Archive for the ‘eggs’ Category

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Grilled Vegetable Chopped Salad with Creamy Pesto Dressing

So far this summer, my trips to the farmer’s market have been largely uninspiring. With the cool, wet weather that we are having in Seattle, summer produce is late arriving. My most recent trip, however, brought a wealth of inspiration. This particular farmer has been using a greenhouse to help summer along so I was able to find my first “warm weather” produce.

I decided to take advantage of one of our few sunny days and do some grilling. This, combined with some leftover chicken and a couple of ingredients from the pantry produced a wonderful main dish salad. Here’s the ingredients.

To start, I cut the bell pepper into quarters, removing the seeds and what not and then cut the eggplant and zucchini into planks about 1/2″ thick. Then I cut the sweet onions into quarters and pushed them, as well as the garlic, onto skewers. I rubbed everything down with olive oil and then seasoned them all with salt and pepper.

I started the onions and the garlic on the top rack of the grill and then walked away … for too long. Sigh. Burned. That’ll teach me for trying to do three projects at one time. I forged ahead and put the rest of the veggies on the hot grill. Flipping them as they browned …

… and removing them as they cooked through.

I decided the garlic was a goner (and it ended up being unneeded), but went ahead and peeled the charred layers off of the onions so that I could use them. I chopped everything into 1/2″ pieces, including a couple of the greens off of the sweet onions.

I stirred together the pesto, lemon juice and mayo and chopped the chicken. Finally I combined all the ingredients in a large bowl and tossed the whole mix together.

Delicious!

 

GRILLED VEGETABLE CHOPPED SALAD WITH CREAMY PESTO DRESSING
serves 2 generously

This salad can easily be made with prepared pesto and mayonnaise. However, if you have the time, take it and make a batch of pesto and homemade mayo. Put any leftover pesto into an ice cube tray and freeze. That way you’ll have a tasty touch of summer all year round. I used two “ice cubes” worth of pesto in the dressing. Mayonnaise from scratch might sound hard, but it’s easier than you think (especially if you have an immersion blender) and totally worth it. I like to use Alton Brown’s recipe (which I’ve added below) and Chef John’s method (here’s a link). If you can’t find new sweet onions, use a sliced mature sweet onion (for the bulb) and scallions (for the greens). I used leftovers from a rotisserie chicken to keep my kitchen cool.

1 zucchini, cut into 1/2″ planks
1 small eggplant, cut into 1/2″ planks
1 red bell pepper, quartered and seeded
6 new sweet onions, bulbs quartered, some of the greens chopped
10 cloves garlic (optional)
1/4 cup pesto
1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise (see recipe below)
juice of 1/2 lemon
6 ounces cooked chicken, chopped
2-3 ounces Parmesan cheese
4-5 leaves romaine lettuce, chopped

Prepare grill for cooking. Grill all the vegetables, flipping as they brown, until they are softened and cooked through. Cool, then cut into 1/2″ pieces.

Stir together the pesto, mayonnaise and lemon juice.

In a large bowl, toss together the cooled and chopped vegetables, onion greens, chicken, lettuce, cheese and dressing. Divide between plates. Enjoy!

 

Alton Brown’s Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 pinches sugar
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 cup oil, safflower or corn

In a glass bowl, whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients. Combine lemon juice and vinegar in a separate bowl then thoroughly whisk half into the yolk mixture. Start whisking briskly, then start adding the oil a few drops at a time until the liquid seems to thicken and lighten a bit, (which means you’ve got an emulsion on your hands). Once you reach that point you can relax your arm a little (but just a little) and increase the oil flow to a constant (albeit thin) stream. Once half of the oil is in add the rest of the lemon juice mixture.

Continue whisking until all of the oil is incorporated. Leave at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours then refrigerate for up to 1 week.

 

Posted by ChefDJen in cheese, chicken, could be vegetarian, dinner, eggplant, eggs, gluten-free, greens, lunch, onion, peppers, salad, squash, summer | No Comments »

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Eggs Benedict, from Scratch

At first glance, April’s Charcutepalooza challenge, hot smoking, seemed like an easy one. As an accomplished, year round grill user, I figured I could just throw it on the Weber grill, add some wood chips and be done. I’ve done it before, lots of times, so why would this be any different? One word, temperature.

