Morning Food

I've been in a breakfast/brunch kind of mood recently, so I've been thumbing through a revised version of a wonderful little cookbook called Morning Food (Ten Speed Press). The recipes are from a California chef named Margaret Fox, who for years was chef/owner of a famous restaurant in Mendocino, California, called Cafe Beaujolais.

The title of the book, and its contents, are a reflection of Fox's philosophy that there are lots of foods that people don't ordinarily associate with breakfast, but that she thinks many people do want to eat in the morning. As she puts it, you shouldn't have to "rationalize anything you choose to put in your mouth before noon."

Here are some "morning food" recipes from the book that illustrate her point: Posole (with pork ribs), Crunchy Country Fries, Sausage-Stuffed Baked Apples, Pumpkin Pie, Artichoke & Prosciutto Strata. Of course the book has plenty of regulation breakfast food, too, like Mocha Walnut Wonder Muffins, Tropical Waffles with Macadamia Nuts & Toasted Coconut, Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.

In addition to delicious recipes, the book is also eminently readable, thanks, we assume, to both the book's co-author, John Bear, and to Fox's sense of humor. In her acknowledgments, Fox credits Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Dick Van Dyke Show for their "indelible influence on my young and impressionable sense of humor." If you want to read more about Margaret Fox, check her website.