No, thank you, she would not like a whisk. “We don’t need to be fussy,” Rose Carrarini says as she declines the offer and continues to beat her eggs with a fork. A few minutes later, the diminutive chef, eponym and co-owner of Rose Bakery continues on her nonfussy jag as she uses a makeshift step — a metal hotel pan turned upside down — to reach the elevated induction cooktop, and a wooden spoon to spiritedly stir eggs over gentle heat.
Carrarini and her husband, Jean-Charles, are in New York City visiting their first U.S. franchise, which they opened in the Dover Street Market last December. Since establishing the original Rose Bakery on Paris’s Rue des Martyrs in 2002, they have gone on to plant three more in that city, one in London, five in Tokyo and two in Seoul. Up next: one in Hong Kong.
The Carrarinis live a few blocks away from their flagship location in the Ninth Arrondissement and spend most of their time in Paris. They rise early, at around 6 a.m., and get to the bakery between 7 and 7:30 a.m. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I really believe it,” Carrarini says. “I insist my staff eat it.” And so they do, at 8:30 every morning (to “come together,” she explains). “We did it with our children, too,” her husband adds. “We didn’t care what they were doing in the day, but they had to have breakfast. It was sacred.”
Sacred it may be, but labored it isn’t. Carrarini believes that breakfast should be quick. In the winter she favors creamy porridge, a staple on the bakery’s menu. When the weather gets warmer, she’ll switch to fruit and wholemeal toast.
As she talks about her most favorite breakfasts — the Japanese meal of a rolled omelet with miso soup, pickles and tofu at the Hyatt Regency in Tokyo, or a Middle Eastern spread of labne, cheeses and whole grains at the Providores in London — you realize she may not be fussy, but she is picky. And it’s that pickiness that makes Rose Bakery so distinct and beloved. People are quick to label it as “British,” but you’re not likely to find loaf cakes so buttery and moist in England.
There is one thing Rose admits to being fussy about: her dishware. Once the eggs she’s been nursing have achieved a luxurious soft-scrambled consistency and been incorporated into a spiced tomato sauce, she spoons them onto a sloping gray green-glazed plate custom-produced for her bakeries by Made in Cley, a pottery collective in Norfolk, England.
Below, Carrarini shares three of her quick, unfussy breakfasts — to be enjoyed on whatever dish you deem fit.
Rose Bakery Porridge
Yield: Breakfast for one
This is Rose Carrarini’s standard cold-weather breakfast. The cooking technique is similar to that used for polenta. Because American oats are significantly larger in size than those designated for porridge in England and Scotland, the New York bakery’s kitchen pulses them in the food processor to get them to the right size. Carrarini sweetens hers with maple syrup; in Paris, she has noticed most of her customers prefer honey or brown sugar. She’s seen a few sugarphobes stir in butter, salt and pepper instead.
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup water
Pinch salt
Spoonful crème fraîche or plain, unsweetened yogurt
Honey to finish
1. Quickly blitz the oats in the food processor until they’re smaller in size (a little bigger than quinoa). This should take a few seconds; don’t overprocess them into crumbs.
2. Combine the oats, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring all the time, then immediately lower the heat to a simmer. Continue to cook and stir over low heat until you achieve the desired creamy consistency, about 3 minutes. The finished porridge should resemble a loose risotto.
3. Pour the finished porridge into a serving bowl, folding in a spoonful of crème fraîche or yogurt. Drizzle with honey to finish.
Spicy Tomato Eggs
Yield: Breakfast for two
According to Carrarini, this version of oeufs brouillés (eggs soft-scrambled over low heat) is a spicy take on Richard Olney’s recipe for Brouillarde de Tomates au Basilic from his cookbook “Simple French Food.” Despite its being a classic French dish prepared when the tomatoes are at their peak, Carrarini has yet to find anyone serving it in Paris. So she makes it for herself, as long as the tomatoes are worthy of it.
Splash olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided in half
¼ teaspoon each coriander, cumin, pimenton, salt, pepper, sugar (add more or less depending on how much spice you like)
4 large or 5 medium-ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
5 large or 6 medium eggs, lightly beaten
A few torn leaves of fresh cilantro
Whole-grain toast
1. Combine the oil, 1 tablespoon of butter, seasonings and tomatoes in a pan, cooking over low heat until tomatoes break down, most of the liquid is evaporated and you are left with a thick sauce.
2. Keeping the heat low, add the eggs and the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to the tomato sauce and stir constantly, using a wooden spoon until the eggs are streaked with tomato and have a soft-scrambled consistency, about 2-3 minutes. They should have gentle curds, almost cottage cheese-like. Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with freshly torn cilantro and enjoy with toast.
Maple Pecan Scones
Yield: 12-15 scones
Carrarini is a scone master, but confesses hers “are not 100 percent” traditional. In Devon, where afternoon tea would not be complete without scones, she explains, they’re “tighter, smaller, denser, and they’re made with self-raising flour to form perfect white cylinders.” She wanted a lighter, fluffier product, so she added more self-raising flour. “You can still call them scones in England,” she promises. While it’s autumn in New York and she’s in town, she flavors them with maple syrup and chopped pecans to give them some local character. She eats them at any time of day.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons baking powder, very heaping
3 tablespoon muscovado (may substitute light brown sugar)
1 cup toasted pecans
1 teaspoons salt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold and diced
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 eggs
Pecan halves to garnish
1. Combine the flours, baking powder, sugar, 1 cup toasted pecans and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. You may also combine the ingredients in a large bowl with your hands or a fork.
2. Add the butter and process for 12 to 14 seconds (or work the butter between your fingers) until butter is coarse, but still visible.
3. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, making a well in the center. Add the milk, maple syrup and one egg. Vigorously stir the mixture with a fork until it begins to come together, finishing the dough with your hands until just combined; the dough may still be a bit shaggy, but take care not to overwork it.
4. Press the dough into a disk about an inch and a half high, and punch using a small round cutter — at Rose Bakery, our scones are quite small because our cutters are about two inches across. Place punched scones on a parchment-lined sheet tray, glazing the tops with your reserved egg, beaten, and sprinkling each with half a pecan.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 16 minutes, turning halfway through. Finished scones will be golden brown and feel firm to the touch.
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