I’ve never paid too much attention to the temperature of the barbecue. I’ve never cooked anything that needed to be quite so precise. I guess I never realized that even though I am using indirect heat, the Weber gets hot, 350 degrees or so. I tried adjusting the air flow to no avail. The lowest the temperature would get was 300 degrees. And I couldn’t close the vents completely without risking putting the fire out completely.

I knew that if I put the meat on the grill at a temperature of much more than 200 degrees, I risked the outside of the meat cooking to a much higher temp then the 150 degrees I wanted.

What to do?

I thought briefly about sending the husband on an after work errand to Home Depot to buy a smoker. Then realized that would probably not be very fiscally responsible (especially with two weeks out of  vacation looming). Plus, by the time the thing got put together and fired up it would be late. Too late. It definitely would not be the sunny 60 degree day that I was currently enjoying. It would be dark, and cold, and possibly raining (I do live in Seattle after all)

What to do?

I took a look at Mrs. Wheelbarow’s post on the subject and thought about McGyvering my wok so that I could smoke indoors, then realized two things. One, I did not have the “sawdust” style of wood called for. And two, if it didn’t work out, the house would smell like a campfire for days. While I like camping, campfire is a smell best left outside.

What to do?

I took another look at Charcuterie and noticed that Ruhlman said that the Canadian Bacon could be roasted in the oven, but that the smoke added another dimension to the flavor profile. What if, I thought, I combined the two methods. I figured that if I gave the pork loin a head start of say, an hour in the oven, it would raise the internal temperature of the pork loin enough so that it wouldn’t take as long for it to finish with the smoke on the grill. The outside might get a bit more done than I would like, but at least it would get some smoke.

An hour in the toaster oven brought the internal temperature of the loin from 36 degrees to 90 degrees. So, with 55 degrees to go, I moved the loin to the grill (which was still holding a fairly steady 325 degrees), added the wood chips and crossed my fingers (I was also attempting a smoked tomato confit, but alas, the temperature was too high for that).

Another 40 minutes on the grill and an internal temperature of 145 degrees had been achieved. I took the loin off the grill and waited (impatiently) for it to cool so that I could slice it open and check my work.

Success! Cooked through completely, but not too completely with a lovely salty, smoky flavor. Yum!

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Now that I had finished April’s Charcutepalooza challenge I decided to take on Ruhlman’s make Eggs Benedict from Scratch challenge. No, I didn’t make my own butter. And though I would love to raise chickens for their eggs, my dogs will have nothing of the sort.

I did, however, make my own english muffins (free form since I didn’t have rings). I used buttermilk for half of the milk and thought it added an awesome tang to the muffins. These English muffins may be the best I’ve ever had. I may never buy English muffins again. I do wish that I had toasted them as part of my Eggs Benedict assembly. That would have kept the muffins a little less soggy.

One change I did make to the recipe, was to cook my eggs sous vide to 64.5°c rather than poaching them. It’s not that I don’t like poached eggs, I’m all for a good runny yolk, I just like the creamy sous vide egg yolk a little more.

To top it off, I followed the recipe for the blender Hollandaise found with the “from scratch” challenge. I followed the instructions precisely but the sauce ended up really thin. The husband also thought it was just a bit to tangy for his taste. At some point, I’ll probably try it again, but I’ll cut back on the lemon a bit.

We had our Eggs Benedict as breakfast for dinner (one of my favorite things) and it was delicious. Rich and satisfying on a rainy spring night.

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Posted by ChefDJen in breakfast, Charcutepalooza, charcuterie, eggs, pork | 2 Comments »

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

Breakfast Potatoes

I like to get potatoes in my CSA box because if you don’t get to them right away, they don’t go bad and turn into a pile of green goo in the bottom of the crisper drawer (not that that ever happens to me). They can sit for weeks and some would say that they even improve with age, growing sweeter as they wait for their chance to shine.

