Brunch at Bobby's (2010–…): Season 6, Episode 13 - Comfort Food Fake-Outs - full transcript

All right, guys,
last night's holiday leftovers

become today's brunch miracles.

Coming at you.

All right, so, today,
we're gonna take

those leftovers
from the night before,

'cause there's people
in your house.

They're still hungry, right?
So, why not?

We're gonna make empanadas
with ham and egg

and a piquillo-pepper sauce.

It makes leftovers
feel important.

And then we're gonna move on
to some hot chocolate,



but not just any
hot chocolate --

red-velvet hot chocolate
with marshmallow whipped cream.

There is it,
what we've all be waiting for.

And we're gonna make
a cinnamon-oat biscotti

with dried cranberries
and apricots with a yogurt dip.

So, let's get going.

We're gonna start
by making our empanadas.

And you now what an empanada is,
right?

It's those Latin pies,

and today,
they're gonna be filled with

ham, goat cheese, and some egg.

You know, we had that baked ham
last night.

So, why not utilize
some of our beautiful ham here?

Mmm.
It smells like the holidays.



So, I'm gonna dice it up.

I bake my ham.

I usually use some kind of glaze
on the outside.

You stud it with some cloves.

It's a terrific dish.

Crisp it up a little bit
with a little bit of butter

and render a little bit
of that fat off,

and then cook the eggs
in the ham fat.

Okay,
now slice up some scallions.

I always have, like, herbs

and things like scallions and
aromatics in my refrigerator,

which is great for the holidays,

'cause I'm gonna do
a lot of cooking.

And, um, you know, now
I can feed people the next day.

Eggs.

You know, there really is
an art to scrambling eggs.

It's just not, like,

throw the eggs in the pan
with some butter.

One of the things you want to do

is make sure that
the eggs and the yolks

are completely emulsified
and mixed together

so you don't have any white
streaks in your scrambled eggs.

I'm gonna save
a little bit of these eggs

for the egg wash later.

Okay, so, now I'm gonna
take my ham out.

The ham is already cooked.
It's already baked,

so putting a little bit
of a crust on the ham,

and then we're
getting some of the fat out.

Okay, now we're going to
scramble the eggs.

All right, I'm gonna add
the green onions right to this

right before they're cooked.

You don't want to overcook them.

You want to undercook them
a tiny bit

'cause they're gonna
go in the oven also.

They'll keep cooking.

So, I'm gonna take them out now.

Beautiful.

So, I'm gonna add some ham.

And then some goat cheese.
Fresh goat cheese.

Goat cheese is nice and creamy.

It's a little bit tart,
and you know what?

I had some leftover.

Made a beautiful goat cheese
salad last night

with some apples
and some pomegranates,

and now that I told you
what I made last night,

I know what you're saying.

"Wait. Where's the recipe
for the salad?"

I'll give you that salad recipe
plus the brunch.

It's like a bonus recipe
right there.

Just for your holiday leftovers.

Okay, so, what I'm gonna do here

is just very gently fold
the ham and the eggs together

with the goat cheese.

And then I'm going to just
put it on a sheet tray

so it cools evenly.

'Cause otherwise, the eggs on
the bottom will cook a lot more

and the goat cheese
will melt too much.

And I actually kind of like
the goat cheese

in sort of bigger pieces
so that,

when you're actually
biting into the empanada,

you'll actually taste
some of the goat cheese.

So, it's not just sort of
melted into the eggs.

Just want to give this a taste.
Very important.

No matter what
you're filling or stuffing,

you always want to
taste the stuffing first

before you put it into whatever
vehicle you're stuffing it in.

And here's a tip.

Whenever
you're stuffing something --

could be a pierogi or a dumpling

or, in this case, an empanada --

you want to over-season it
just a tad

'cause you're going to fill it
in something like pastry,

and the pastry is actually gonna

dull the flavor
and the seasoning,

and people don't
think about that very often.

