It's Cinco de Mayo, and Molly Yeh is celebrating Brunch Club style with swirly and moist Mexican Chocolate Babka, spicy Chorizo Breakfast Burrito Bowls, Avocado Salad and Frozen Horchata Lattes that drink just like dessert-y rice pudding! Below are the recipes used in today’s episode: Mexican Chocolate Babka: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mexican-chocolate-babka-11100186 Frozen Horchata Latte: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/frozen-horchata-latte-11100114 Sliced Avocado Salad: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sliced-avocado-salad-11100134 Chorizo Breakfast Burrito Bowls: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chorizo-breakfast-burrito-bowls-11100108 Listen to cookbook author, food blogger and Midwest transplant Molly Yeh prepare dishes inspired by her Jewish and Chinese heritage – with a taste of the Midwest – explaining her recipes and tips along the way. With direct audio from the hit Food Network series Girl Meets Farm, you’ll hear Molly create fresh and tasty meals from her country kitchen on the Minnesota-North Dakota border. Want even more of Molly’s recipes? Stream full episodes of Girl Meets Farm on discovery+. Head to discoveryplus.com/girlmeetsfarm to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.
It's Cinco de Mayo, and Molly Yeh is celebrating Brunch Club style with swirly and moist Mexican Chocolate Babka, spicy Chorizo Breakfast Burrito Bowls, Avocado Salad and Frozen Horchata Lattes that drink just like dessert-y rice pudding!
Below are the recipes used in today’s episode:
Mexican Chocolate Babka: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mexican-chocolate-babka-11100186
Frozen Horchata Latte: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/frozen-horchata-latte-11100114
Sliced Avocado Salad: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sliced-avocado-salad-11100134
Chorizo Breakfast Burrito Bowls: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chorizo-breakfast-burrito-bowls-11100108
Listen to cookbook author, food blogger and Midwest transplant Molly Yeh prepare dishes inspired by her Jewish and Chinese heritage – with a taste of the Midwest – explaining her recipes and tips along the way. With direct audio from the hit Food Network series Girl Meets Farm, you’ll hear Molly create fresh and tasty meals from her country kitchen on the Minnesota-North Dakota border.
Want even more of Molly’s recipes? Stream full episodes of Girl Meets Farm on discovery+. Head to discoveryplus.com/girlmeetsfarm to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.
Find episode transcript here: https://girl-meets-farm.simplecast.com/episodes/cinco-de-mayo-brunch-club-style
[MUSIC PLAYING] MOLLY YEH: It's Cinco de Mayo, so we're celebrating brunch-club style. Any day that starts off with sausage, egg, and cheese is going to be a great day. With my super swirly and moist Mexican chocolate babka, spicy and satisfying chorizo breakfast burrito bowls filled to their crunchy tortilla rims. Wow, my creamy sliced avocado salad on the side. Now, avocados are pretty already, but now it's like they're ready for prom, and to sip it all down, frozen horchata lattes that drink just like dessert.
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Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh. This is my husband, Nick, and this is our home, our farm on the North Dakota, Minnesota border. The place where I eat, sleep, and breathe food. My food is a delicious mix of my Chinese and Jewish heritage and a taste of the
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It's my turn to host brunch club, and in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I'm putting together a Mexican-inspired spread. For something desserty, I'm making my Mexican chocolate babka. It's swirly and sweet and a little spicy, and babka is essentially the beauty queen of the coffee-cake world. To get started on my dough, I'm going to add 2 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour to my mixer bowl. This will be the dough that I use for all of my babkas. 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast.
What differentiates babka is that it's made from a yeasted dough, so it's more bread like in texture as opposed to those crumbly, cakey coffee cakes. I'll add 3/4 of a teaspoon of kosher salt, and a little cinnamon for warmth. That's it for my dry ingredients. I'll whisk this together. I am obsessed with babka. It is a Jewish Eastern European loaf-shaped coffee cake.