Plus, always having a stash of potatoes in the crisper means that an easy breakfast is right around the corner.

I’ll use just about any kind of fingerling or new potato in this recipe. Russets are okay, but I’d rather eat them baked or mashed. If you have some greens like kale or chard, you can throw them in too. Just add them at the end, a bit before the potatoes are cooked through.

Here’s the ingredients.

To start, put the potatoes in a microwaveable bowl and cover them. Cook them for about 3 minutes, or until they are just starting to get tender. If you don’t like to use the microwave, you could boil them for just a few minutes (but I am lazy and the microwave is easy).

While the potatoes are in the microwave, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is just about crispy.

At this point, you can spoon out a bit of the bacon fat (or not, I’m not your mother), then add the onion, par-cooked potatoes, thyme and sage and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Turn the heat up to high let the whole mix saute, stirring every so often until everything is golden brown and delicious (and the potatoes are cooked through), then sprinkle in the chives.

To really make it a meal. Fry up an egg and slip it down over the top of the potatoes. The runny yolk will combine with the potatoes and make a bit of a sauce.

Good, simple, tasty food. Serve with toast and some juice and you’ve got breakfast perfection.

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BREAKFAST POTATOES
serves 2-3

I used my own home-cured bacon but commercial bacon will work just fine. Just be sure that it is thick cut or the bacon might burn while the potatoes cook through. I used red onion (because that’s what I had laying around) but any type onion will work.

1 pound fingerling or red potatoes
4 oz thick cut bacon, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

Place the potatoes in a microwaveable bowl and cover. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until they are just starting to get tender.

While the potatoes are in the microwave, cook the bacon over medium heat until it is just about crispy. If desired, use a spoon to remove some of the bacon fat from the pan.

Add the onion, par-cooked potatoes, thyme and sage and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Turn the heat to high and saute, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are cooked through and golden brown. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

Posted by ChefDJen in bacon, breakfast, dairy-free, eggs, gluten-free, home cooking, onion, potatoes | No Comments »

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Dinner for Friends

I live by a few major tenets when it comes to food related gifts.

1. If you give me a gift of something like, say, fruit off of your tree, you can count on getting some of it back in a new improved form (pie, jam, infused liquor, etc.).

2. If I do happen to give you a jar of jam or chutney or what not and you don’t return the jar to me, I probably won’t give you more jarred goods (the cost of jars really starts to add up).

3. If you and a bunch of my other friends get together and buy me an expensive new toy for the kitchen, I’m going to make you a fancy dinner.

That last one, number three, that happened this Christmas. My husband and several friends all chipped in to get me this:

A Sous Vide Supreme Demi (and a vacuum food saver, since it is integral to the process). I decided to make a dinner that would show off what I think are the best features of cooking sous vide (French for under pressure).

Over the span of a couple of weeks of planning my menu developed into five courses. I wanted to do a fish course too, because that is a place where the sous vide method really shines, but my friends include one with a salmon allergy and one that hates all things that used to swim in the sea (I also had to work around dislikes of winter squash, hazelnuts, raisins, olives and one friend with a dislike of vegetables in general). I also did a cocktail pairing to go with each course, ’cause that’s how I roll.

My awesome friend Dawn took a lot of the pictures that follow (and also helped clear the table, serve drinks and load the dishwasher). Not sure I could have done it without her (well, I could have, but it would have been way less fun and there would be like five photos).

Here we go…

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Eggs are especially nice cooked sous vide. The whites are just set and the yolks get really creamy, almost custard like. I also took this opportunity to serve of some of my home cured duck prosciutto (in fact, this is the same salad I developed and posted the recipe for just a couple of weeks ago).

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If you’ve ever opened up a can of park and beans, you’ve seen that sorry excuse for a piece of pork just floating there on top. Well, my pork and beans instead featured a large square of my home-cured bacon which I finished sous vide instead of in the oven (I’ll be posting more about my bacon experiments soon). Cornbread seemed like the perfect accompaniment.