All right, so, um,
let's grab the empanada shells.

I actually have
the empanada wrappers

in my freezer all the time,

so the dough's
already made for me.

You can use pre-made pie dough.

I mean, basically, this is
sort of like a pie dough.

It's just not as rich
as say, like, puff pastry

or even like a pie crust,
like a French pie crust.

We're just gonna make these a
little bit bigger than they are.

It gives you a little bit more
room to work.

A lot of times,

people will sleep over
at my house during the holidays.

You know, there's a giant meal
the night before the holidays,

whether it's Christmas
or Christmas Eve.

You eat so much food

that you can't believe
you're ever gonna eat again

until you -- until everybody
wakes up the next morning

and wants to know
what's for breakfast.

So, you got to be ready.

But the empanadas is gonna be
the surprise of the weekend.

That's for sure.

'Cause nobody's expecting
empanadas from you.

They're like, "Empanadas?
Where'd he come up with that?"

I rolled out the empanada
shells, I'm gonna fill them with

the egg, ham,
and goat cheese mixture.

But first, I'm gonna take
a little bit of the egg wash,

which is just, you know, whisked
eggs with a little bit of water.

And I'm just gonna
go around the edges.

You're gonna use your egg wash
for two reasons.

You're going to use it
as sort of like

edible glue for your empanadas.

And then we're also going to

put it on the outside
of the empanada,

and it will make it
nice and golden as it bakes.

Fun to make. All right.

So, now that this has cooled
a little bit...

You want them to sort of
be in the middle.

Certainly don't want to
overstuff them.

But at the same time, you want
to make sure there's enough --

enough filling there.
Okay.

So, now we're just going to
close them up.

All right, then what
I like to do is take a fork,

and this helps
to close them even more.

And, you know, the pastry

is just as important
as the filling,

so you want it to be nice
and crusty, golden brown.

I'm gonna take
a little more egg wash.

Just very lightly brush the
egg wash on top of the empanada.

This is gonna make them
nice and golden.

So, I'm just gonna
make a slit --

a couple of slits
in the top of the empanadas

just to kind of
let the steam out.

Because, otherwise,
you'll sort of steam the pastry,

and we want the pastry
to get crisp.

All right, so we're gonna
bake these in a 425 degree oven,

so pretty hot, and they
should take about 10 minutes.

All right, so, I'm gonna
let the empanadas bake.

When we come back,
I'm also gonna make

a piquillo-pepper sauce
to go with it.

We're gonna make
some red-velvet hot chocolate

with marshmallow whipped cream
and some biscotti.

It's all about the holidays,
but it's the next day.

It's all about leftovers.

Welcome back, everybody.

Today, our holiday leftovers

are turning into an extravagant,
magnificent brunch.

We are --
We're making some empanadas,

in case you just joined us,

with some ham
and some scrambled eggs,

a little bit of goat cheese
in the middle.

I'm gonna make a piquillo-pepper
sauce to go along with that.

Don't stress out if you don't
know what a piquillo pepper is.

It's actually a red pepper
that's been peeled and seeded

and packed in
some olive oil from Spain.

Now, they're just like
roasted red peppers.

They have a little bit
of a bite to them,

so if you can't find piquillos,
you can certainly use

roasted red peppers
for this sauce, as well.

So, we're gonna start with a
little bit of onions and garlic,

and I'm gonna take my piquillos.

And the great thing about
piquillos --

Now, you can find these
in lots of places --

is that they're roasted,
they're peeled,

they're seeded for you already,

and you just take them out of
the -- out of the can,

and you can start to use them.

They're fantastic.

In my restaurant at Gato,

we just put tuna tartare
inside the piquillo,

and it's just like --
it's like a good package

just for that --
for that dish, as well.

Add just a splash
of olive oil in there.

Let's check on our empanadas.

Very nice.

