in with the grated potatoes added a nice, spicy kick to the entire dish. Given my high tolerance for all things onion, I added a generous amount. The potato cake almost resembled a Chinese scallion pancake. It’s no wonder that when I re-capped the whole story for one of our food editors, she suggested I season the potatoes with some ground, toasted Sichuan peppercorns, next time of course because there will definitely be one…


Red-skinned and yellow-skinned potatoes; I don’t believe in segregation.


Grated cooked potatoes, chopped green onions, and a spoonful of flour, all about to become heavenly pillows of potatoe-y goodness.

Version 1 (Day 1)


Version 2 (Day 2) I decide to integrate the purple potatoes into my cooking for a little party in my mouth!


This is how I like to eat my meals–like a ravenous beast.

Salmon with Couscous, Asparagus Tips, Matchstick Zucchini

When I’m alone, I usually opt for easy 2-step meals. Despite working at an award-winning, national food magazine, I often come home to unappetizing freezer-burned food and doggy bagged-goods. Yum.

Sometimes, I just skip dinner altogether.

J.O.’s Jamie’s Dinners cookbook has various recipes designed for the single, low-income folk. I shied from that section initially, not wanting to acknowledge my alone-ness. I avoided it the same way I avoid the self-help section in the bookstore, tiptoeing close by enough to see if I can catch some of the titles without getting caught. But then an image of pan-roasted salmon over a bed of couscous caught my attention. Salmon is a fish I rarely cook these days. It used to be a weeknight staple during my George Foreman-years in college. Remember those days? A little salt and pepper over supermarket salmon then tossed on the G.F. grill. Now that I’m embarking on my post-collegiate culinary practices, cooking protein on what is essentially a non-stick panini press just won’t cut it anymore. It’s time I duke it out with a real grill pan and some Atlantic wild caught salmon from Whole Foods.

The recipe called for zucchini sliced into matchstick-sized pieces, asparagus tips, and fresh salmon of course. The fish and veggie combo is served over couscous dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh roughly cut-tomatoes–a true Medi spread. I was excited about adding the finely diced red chili pepper.

Jamie is notorious for seasoning his food with red chili. Luckily, I picked up some red jalapenos at the farmer’s market over the weekend. (I realized later that having some on hand all the time is helpful since a lot of recipes call for red chilies).

Though the whole dish was quite easy to put together but assembling the plate (so that it looked appropriate for the obligatory overhead shot) was difficult. There was an array of colors and textures and precisely what my grandmother would be excited to see on my plate. As she likes to tell me in her Sichuan-Mandarin, “Food should be about balance”. And I think I achieved it with this meal.



Farmer¹s Market/Whole Foods-fresh produce and protein.


I was so close to making sashimi.


Couscous dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, fresh tomatoes, and cilantro.


Almost at the finish lineŠ


Trying a healthy dessert for a change.


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