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The beauty of chicken cooked sous vide is that it can safely be cooked to only 140°f (where the normal safe temperature is 165°f) because it is cooked for at least an hour. This makes for exceptionally moist chicken. I served it with a plum chutney that I canned over the summer and a mustard vinaigrette. The carrots were also cooked sous vide with a touch of butter and a bit of brown sugar. Even my vegetable hating guest said that they were tasty.

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Another strength of cooking sous vide is the ability to turn a tough cut of meat into a something that is tender and delicious. Generally I would cook short ribs in a braise. Sure they turn out great but they have to be cooked well-done. With the sous vide, they can be cooked medium-rare (130°f) but since they are cooked for 48 (or even 72) hours they still get super tender. I adapted a recipe from Grant Achatz’s Alinea Cookbook using the root beer cure and the fennel recipes found on page 356 (though I cooked my fennel sous vide). However, since I am not a “foam” person, instead of a vanilla-potato foam I roasted potatoes with vanilla salt and a vanilla bean (though I’ll admit they got a little over cooked). I also completely forget to make the poached prunes. I was four cocktails in after all.

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Lastly I made what I called my “Ode to the Captain” (Captain Crunch, that is). I will have a post with pictures of the process and a recipe later this week. But for now…

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Thanks to all my awesome friends (and my even more awesome husband) for the great gift and a great night!

xxx

P.S. Five courses, with five cocktail equals a lot of dishes to put away.

Posted by ChefDJen in beef, canning, carrots, Charcutepalooza, charcuterie, chicken, cocktail, dessert, dinner, duck, eggs, entertaining, fennel, Photography, pork, sous vide, the husband | 1 Comment »

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Prosciutto, Egg and Arugula Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

As I’ve mentioned in my two previous posts, 2011 can suck it. Between a broken computer, a root canal and a sprained ankle my year thus far has not had many bright spots (especially culinary bright spots) … until Saturday. The duck prosciutto I started on on Jan 6 was finally ready for a taste.

Before I hung it, I had carefully weighed each of my duck breasts (and done the math) so that I could watch for a 30% drop in weight (a good prediction of finished duck prosciutto). However, after 9 days of (not so) patient waiting they had only lost about 20% of their weight. But, they felt right. I had been squeezing them (gently) every day (sometimes two or three times) and yesterday, they just felt right. So, I decided to take the plunge and unwrap one.

I opened up one of the Herbes do Provence cured breasts, cut off a few thin slices and took a bite. Heaven. Salty with a delicate hint of the herbes and a wonderful texture (though sliced too thick it became a bit chewy). I opened up a second, one of the five-spice cured breasts, for a taste. Also delicious. And though the breasts had only spent 24 hours in their prospective cure, each had definitely picked up a distinct flavor. Though I liked both, the Herbes de Provence is my favorite.

For lunch the next day I decided to create a dish using my yummy duck. I wanted to use the flavors found in a duck prosciutto sandwich that I had seen on Matt Wright’s blog. It featured a fried egg, duck prosciutto and arugula on a baguette, but I wanted a salad instead. (By the way, if you want to see some charcuterie porn, Matt’s blog is the place to look, gorgeous).

I made a mustardy vinaigrette for the arugula, added a little pile of the Herbes de Provence duck prosciutto, a couple of crusty toasts and then topped it all with a 64.5° c sous vide egg (a poached egg would be good too, but the sous vide egg is particularly delicious). So simple but so good. The arugula (with the vinaigrette) combined deliciously with, and helped combat, the richness of the duck and the creamy egg yolk. I could have eaten a whole ‘nother plate.

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PROSCIUTTO, EGG AND ARUGULA SALAD WITH MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
serves 2 (or one really hungry person)

Because this is a dish with very few ingredients, the quality of those ingredients is extremely important. Sub-standard prosciutto and factory-farmed eggs will not provide a tasty finished product. Splurge.

Mustard Vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
really good salt
fresh cracked black pepper

2-3 handfuls arugula
1-2 ounces thin sliced duck prosciutto (ham proscuitto would be good too)
2 eggs
1/4 baguette, sliced thin on the diagonal
olive oil

If you have the ability to cook sous vide, cook two eggs at 64.5° c for 50 minutes. Otherwise, poach two eggs (timing them to be done once the rest of the salad components are complete).

