An American Breakfast with a Portuguese Accent

Today's breakfast was inspired by our travels as well as our trips to local diners. I took what I learned from our favorite breakfast joints to our own kitchen. Our weekend breakfast items all depends my own creative whim that day. The fresh ingredients also play a huge part. The ingredients tell me and inspire to prepare and transform them into something scrumptious. Variety is the spice of life so I make different breakfast foods inspired by different cultures and cuisines. So what is today's breakfast? red bliss home fries, linguica or Portuguese sausage and fried eggs.

Home Fries: The potatoes are peeled, cut and boiled for 20 minutes. I do this the night before to save some time in the morning. When you are ready to make home fries, fry roughly chopped onions until they are slightly caramelized and then set aside. The potatoes are then seasoned with smoked Spanish paprika, onion powder and garlic powder and pan fried with some extra virgin olive oil until you get that nice crispy crust on your potatoes. I add a tablespoon or two of finely chopped green and yellow bell pepper for color.

Linguica or Portuguese sausage: The linguica is beautifully seasoned seasoned with paprika, garlic, onions and salt. The linguica is pan fried until it is slightly charred and fully cooked.

Eggs: I like to make eggs many different ways but today we like our eggs sunny side up. I don't like the runny slimy film on top. The solution: cover the frying pan with a tight lid during the last two minutes of cooking and the steam inside the pan cooks the gently cooks the protein on top.

I always serve breakfast with seasonal fresh fruit.