Dairy

A traditional Jewish variation on the crêpe, the blintz can be filled with anything from berries to cheese to mashed potatoes. My mother fills hers with cream cheese and farmer cheese and serves them with a fruit compote. Serve three blintzes per person, accompanied by Blackberry Compote (page 276), strawberry compote (see page 276), sautéed bananas (see Banana Walnut Pancakes, page 122), or Strawberry Jam (page 280). A bit of advice from Mom: Be sure to have all your filling ingredients at room temperature before beginning this recipe, otherwise, it’s difficult to mix everything evenly. Serve with Sliced Melon and Raspberries with Port Syrup (page 228).

Gruyère is one of the best cheeses to use in a crêpe because it is flavorful and melts nicely. Here, broccoli adds color and texture. You can prepare both the filling and the crêpes ahead of time and assemble the crêpes at the last minute. If you make crêpes in advance, the crêpes can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to two months. Serve with Mixed Greens with Shallot Vinaigrette (page 169).

Since the invention of the nonstick electric waffle iron, making homemade waffles is a breeze. You can freeze these waffles for up to a month. Baking them in a preheated 350°F oven will quickly restore them to their irresistibly crisp, buttery state.

A generous measure of blueberries—two full cups—ensures a juicy mouthful of berries with every bite. Use fresh berries when they are in season, or frozen if fresh seasonal berries are unavailable. There is no need to thaw frozen berries before using them. You can keep the cooked pancakes, loosely covered with a clean kitchen towel, for 15 minutes in a 200°F oven. Serve with Roasted Asparagus and Leek Frittata (page 96).

The addition of ricotta cheese gives these citrusy pancakes a little more heft. After you cook each batch of pancakes, transfer them to a heatproof platter and keep them warm for up to 20 minutes in a preheated 200°F oven.

These pancakes, the signature griddle dish at Bubby’s, were inspired by James Beard’s excellent recipe. Half the milk called for in Mr. Beard’s recipe is replaced with sour cream, resulting in a fluffy, deep golden griddle cake. Mix the dry ingredients and mix the wet ingredients separately ahead of time, but don’t make this batter more than three hours in advance or it might deflate. Serve with plenty of butter and maple syrup, Canadian bacon, or one of Bubby’s fruit compotes (pages 276 to 278).

A meal in itself, this is a great dish for a crowd. It can be made ahead, baked, and reheated, or it can be held unbaked until a couple of hours before you plan to serve it.

Made in summer at the height of tomato season, this scramble is wonderful with fresh mozzarella or burrata, a delicious, buttery-textured Italian cheese. It’s important not to overcook the tomatoes or the basil, which will keep its bright green color when added toward the end.

Our friend Gerry has a farm in upstate New York, in Delaware County, and it is a trove of little wildly growing goodies. Each spring, around the end of April through the end of May, little leafy wild leeks, called ramps, spring up (ahead of the rhubarb, ahead of the asparagus) in patches on the side of streamlets. These wild leeks taste amazingly good with eggs, though we often pickle the bulbs and use just the leaves for scrambled eggs. At our local farmers’ market in Manhattan’s Union Square, ramps are one of the first green things to fill the winter-barren tables. If you can’t find ramps, leeks make a good substitute. Use one-quarter of a well-washed, chopped leek per serving. Also try substituting goat cheese for the Parmesan for a slightly different flavor. Serve with Skillet Hash Browns (page 211).

Those who like a little extra kick in their eggs will enjoy this dish. Customize it by adding a little extra jalapeño, which will increase the heat. The clean, bright flavor of cilantro is excellent here, and it adds color as well.

This late-summer indulgence showcases a harvest of vegetables abundant from August until the end of September. Although you can buy these ingredients year-round, this frittata is at its best when made with ripe in-season produce. This recipe can be doubled, but don’t try to make more than two frittatas at a time or you’ll end up with runny, undercooked eggs. This is delicious accompanied by garlic toast. Serve with Potato Pancakes (page 213).

This egg dish is bursting with generous chunks of ham and scallion and bound with an abundance of sharp Cheddar. Be sure your ham is sizzling nicely before adding the eggs, and don’t overcook this scramble: The eggs are just right when they’re still a little wet. Serve with Blackberry Corn Muffins (page 39).

Cheddar and apples are great together, and the combination gets even better when you add some superior-tasting slab bacon. Any sweet-tart apple—Macoun, Mutsu, Greening, Winesap—works well here.

The key to making a great broccoli omelet is to slightly overcook the broccoli. One of the best cheeses to pair with broccoli in many a dish is Cheddar because of its sharp, tangy taste.

Roasting pears accentuates their sweetness, making them the perfect match for tangy goat cheese. Allow yourself enough time to prepare the pears and let them cool—about 30 minutes in total. This can be done several hours ahead or even a day before you plan to make the omelet, which takes under 10 minutes to cook. You’ll have enough roasted pears for four omelets; if you make only one, use the extra pears to top pancakes or waffles. Bartlett or Bosc pears are a good choice for this recipe, although you could use apples instead. Be sure your goat cheese is chèvre, which means that it’s made entirely from goat’s milk. Among the better-known types of chèvre are Montrachet, Banon, and Bucheron.

Fresh spinach and creamy Brie make a delectable combination, especially in an omelet. One big bunch of spinach yields only about 1 cup of cooked spinach, but it is enough for three or four omelets. You will need about 1/3 cup of steamed, chopped spinach for each omelet. Serve with Butter and Parsley Potatoes (page 222).

For this luxurious omelet, choose a good-quality lean ham, but avoid pepper ham or mapleglazed ham because you don’t want to distract from the flavor of the Gruyère, which has a wonderful taste and melts beautifully. If you don’t have Gruyère, you can use Emmenthal or Beaufort. This recipe doesn’t call for salt because both the ham and the Gruyère are naturally salty. Serve with Steamed Sesame Spinach (page 216).

This is a springtime treat, when asparagus is at its peak and you can get the young, thin stalks. Making this with thick stalks is fine, though you may want to peel the tougher bottom half of the stalks before cooking. Blanching rather than steaming helps the asparagus retain its bright green color and firm texture. Serve with Niçoise Salad (page 160).

When our neighbors made this recipe on Saturday mornings when we were growing up, the entire neighborhood smelled like cinnamon heaven. These frosted cinnamon rolls are a little more complicated to make than scones or muffins, but they are definitely worth the effort. The cream cheese makes the dough flakier than that of many cinnamon rolls, and the filling is rich and delicious. You can prepare these the night before and let them rise for an hour before baking them in the morning. The uncooked cinnamon rolls also freeze very well for a couple of weeks.

These colorful scones are crumbly and rich from the combination of Cheddar cheese and spinach. A more substantial scone than some of the sweet ones, these go well with just about any salad and are also good with a frittata.