Drizzle the baguette slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper then toast in the oven.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Gently toss the arugula in the dressing and divide it between two plates. Cut several thin slices of prosciutto and add them to each plate next to the arugula. Top arugula with sous vide or poached eggs. Finish the plate with toasted baguette slices.

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Posted by ChefDJen in bread, Charcutepalooza, charcuterie, dairy-free, duck, eggs, entertaining, greens, salad | 2 Comments »

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Red Curry Fried Rice

There are times during the year when it is hard for me to get in the kitchen and cook. Often this happens for me in the weeks just preceding Thanksgiving. This year is no exception.

Right now I am being pulled in so many directions. Business is busy with clients and scheduling Thanksgiving prep (but there is always room for another client or two). Training for this years Lavaman Triathlon has just started, and with that, my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundrasing has started as well. I had the bright idea to sell pies for Thanksgiving (donating the proceeds to LLS) and the response has been overwhelming (for which I am grateful). Last weekend I made 19 pies, This weekend I will be making at least 26 (orders are still coming in today). To top all that off, our dog Jones had to have surgery last week so quite a bit of time has been dedicated to his recovery.

I have so much to do, I can’t decide where to start. Right now, if it doesn’t have a deadline, it just isn’t going to get done.

With so much time spent in the kitchen for my clients and with the making of many pies, cooking for pleasure has, sadly, gone out the window. Right now, I am cooking just to eat. However, I am not without cravings. Spicy food is my comfort food right now (well that, and cookies). Fried rice is a quick to cook meal and the addition of the curry sauce made it spicy enough to fit the bill. Plus, it used leftovers from two other meals as well as a baby bok choy that was starting to wilt.

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Here’s the ingredients.

Oil should really be in this picture too, because it is essential to the process. The leftovers I speak of are the rice (leftover from a simple beans and rice meal) and half a can of coconut milk (left from a lovely curried squash soup, which I will be blogging soon). I almost always make extra rice when I cook it at home. It is such an easy go to for the start of a great meal. It’s important to use cold rice to make fried rice, it helps to separate the individual grains of rice.

It’s also important to have everything ready to go, veggies chopped, sauce mixed, before you start cooking. The cooking process goes faster than you think.

I used a wok to make this meal. However, it can certainly be made in a large skillet or frying pan. The only reason I even own a wok is because my dad bought it, never used it, so then it was passed to me.

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Start by heating a little oil in the wok. While it heats, beat an egg or two (I used a duck egg because I love them, but any old egg would do) then add it to the oil.

Keep it moving to scramble it. It will cook pretty quick so keep your eye on it.

Once it is cooked take it out of the wok.

Add a little more oil to the wok. Once it is hot, add the chopped bok choy stems and fry them for about a minute.

Next, add the chinese pork and fry that for a minute. Keep it moving.

Finally add the peas and the bok choy leaves. Fry the whole shebang until everything is just warmed through.

Then take that out of the pan.

Add a little more oil to the pan and once it’s hot, add the rice.

Once the rice is hot, add the vegetables back to the mix,

And then the sauce (which I had stirred together before I started cooking).

Warm it through and then stir in the egg and chives. Done and done.

This is not your traditional fried rice since it has a sauce but I love the creamy texture it gives to the dish. It’s also a lovely one dish meal, protein, starch and vegetable all in one. For me, this could have been a little spicier (though the husband said it was just fine) but it was nothing a little Sriracha couldn’t fix.

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RED CURRY FRIED RICE
Serves 2 generously with leftovers

If you don’t have (or don’t like) the vegetables that I’ve used, use whatever you happen to have around. Just start with the vegetables that require the longest cooking time, and add the vegetables that require less cooking as you progress.