Okay, so, now the pastry's done,
and of course,

the eggs and the ham mixture
and the goat cheese --

That was already cooked before
we actually started cooking it,

so we know we're ready to go.

All right.

So, we're gonna
sauté our piquillos.

We're gonna put these
in the blender

with a little bit of
red-wine vinegar, as well.

Think about it. This is gonna be
the sauce for the empanadas.

Little bit of red-wine vinegar.

I like to put
just a splash of honey in here

just to kind of chill out
the vinegar

and the pepper a little bit.

This sauce
is gonna be beautiful,

but it's also gonna taste good.

Slowly add the olive oil,

and it emulsifies it,
which means it stays together.

Just a splash of crème fraîche.

Just gives it
a little creaminess.

And it's a beautiful sauce.

And the great thing
about this sauce is,

you know, it's not a --

it's not a hot sauce in terms
of temperature,

so you can make it
ahead of time.

There you go.

Listen, you can always make your
guests a ham and egg sandwich,

but look how beautiful
these empanadas are.

And it looks like
you really went to

a lot of effort to make them,

but only you and I know

you didn't really go to
that much effort.

But they look spectacular,
and that's the key.

Your guests will be so happy
that you actually,

you know,
sort of went the extra step

and they had something
really special

even though it's just leftovers.

Little bit of cilantro,
some garnish.

And then there's only one thing
left to do.

It's brunch time.

Look at that.

You get the ham, the egg,
the goat cheese

kind of running through there.

And, you know, the pastry
is really light and flaky.

It just adds one more sort of
texture to your experience here.

And the sauce just kind of
wakes up the whole thing.

It makes leftovers
feel important.

All right.
It's time for some biscotti.

We're gonna make biscotti
with some oats

and some maple syrup
and some dried fruit --

some cranberries
and, uh, some apricots, as well.

So, biscotti is --
It's a cookie,

and it's a twice-baked cookie.

You know,
that crunchy cookie you get

in lots of Italian restaurants
at the end of a meal.

We actually serve them,
um, at Gato, too.

We do different things like, um,

you know, with pistachio
and almonds

and different kinds of nuts and
different kind of dried fruits.

And then we serve it
with a little bit of sherry,

and you dip the biscotti
into the -- into the sherry,

give it a taste, and
it's a great way to end a meal.

So, here we go.

We're gonna start with
a cup of all-purpose flour.

And then 1/2 cup of oats.

And the oats are gonna give it
a really nice texture.

And then 1/4 cup
of light brown sugar.

1 teaspoon of cinnamon,

but I always put
a little bit extra

just 'cause
I like cinnamon so much.

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.

Okay. Wet ingredients.

Dos eggs.

That means two.

1/4 cup of maple syrup,
the real stuff.

I mean, you want to use
those holiday ingredients --

cranberries, maple syrup,
cinnamon, little bit of vanilla.

Canola oil --
about 1 tablespoon.

2 tablespoons
of unsalted butter.

It's already been melted.

And then we're gonna put

some dried cranberries
and some dried apricots.

I love using dried fruit
on the holidays.

A lot of times,
when you see dried apricots,

they're a lot brighter
than this.

They have a very deep
sort of orange color.

And that's because there's
sulfur on them to preserve them.

So, these are apricots that

don't have sulfur
or preservatives,

but they taste so much better.

And, you know, let's face it.
They're healthier.

I'm gonna chop those up.

Some dried cranberries.

We're gonna put these into
our wet ingredients.

All right, so, we're going to

put the wet ingredients
into the dry.

Just fold it all together.

And this is gonna be your
biscotti recipe right here.

Let's spray the sheet pan
with a little bit of spray --

non-stick spray.

It's better
on the parchment paper

so that it comes off
a lot easier.

And also, it makes your pan
a lot easier to clean.

So, the idea is to kind of

put in the shape of a log,
like the Yule log.

But, um, it's gonna spread out,

because, as it warms up,

it's gonna just kind of
spread a little bit,

and that's totally fine.