And typically, the filling is either chocolate or cinnamon, but with this Mexican chocolate version, I'm essentially combining the two and then adding some chili powder for some spiciness. It's going to be marvelous. That's it for my dry ingredients. I'll mix up the wet ingredients. I've got 1/2 a cup of whole milk that's warmed slightly to help the yeast work and two large eggs. That'll add beautiful richness.
We'll whisk this to combine and pour it right into the dry ingredients. I'll mix this until all the dry ingredients are hydrated. I'll grab my butter. I'm going to add 6 tablespoons of it a tablespoon at a time. It's just going to make it soft and supple and gorgeous. Hey, it's getting there. My last pad of butter is in there, and the dough is cleaning the bowl, which is what I'm looking for. And then I'll knead this for a few more minutes until it's smooth and still slightly sticky.
This dough is looking stunning. It's so smooth. I can smell the butter and cinnamon. I've got a clean bowl. I'll add a drizzle of oil so that the dough doesn't stick, and I'll stretch the dough into a ball to get a smooth, taut surface. I'll place it face down into my bowl, smush it around, and then turn it back over so that it's completely coated in the oil. I'll cover this up and let it rise until it's doubled in size, and in that time, I'll make my filling.
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My filling is going to have chocolate, cinnamon, and a little bit of chili for some heat. I'm going to start with 6 tablespoons of softened unsalted butter. I'll sweeten it with 3/4 of a cup of sugar, some cocoa powder, cinnamon, chili powder, and a pinch of salt to bring out all the flavors. I'll mix it all together. Any time I make babka, I have to hide it from Bernie, because she's a total babka fiend.
I remember the first time I made it, she took her slice into her secret fort and then finished it and then threw a tantrum because she was done. I totally get it, because every time I finish my babka slice, I throw a tantrum in my head. OK, and lastly, I'll drizzle in some neutral oil just to make it a spreadable consistency. It adds such great moisture that'll make the layers truly magical. I'll stir this up. Let me grab my dough. He's so puffy and happy. I'll turn this dough out onto my counter.
Oh, that's so soft, and I'll roll my dough out to a wide rectangle that's 10 inches tall by 22 inches wide. So the dough will be quite thin, but that means more layers. Perfect, I'm ready to spread on my filling. I'm going to use all but 2 tablespoons of it. I'll come back to that later, and I'll use an offset spatula to get a thin, even layer all over the surface of the dough. I'll leave a tiny border at the top though which will help me seal the roll. Oh, this is so satisfying. I love the contrast of the dark chocolate with that lighter beige dough.
So the next step is to roll this up like a jelly roll, I want a nice, tight roll to lock all that filling in, and I'll just pinch these edges to seal the roll shut, and I'll place this role seam side down. And now, oftentimes, when you see a babka recipe, the next step is to cut this down the center lengthwise, but this is how I like to do it. It's a little different, and a little bit less messy.
So I just cut my roll in half, and then I'm going to spread my remaining filling over one of the rolls. It's just layers upon layers of chocolaty goodness. I've got a buttered loaf pan that's also lined with parchment paper, which will help me remove the babka after it bakes, and I'll twist my two logs together. So I'll just place one on top of the other.
This doesn't have to be perfect. Babka is rustic beauty at its best, I'll give it a hug and transfer right to my loaf pan. I'll cover it up, and let it rise for another 30 to 40 minutes, and then I'll brush with some heavy cream and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes until golden. I'm going to finish with some simple syrup. This is just equal parts sugar and water that I brought to a boil, and this will add more shine and stickiness to the top and a little more sweetness.
Wow, OK, I'll let this cool, and then I'll cut it up into thick slices. OK, here I go. I'm going to go straight to the center, because that's the best part. So chocolaty and rich. I better hide this from Bernie. Otherwise, there won't be any left for brunch club. Coming up, spicy chorizo, creamy potatoes, melty mozzarella all stuffed in edible bowls. I am obsessed.