1 cup coconut milk
2-3 Tablespoons red curry paste
2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil
1 duck egg or 2 chicken eggs, beaten
1 baby bok choy, stems and leaves chopped separately
6 ounces Chinese barbecued pork, chopped
3/4 cup frozen peas
3 cups cooked white or brown rice
1/2 cup chives, chopped

Stir together coconut milk, red curry paste and soy sauce. Taste for spiciness and saltiness and add more curry paste or soy sauce if desired. Set aside.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add 1 Tablespoon oil. When it is very hot, add the egg and scramble until they are cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside

Return the wok to the heat and add 1 Tablespoon oil to the pan. Fry the meat and vegetables starting with the bok choy stems, followed by the barbecued pork, peas and bok choy leaves, cooking for about a minute between each addition. Once the vegetable are soft and the meat is heated through, remove from pan and set aside.

Return the wok to the heat and add 1 Tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the rice and heat it until it is warmed through, about a minute, stirring to make sure thatit doesn’t stick and to break up any clumps.

Add the sauce and continue to cook until it is warmed through. Stir in the egg and chives. Enjoy.

Posted by ChefDJen in Asian, bok choy, dairy-free, dinner, eggs, gluten-free, peas, pork, rice | No Comments »

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Eggs Baked with Prosciutto and Gruyere

One of my favorite breakfast places in Seattle is Le Pichet (well, technically it’s just one on my favorite places, because their roast chicken at dinner is the bomb). They have the kind of breakfast I really like. The husband and I will start with a plate of charcuterie and some bread, then move on to a shared plate of eggs. Sometimes we’ll finish with a sweet pastry. The meal is, of course, enjoyed with copious amounts of coffee and usually takes two hours to complete.

It’s been awhile since we have made it downtown for breakfast, but I still remember those delicious eggs. I decided to try making a version of the dish at home. I had ordered some duck eggs from Spud and thought they would be delicious here. I also decided to make this for dinner because A: breakfast for dinner is delicious, and B: I usually have more time for dinner cooking than breakfast cooking. One of my favorite salads would round out the meal.

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Here’s the line-up for the eggs.

P.S. I did not use all of the butter or cheese in the photo (that would have been way to much). See the recipe below for amounts.

Since I don’t have the cute little baking dishes like they have at Le Pichet, I decided to use one dish for all four eggs.

I started by buttering the dish.

Next I lined the pan with prosciutto.

At Le Pichet, they use a thicker cut of regular ham, not prosciutto, but I had proscuitto in the fridge so that is what I used (and let me tell you it worked out just fine).

I cracked in each of my eggs

Aaagh, I broke a yolk. Oh well, happens sometimes.

Next a sprinkle of cheese.

I also added few turns of the pepper grinder, but no salt. I figured the salt in the ham and the cheese would be salt enough.

I put the pan into a 350 degree oven (I used my toaster oven) and baked for 12 minutes. The whites were still jiggly (and there is almost nothing worse than undercooked egg white, gross) so I left the pan in the oven, checking it every couple of minutes. It ended up taking about 20 minutes for the whites to set completely.

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While the eggs baked I put together a salad. The first of this summer’s nectarines arrived in the box last week so I decided to put together one of my favorites. Usually I make it with peaches and often I’ll add some fresh mozzarella and/or prosciutto to the mix as well (but since the eggs had prosciutto and cheese in them already that seemed like it would be gilding the lily).

Here’s the line-up.

I juiced the lime into a bowl and then whisked in a couple of teaspoons of honey, a tablespoon or so of olive oil and some salt and pepper. I pulled the leaves off the mint and some fresh basil (that I found after the photo was taken) and tossed them, along with the rest of the greens in the dressing. This went on to my plate and was topped with the nectarines (and some chive blossoms, just because they are pretty).

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This was a delicious dinner, perhaps as good as Le Pichet. I think I may need to invest in a couple of cute little baking dishes so I can make this all the time. It came together rather quickly so I could easily see making this on the weekends for breakfast too.

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E G G S   B A K E D   W I T H   P R O S C I U T T O   A N D   G R U Y E R E
serves 2

I used duck eggs but chicken eggs would work just fine, just be aware that the time in the oven will be on the lower end of the times given.