And so,
that's what you want to see.

Now, it's about 350 degrees for
20 minutes on the first bake.

And then, after that comes out,
we're gonna slice them

and then open them up
to the middle

so that they get nice and toasty
on the inside, as well.

Let's go to the oven.

All right, when we come back,

what should we drink
with our biscotti?

How about hot chocolate?

How about
red-velvet hot chocolate?

How about
red-velvet hot chocolate

with
a marshmallow whipped cream?

Sounds right to me.

Don't go anywhere.

All right, everybody, this is
all about holiday leftovers,

and we have some biscotti
in the oven.

And we have the cranberries
and the apricots

running through there.

Whoa.

Okay, so, you see how
that spread a little bit?

That's cool.

We're just gonna let that cool,

and then we can cut it
to the biscotti shape,

put it back in the oven
to toast the middle.

That's the way it works.
That's biscotti.

That's twice-baked cookies.

Now it's time to turn our
attention to some hot chocolate.

Red-velvet hot chocolate.

We're gonna start with
a couple of cups of milk.

And we're gonna scald the milk.

And when the milk gets hot,

then we're gonna add
some of the cocoa powder

and some semi-sweet chocolate
to that.

We're gonna make it red by
adding a little bit of red dye.

So, while that's going,

we're gonna make
our marshmallow whipped cream.

Put about 1 cup of heavy cream
into our mixer.

And then some cream cheese --
some softened cream cheese.

And a splash of vanilla extract.

Then I'm gonna take
our marshmallow topping,

and I'm just gonna
fold it into the whipped cream.

I kind of like
this marshmallow topping stuff.

You know, it's like,
as a kid, I would,

you know, eat peanut-butter
sandwiches with it.

I like to actually kind of
fold it into whipped cream

so it's not
as marshmallow intense.

This way, you have sort of
the marshmallow

going through the whipped cream.

What is
red-velvet hot chocolate?

The hot chocolate is red.

The marshmallow whipped cream
is white.

You know, the red and white
goes perfectly for the holidays.

The very first red-velvet cake
did not have red dye in it.

The way they got
the red-velvet idea

was chocolate or cocoa powder

mixed together
with a little bit of vinegar,

and then it created this sort of
red-brick color to the cake.

And that's how
red-velvet cake came to pass.

Now, of course, most people put
some sort of red dye in there

so they can really send home
the idea that it's a red cake.

But we're not making
red-velvet cake.

We're making, uh,
red-velvet hot chocolate.

Okay, so, we're gonna take
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.

I love cocoa powder.

Making hot chocolate like this
reminds me of

when I used to make it
with my mom when I was a kid.

We used to get marshmallows

and just kind of
put the marshmallows on top.

And, you know, as a kid, like,

you didn't really want
the hot chocolate.

You just wanted
the marshmallows,

'cause they were melted.

Now, sometimes what I do is

I put, like,
a semi-sweet chocolate in there.

This is gonna make it
incredibly rich

and flavorful and not too sweet.

All right, so, here's the --

here's the base
of our hot chocolate.

And I think it's important
to give it a taste.

Mmm.

Wow. Is that intense.
And not too sweet, too.

That's why it's important
you use a semi-sweet chocolate.

You want to taste
the hot chocolate in the pot

before you actually start
putting it together in the cups

with the whipped cream
and all that,

because you want to make sure
that it tastes right.

'Cause if it needs
a little sugar

or you want to thin it out
or make it thicker,

you can do that now.

Let's make the yogurt dip
for the biscotti.

So, we're gonna start with
about 1/2 cup Greek yogurt.

About 1/4 cup
of confectioners' sugar.

A splash of vanilla extract.

And then some orange zest.

I just kind of thinned it out
with a splash of heavy cream,

and we're just gonna serve this
on the side of the biscotti

so people can kind of dip in

while they're eating
their biscotti

and drinking
their hot chocolate.

