Breakfast Shrimp Crustini

Breakfast Shrimp Crostini

So yesterday morning, I woke up early and wanted to make breakfast before I went to work.  Not sure what I wanted I just started looking through the refrigerator.  I found some shrimp, some asparagus, mushrooms, fresh eggs from my roommate's hens, and I had bought a baguette from my work the day before.  So I looked at the ingredients and decided that a simple shrimp crostini sounded fun.

Ingredients:
Baguette Slices
1 shrimp per baguette slice
4 stalks of asparagus cut into bite size pieces
2 eggs
5 med sized mushrooms chopped
Olive Oil
Dried Parsley (fresh works too if you have it)
5 cloves of garlic minced
garlic powder
1 small shallot minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Chardonnay
Sea Salt

Recipe:

1. in a pan heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan over a med heat and add sea salt

2. add the garlic and shallot to the pan and cook until aromatic, stirring frequently

3. squeeze in lemon juice (remove seeds if any fall into your pan), and let those flavours meld together for a bit, be vary careful not to burn your garlic, or it will destroy the flavours

4. pour in a large splash of chardonnay (maybe 1/2 cup), and let the alcohol cook out, and those flavours to just blend together, the smell of alcohol should become more mild and the fragrance of the garlic, shallot, and lemon should start blending nicely.  

5. Add in the mushrooms and the asparagus, and cook until tender 

6. Add shrimp and cook until opaque on both sides (do not overcook, you want tender shrimp not rubbery shrimp)  I also prefer raw shrimp for this recipe, because if you use precooked shrimp the shrimp will get overcooked and not flavour the sauce as well

7. Season with parsley

8. remove everything from the pan with tongs, and set aside in a bowl (it might be easier if you put the shrimp and the mushrooms/asparagus in separate bowls, I didn't, but I think you might find it easier later if you do. 

9. In the same pan, with the sauce still in it (if there isn't much sauce left in the pan, add some more olive oil to the pain) add your eggs and scramble them (add a little sea salt, and ground black pepper if you desire) and sprinkle on some parsley when they are done cooking.  When they are cooked, remove them from the pan into a bowl.

10.  Heat olive oil, when hot add some garlic powder in the same pan as everything else was cooked in then place the sliced baguette in the pan, and toast both sides (if at any point you need to just add a little olive oil, so you get a nice golden colour on both sides (I recommend olive oil over butter, because it is better for you, and helps to keep this dish light.

11.  Assemble!  Use tongs to add the ingredients in the following order:

    1. Baguette

    2. Egg

    3. Asparagus/Mushrooms

    4. Top with 1 shrimp per slice of toast

Recommended serving 2 crostini per person, and serve with your favourite breakfast beverage (tea, coffee, or mimosa).   These would be great for both a fancy breakfast or brunch with friends, or even as a casual breakfast for yourself in the morning, they are elegant, but also quite simple, and taste amazing.  If you try this recipe please post a photo in the comments, and let me know what you did to make it your own.   Cooking is an art and you should always add your own twist to things, recipes are nothing more than a guide, or inspiration for an idea.  A musician listens to a song and gets inspired to write their own song, adding in their own flair, and their own flavour to it, same goes for a painter, and cooking is no different, the pan and plate are my canvas, and the ingredients are my paints, and even if I look up a recipe, which I spend a lot of time doing, I am thinking of ways to make it my own, and that is what you should be doing as well.