1-2 teaspoons butter
2-3 ounces prosciutto
4 eggs
1-2 ounces Gruyere cheese

Butter a 9″ pie plate or other oven safe baking dish. Line the dish with the prosciutto slices, being careful nut to overlad them to much. Break each of the four eggs into the dish. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the eggs and top with a generous amount of black pepper. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-20 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked through.

Posted by ChefDJen in cheese, eggs, pork | No Comments »

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Frisee (and more) Salad

So for days, months even, people in Seattle have been whining about the weather. Granted, June was wetter and colder than normal but we did have a few sunny days in there (heck, we even had some gorgeous weather in April and May that everyone seems to have forgotten about). The thing is, the husband and I used to live in Phoenix. We’ve done the heat. We are over the heat. I mean, I like a sunny day and all, but does it really need to be 90 degrees.

Now I feel I need to take a break in my weather rant here to say this: I did not once complain about the weather during the so-called “sucky” weather. That is why I feel that I can complain about the heat. Those of you who complained about the rain can just shut it now. You asked for this weather, you don’t get to complain about it now that you got what you wanted. Okay, side-rant over.

So, now it’s 90 degrees, and I am miserable (and cranky). But, I still need to eat. Which means, I still need to cook. I had already started thinking about making this salad before the weather turned (I knew on Friday what I would be receiving in the box this week) so even though it was a cool salad on a hot day, it did require a bit of cooking (but it was totally worth the sweat).

Here’s the ingredients:

I started by peeling, blanching and peeling the fava beans. Yeah, that’s right, you have to peel them twice (a little labor intensive, I’ll admit). First you peel off the outer pod. Then toss the beans in boiling water for about 3 minutes.

Run them under cold water for a few seconds, peel off the waxy coating around each bean, then set the beans aside.

Whilst the beans were blanching I rendered the bacon. Slab bacon, cut into cubes would have been great here. But I didn’t have that in my fridge. So, I just cut my bacon into large pieces and threw them into my saute pan.

And cooked it until it was nice and crispy.

Then I took the bacon out of the pan and threw the mushrooms in.

And cooked them until they were golden brown and delicious. Then I threw in the garlic scapes, fava beans and snap peas (because healthy vegetables are made better by cooking them in bacon fat).

I let the veggies saute just a couple of minutes and then turned the pan off. I didn’t want the veggies too hot when they hit the salad.

Whilst I was cooking the bacon, I washed and dried the frisee and put together a simple dressing with the vinegar, olive oil, a couple pinches of sugar and salt and pepper.

Whilst I was prepping the lettuce, I put some water on to simmer and poached some eggs.

If it seems like I was doing three (or four) things at once, well I was. I could have used a couple more hands.

While the eggs poached I plated the salad. I tossed the frisee in the dressing and split it between the plates.

Then topped the lettuce with the sauteed veggies.

Then the bacon and eggs (with some chopped chives and chive blossoms to garnish).

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xxx

I. Loved. This. Salad.

Each bite was a little different. Some bitter from the greens, some spicy from the scapes, some salty from the bacon, some creamy with egg or fava. This would be a great salad to riff on too. Different veggies, lemon instead of vinegar, maybe some croutons… Yum.

xxx

F R I S E E   ( A N D   M O R E )   S A L A D
serves two

a handful of frisee
a bunch of fava beans
a few mushrooms
some snap peas
3 or 4 garlic scapes, snipped into 1-inch pieces
6 (or more) slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon good olive oil
a couple pinches of sugar
salt and pepper
4 poached eggs*
chopped chives and blossoms

Prepare the fava beans and set aside. Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove it from the pan. Add the mushrooms and cook until brown, stirring occasionally. Add the fava beans, scapes and snap peas. Saute for a minute of two then turn off heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, sugar and salt and pepper. Set aside. Wash and dry the frisee. Toss the frisee in the dressing and divide it between the plates. Top the frisee with the sauteed veggies, bacon, poached eggs, and chives.

xx

*If you don’t know how to poach an egg, there are many, many web pages devoted to teaching you. Just google “how to poach an egg” for better instructions than I could give here.