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You've got to have something savory and satisfying at brunch, so I'm making my chorizo burrito bowls. They're salty and meaty, and they have some serious carb-on-carb action here. That's why I like them so much. To get started, I'm going to make some edible bowls using just store-bought flour tortillas, and I'm going to brush one side with some neutral oil, and this is going to help them get browned and crisped.
And now, I've got my jumbo muffin tins, and I'm going to gently press the tortilla oil side down into the muffin tin, and I'll pleat it to form a bowl shape. And now, I'm going to brush the other side with oil. I'll keep on going. And I like this size, too. It's not overly huge because we've got to save room for our babka, our horchata. I want that avocado.
I'll get these in the oven at 375 degrees and bake them for 15 to 18 minutes until they're browned. And while those crisp, I'll make my chorizo and potato filling. This filling is basically a hash. It's going to be a super flavorful bed for my scrambled eggs and other toppings. I'm going to start with some Mexican chorizo, which is a smoky spiced pork sausage that's really fatty and delicious. I'll break it up with my spoon into little bite-sized pieces, and this will just cook until it's browned.
I am obsessed with breakfast burritos. I could eat them seven days a week, three meals a day. So I've taken my favorite part of taco salads, which is the tortilla bowl, and I'm going to fill them with all of my favorite breakfast burrito toppings. OK, my chorizo is cooked. I'm going to remove it to a plate using a slotted spoon so that that excess grease will stay in the skillet. Any day that starts off with sausage, egg, and cheese is going to be a great day.
And I'll add my veggies. I've got one russet potato that I've diced, a red bell pepper. Red pepper is going to go really nice with our chorizo. And then half of a white onion for a little sweetness. Add a pinch of salt. I'll stir these around to get them coated in that chorizo fat. I'll grab my spices. I'll add a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, a 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder, and a 1/4 teaspoon of cumin. And these three are really going to enhance all the flavors in the chorizo and make for one extremely flavorful hash. And then all season with a few more good pinches of salt.
I'll stir this around and let the spices toast. I'll let this cook until the potatoes are tender. And in the meantime, I'll soft scramble my eggs. I start with olive oil in my non-stick. I'll pour in four beaten eggs. And now, the way to sauce scramble an egg is to cook it slow and low and to stir it with a rubber spatula continuously. I'm going to keep on going with this arm, and I'm going to add the chorizo into my hash with the other hand.
As with any scrambled egg, I like to turn the heat off when it's just shy of the doneness that I'm looking for because the residual heat from the pan is going to continue to cook the eggs. So the heat is off. I'm going to keep stirring to keep that custardy texture. OK, I'll season with salt and pepper. This will be a really great contrast of textures with the hash, with the scramble, and then the crispy tortilla bowls.
Speaking of which, let me check on those bowls. They're beautifully golden around the edges. I'll get these out of the muffin tins. These are going to soak up all the fat and juices from the hash and get soft and chewy on the bottom but stay crispy on the top. It's a good thing. I'll let these cool and then grab the rest of my fillings for my burritos. I've got shredded mozzarella, pickled jalapenos, and a creamy salsa verde.
You can use store-bought, but I made my own. I just blended up some Greek yogurt, garlic, cilantro, and white onion with spicy chard serrano peppers and tangy tomatillos until everything was smooth and luscious. To assemble, I'll grab one of my bowls, and I'll add some of the hash on the bottom. Top with a plop of scrambled egg, some shredded cheese, Oaxaca cheese but also be really good, and a drizzle of my salsa verde. This will add such a nice, creamy brightness and some heat.
Some pickled jalapenos for brining us, and I'll finish with a tangle of fresh cilantro. I kind of just want to eat it like a cupcake. I'll keep on building. I'm going to try one. I'm going to get a little bit of each of the toppings. There is so much flavor in this little bowl. This is definitely my new burrito obsession.
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Next, the trick to making your avocados sing with tastiness, no toast needed.