Let's cut our biscotti.

It's really important to
let your biscotti cool,

because, otherwise,
it just will be too soft to cut.

Cut these about 1 inch thick.

Tastes really good.

Oats and maple syrup
and lots of dried fruit.

Then you flip them over
like this.

Then you reveal
the inside of the biscotti.

This part will toast.

So, you know, these are fairly
dense cookies or biscuits.

And you can see --
The thing I love about it

is the contrast of the
ingredients inside the biscotti.

So, you have the oats,
you have the dried fruits.

Lots of time, in biscotti,
there's all kinds of nuts,

like pecans or pistachios
or walnuts.

Okay.
Back in the oven.

350 degrees
for about 15, 20 minutes.

You want to flip them,

'cause you want both sides
to be nice and toasted.

Okay. We're gonna
keep this holiday spirit going.

When we come back,

we're gonna take our biscotti
out of the oven,

we're gonna dip it
in some yogurt,

and we're gonna
give our hot chocolate

the red-velvet treatment.

It's gonna be red.

made some empanadas with the
scrambled eggs and a cured ham,

piquillo-pepper sauce.

We have some biscotti here
and our yogurt dip.

The thing I love about biscotti
is that

it keeps for a really long time.

Just make sure
that you wrap it up tightly,

and they stay nice and crisp,

and, I mean, really, literally
they can stay for --

you know, for weeks.

So, the biscotti is twice-baked,
remember?

So, we baked
the whole log first,

then we cut it, sliced it,
laid it on its side,

and now it's toasted
on both sides.

And that's the key to biscotti.

You want it to be nice and --
nice and crunchy.

If you leave them out
in the kitchen somewhere,

somebody will be eating them
as they walk by, for sure.

I mean, how could you not
want to check those out?

What I like to do is just
take a little bit of biscotti,

dip it into the yogurt.

Mmm.

It's really good.

I like the texture
of the fresh yogurt

with the vanilla and the orange.

The orange just really
kind of brings out

a really nice flavor there.

And it actually works
really nicely

with the cranberries
and the apricots, as well.

All right. Let's move on
to our hot chocolate.

I mean,
this chocolate is so thick.

It's almost like
chocolate pudding. It's crazy.

But I like my hot chocolate
nice and rich.

I'm gonna add
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract,

which I always find
kind of weird

to, like, add vanilla
to your chocolate.

But it just brings out
that chocolate flavor.

And then we're gonna make it red

by adding a little bit
of red dye --

about 1 tablespoon of red dye.

Oh, yeah.

There it is --

what we've all
been waiting for --

the red-velvet hot chocolate.

Okay. You ready? Watch this.

See,
it's got that deep red color?

I mean, you want it to be
this brick red.

You dowat to be
fluorescent red.

We did a red-velvet-cake
throwdown in Brooklyn,

which I think
we actually somehow won

against Cake Man Raven.

This is the whipped cream
with the marshmallow in it.

And there you go.

I've been waiting all day
to try this.

I mean, it's incredibly rich.

It tastes like chocolate,
you know?

And that, to me, is the key.

And it's not very sweet.

It's sort of a semi-sweet,
exactly what the chocolate is.

So, it's got a little bit --
a little bit of sugar,

a little bit of sweetness,

but you can really taste the
flavor of the chocolate itself.

It's beautiful. I mean,
it's that brick-red color.

That's what you want.

Mmm.

you know,
with marshmallow on top.

But it's red velvet.

And it is velvety.

So, this recipe, you definitely
want in your holiday repertoire.

So, we made the empanadas

with the scrambled eggs, ham,
and goat cheese.

And then we made some beautiful
biscotti with maple and oats,

and we had the cranberries
and the apricots

running through there,
with a yogurt dip.

And to top it all off,

red-velvet hot chocolate with
a marshmallow whipped cream --

the perfect way
to utilize your leftovers