Food & Wine (July 2010)
Our nation's capital is, quite understandably, a little "Top Chef"-obsessed right now.
The new season is well under way and takes place here in D.C. And since the episode has already aired, we can now share with you our "Top Chef" sob story.
You see, we got invited to the party for the first challenge of the season. And, sad but true, we couldn't go. So we missed out on our chance for all of you to see the corner of one of our elbows over Padma's shoulder as she was eating an olive oil bon bon. Tragedy!
But we didn't feel that bad about not going, because we were sure that we'd get invited to a second taping. But then a second invite never came and now we're "Top Chef" cameo-less. We can feel your sympathy from here.
Anyway, the current season isn't the only reason the District is "Top Chef" crazy right now.
Former cheftestant Carla Hall, who we met last summer, is out and about town. Bryan Voltaggio's Volt, out in Maryland, is getting raves. And Mike Isabella just announced he's leaving Zatinya to open his own restaurant.
But Spike Mendelsohn may be the most visible "Top Chef" alum running around the city.
Spike's Good Stuff Eatery, a Bitten Word favorite, has been serving delicious burgers for well over two years now. He has a brand new cookbook available. And in just over a week, he'll open a new pizza place in D.C. called We, The Pizza (a few previews are available here, here, and here).
Spike also turns up in this month's Food & Wine, where he showcases his healthy takes on pizzas, burgers and burritos. We wish we could say that we made these breakfast burritos because we're huge Spike fans, but that's not the case. We don't have anything against Spike, but the truth is we made these burritos because we're huge breakfast fans.
When our friend Katie visited from Kentucky recently, this issue of the magazine arrived on the same day she did, and flipping through it on the way to fetch her at the airport, we spied these burritos and knew we were set for Sunday morning breakfast.
So what makes for a healthy burrito? Spike's take uses a whole-wheat tortilla, egg whites and turkey bacon. We followed his recipe to the letter, except that we used regular bacon instead of turkey bacon since we already had the bacon on-hand. (Don't judge! It's not as if we were making this again.)
We loved these wraps! They're fresh-tasting with loads of flavor, thanks to the inclusion of red leaf lettuce, chives, red onion, cherry tomatoes and spinach. It's like a salad meets a wrap for breakfast.
If we had any complaint, it would be that the burritos are a little a messy. Ours had extra moisture which caused them to be a bit runny. Perhaps we didn't fully cook our eggs, but they were done to our liking.
But really, who cares about messiness when it's a breakfast burrito? You can save your Sunday morning shower until after you eat it.
Breakfast Burrito
Food & Wine (July 2010)
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(This Photo: Food & Wine)
• ACTIVE: 0 MIN
• TOTAL TIME: 35 MIN
• SERVINGS: 4 servings (8 for kids)
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 4 slices of turkey bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 2 packed cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt
• 4 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon snipped chives
Directions
1. In a nonstick skillet, heat 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil. Add the red onion and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the turkey bacon and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until browned, about 3 minutes. Add the spinach and tomatoes and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and season with salt. Wipe out the skillet.
2. In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg whites and season with salt. Heat the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil in the skillet. Add the eggs and cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until set, 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the bacon mixture, feta and chives.
3. Spoon the egg mixture down the center of each tortilla and top with the lettuce. Fold in the sides of the tortillas, then fold the bottom of the tortillas over the filling and continue to roll until the filling is enclosed. Cut the burritos in half and serve.