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For a vibrant and easy side to our brunch, I'm making my avocado salad, which is crunchy and creamy. It's a refreshing accompaniment to the heavy burrito bowls. To get going, I'm going to make a crunchy, seedy topping. I've got a 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds-- we always have these around because they're Nick's favorite, a 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds, and 1/4 cup of puffed rice cereal. So there's just a few different levels of crunchiness going on here.
I'll season with a teaspoon of cumin. I'll add a nice savory woodsiness, a teaspoon of chili powder for some heat, 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic powder-- garlic makes everything taste good, and kosher salt. I'll mix this together and then toss it with some olive oil just to help get it nice and toasty. And this is sort of a Mexican-inspired take on duqqa, which is an Egyptian nut and seed mix. I obviously think of it as savory sprinkles.
I'm going to dump this out onto my sheet pan. OK. I'll spread it out, and this is just going to toast at 375 for about 10 minutes. And while that crisps, I'll make my quick pickled onions.
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I'll start with a 1/4 cup of water in my pan and a 1/3 of a cup of apple cider vinegar for sourness, a tablespoon of sugar, and two teaspoons of salt. Then I'm just going to bring this to a simmer while I whisk so that I can dissolve everything. OK. I'll get this off the heat and pour it right over my sliced red onion. And I'll push these down, so they're all submerged, and I'll let these sit for about 10 minutes.
All right, let me check on my seeds. They smell good. I'll zest half a lime right over the mix. Lime is like Earth sour candy. Okey-dokey-artichoke, and I'll grab my avocados and put this dish together. Typically, I feel like avocados are on something, like toast or a salad. With this dish, I wanted to put stuff on avocados and really put the emphasis on them. So I'll slice these guys in half, gently scoop out the creamy flesh, make thin vertical cuts, place it down onto my plate, and then I'll use my fingers to gently fan it out.
I'll keep on going, just like a domino, so you can see all the pretty layers. If there are some parts that are a little broken, that's totally OK because that's what covering them with toppings is for. I'll drizzle them with olive oil for added richness, layer on my pickled onions. Pink and green ought always to be seen.
All right. I'm going to top with my seedy, crunchy topping, a little cotija, or you could use feta, too, if you don't have this, some flaky salt, and lime wedges for the necessary acidity. I mean, avocados are pretty already, but now, it's like they're ready for prom. I'm going to sneak a taste. Mhm, it's creamy. It's crunchy. It's salty. It's sour. That is a star side.
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Still to come, a drinkable dessert that'll give you a little buzz, and it's covered in chocolate sprinkles, of course.
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It's almost time for brunch, and instead of coffee, I'm making my frozen horchata lattes. They're milky and spiced, with a sweet morning buzz. I just throw everything into a blender. I'll start with four cups of ice. It takes a lot for me to a coffee drink because I love my black coffee, but these are a good exception. One reason is because they have ice cream. I'm going to add four big scoops of vanilla ice cream. And I like these because they're not as sweet and rich as a milkshake, but they still have milkshake vibes.
The ice kind of balances out the ice cream. I'll grab my espresso and horchata. I think I'd be in a lot of trouble if I didn't serve coffee at a brunch party, so I'm adding four ounces of espresso that's cooled, so it doesn't melt everything. And next, my horchata mixture. I made it last night. It was really easy. I started with long grain white rice, some skinless almonds, and a few cinnamon sticks, then covered with water and blend it up.
Let it sit in the fridge to infuse and strained out the solids. It sort of reminds me of rice pudding.
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I'll sweeten with some sugar and blend it smooth.
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I'll grab my glasses, and I've got my whipped cream. An everyday coffee drink needs some whipped cream on top. I'll fill these up. It's milkshake-esque but not full-on milkshake. I'll top with a plop of whipped cream, extra creaminess like a little cloud. Got to go with fresh whipped cream for this. So good. Mhm. I'll sprinkle with cinnamon to accentuate the cinnamon that's in the horchata. And growing up, my favorite coffee drinks were topped with chocolate sprinkles.
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These always bring me back. I'm going right in. Mhm, that is so sweet and refreshing. OK, let's brunch-- Cinco de Mayo brunch club style.
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