sweet and savory breakfast mini-tartines

Note: This post was previously published here as a part of my freelance work, and was written by my darling boyfriend, Adam. 

This week’s CSA provides the makings—gloriously fresh and local as always—for a truly awesome breakfast. With this recipe we departed from the conventional in an attempt to class-up the most important meal of the day, and made breakfast tartines. These dainty little morsels are a supremely elegant way to enjoy your Philly Muffins.

For the first tartine, we riffed on the classic lox breakfast, using smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers.  We pureed beets into the cream cheese to create a spread with vibrant visual appeal and sweet earthy flavor.  We added orange juice (squeezed from oranges we picked up at the farm stand) to drastically enhance that beety flavor we all love.  The addition of citrus also helps to brighten the salty profile of the lox.

Next we used our CSA onions to make a caramelized onion marmalade, and paired it with Greensgrow-sourced Cameo apples and Milkhouse Creamery’s Witchcraft cheese.  This marmalade packs a potent punch of flavor, and would be great company with your CSA bacon.  We garnished with orange-zest and rosemary to really tart up these tartines.  

Beet Cream Cheese

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 baby beets

8 ounces cream cheese

1 1/2 oranges, juiced

Salt to taste 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Toss beets in olive oil and salt and roast for 30 minutes or until tender.  Allow them to cool, then peel off the skins using a paring knife.

Squeeze the oranges into a blender (we use a Magic Bullet) and puree the beets.  Add a splash of water if the beets are reluctant to puree.

After the puree is smooth, add the cream cheese spoonful by spoonful to slowly incorporate it into the puree.

Transfer from the blender and season with salt to taste.

Onion Marmalade

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 medium onions

1 orange, zested and juiced

1/4 cup honey

1 Tbl white wine vinegar

3 cubes candied ginger 

2 cloves black garlic

Directions:

Slice onions and sauté in olive oil over medium-high heat.  Cook hard, stirring frequently until they begin they brown and caramelize.  Add splashes of water occasionally to deglaze and loosen the fond (the brown stuff that collects on the bottom of the pan).  Scrape the fond using a wooden spoon and stir back into the onions.

After 15 or 20 minutes the onions should be fully caramelized.  Add the orange juice, vinegar, black garlic, ginger and honey and cook for another few minutes until it the liquid becomes syrupy.

Transfer to a food processor and buzz with the orange zest until it has a jam-like consistency.