AN ISLAND INSPIRED BREAKFAST

One of my great joys in life is cooking. So, I’ve always got an eye out when I travel for new ways to cook old favorites, for food I’ve never tried or even heard of, or for new spices, flavors, and colors. This breakfast just happens to be island inspired.

Cooking inspiration. It’s truly all around you. Just be open to the possibilities…

On our recent trip to Puerto Rico for the Ironman 70.3 triathlon, we stayed in an Airbnb home. The rental was a private penthouse right in the heart of Old San Juan. The only draw back was that it happened to be a 4th floor walk-up…Not always fun when you have a lot of triathlete gear, but the place was so nice, we made do. Hey, it was a 2 story, 3 bedroom 2 bath penthouse with a wonderful kitchen and all the accessories I needed; a good knife, skillet, and a wooden spoon. So, we got to enjoy a bit of luxury…

I planned this trip so that we would get settled, hit the local market and the organic farmer’s market, all within two days of arriving. And, boy did we hit the mother lode – between the Super Max just two blocks away and the farmer’s market, I was in real, local foodie heaven…

So, for my first local breakfast of our stay, here’s the ingredients I found…

From the Super Max, I was able to get a beautiful slice of local cured ham and a fresh, locally grown red pepper.

From the farmer’s market, we scored fresh eggs, a mango, bananas, beautiful huge avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, a bag full of limes, goat cheese, and some local raw honey.

So, what did I decide to make for breakfast?

The eggs:

We love a slow cooked scramble. All you need are the ingredients, a skillet, and a wooden spoon.

• Start dicing the ham and add to the skillet, where you have warmed a little olive oil.
• Dice the red pepper and add to the ham; saute until just tender.
• While the ham and pepper sauté, break 4-6 eggs into a bowl, add a little sour cream, yogurt, or milk if you have, a little salt and pepper, and whisk lightly. Over beaten eggs are never a good thing.
• Reduce the heat to low and pour eggs over ham and peppers.
• Here is my secret…I cook my eggs very slowly over a low heat, pushing them to the center with the wooden spoon.

While I slow cooked the eggs, I prepared the salads…

The fruit:

I cut up a whole mango and a banana and drizzled them with honey. Fast, fresh, and well, fruity!

The veggies:

• I sliced the whole avocado in half, stored half in the refrigerator, and sliced the other half and then divided between our two plates.
• I diced a whole small cucumber and a whole tomato in a small bowl, squeezed juice from one lime on them, added salt and pepper, mixed together, and let set until the eggs were ready.

And the finished product…

• I under cooked my eggs just a bit, so they were a tad wet and right before they were done, I threw in some local white goat cheese.
• I then spooned the cucumbers and tomatoes on top of the avocado and plate the eggs.
• Oh, don’t forget the fresh roasted local coffee and some tropical juice.

So, the next time you travel – and it doesn’t have to be to an exotic land or even an island- keep an eye out for something to inspire that inner chef in you and go for it! Enjoy!

WHAT HAVE YOUR TRAVELS INSPIRED YOU TO COOK?