Posted by ChefDJen in eggs, greens, mushrooms, peas, salad, summer | 1 Comment »

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Five-Spice Cocoa Meringues

As soon as I was old enough to fly unaccompanied, my parents started sending me to Kansas to stay with my two sets of Grandparents. I, of course, used to think this was for my benefit, but as I have gotten older, I have started to suspect that it was as much my my parents benefit as for my own (woo-hoo, no kid for 2 weeks, no 4 weeks, no 2 months, yay). Either way, I was always happy to go.

On my mom’s side of the family, I was the youngest of the grandchildren by five years or so. My cousins Neal and Nolin grew up working on the farm so I didn’t get to see them much while I was there. But we managed to hang out a little in the evenings.

My days were for the most part spent with my Grandmother. She made a huge dinner (city folk call it lunch) everyday for my Grandfather, cousins and the hired hands. Then there were errands or cleaning to be done (but sometimes I would slip out for a ride on my bike).

She did like having a little girl around to “dress up” so there was always a shopping trip for new clothes (and I can remember more than one home perm happening while I was there).

xxx

I much preferred spending time with my Dad’s side of the family. Here I was the oldest by just a couple of years.

And while my cousins Mindy, Shane and Mariah had to help out on the farm too, they certainly didn’t have to help out all day. We were left with plenty of time to go to the pool, run through sprinklers and create general mischief.

The best part of the summer was always the 4th of July (although the after harvest festival was pretty good too). Each fourth of July my cousins and I would trek over to the one fireworks stand (this is a town of less than 2000 people) and load up with supplies for the day. Firecrackers, color bombs and snakes for the daytime. Flowers and fountains for nightfall.

The nighttime fireworks were always a big production. We would all go out to my aunt and uncle’s farm and the kids would put on a fireworks show for the adults. They all kind of run together but I remember a year where we almost set a wheat field on fire (that would have been big trouble) and another year where there was seemingly a plague of frogs. Seriously, you could hardly take two steps without stepping on a frog. We’ll just say frogs and fireworks make a fun match and leave it at that. Then there was the year that my uncle Tom brought us m-80s and underwater smoke bombs. Boy did we have fun terrorizing the cows that year.

But all of those could not compare to the mother of all Kansas 4th of July’s. For some reason (I think it may have been my great Aunt’s funeral) my Mom and Dad and my Uncle Tom were both in town too. So cousin Mindy asked uncle Stan for fireworks money, cousin Emily (or maybe step-cousin Alex) asked uncle Tom for fireworks money. I asked my Dad for fireworks money. And of course Grandma pitched in some fireworks money too. We came back loaded with firecrackers, fountains, those little cars that shot fire out the back, sparklers, you name it we had it. We had hours (and hours) of fireworks to shoot off. Best. Fourth. Ever.

xxx

The last few years the husband and I have spent the Fourth of July with friends. They have a condo that overlooks Gas Works Parks in Seattle (where the city’s show is put on) and therefore are obligated to have people over every year. Some years they are more excited about this than others. This years’ gathering is small, mostly made up of those who basically invited themselves over (like me).

To reward their willingness to host I always try to bring yummy treats. This year I decided to take Ranier cherries that I bought from a roadside vendor and make cherry ice cream. Then I decided to take it one step further and make Ice cream sandwiches with homemade cookies. I adapted a recipe for strawberry ice cream (substituting chopped cherries for the strawberries) and one for ice cream sandwich cookies form Cook’s Illustrated. I didn’t spread the cookie (almost cake) batter very evenly so some of the sandwiches have extra thick cookie, but they are still tasty nonetheless.

The ice cream recipe called for six eggs yolks which then left me with six egg whites. My go to recipe when I have extra egg whites is meringues. As a child I remember going to Albertson’s for grocery shopping. The bakery would always give a free cookie to kids if they asked and I was always a sucker for meringues. They were vanilla (but they were always dyed pink or blue or green) and they were crispy all the way through.

The meringues I favor these days are crunchy on the outside with a slightly chewy center like these Five-Spice Cocoa Meringues. The five-spice adds a little intrigue to an otherwise simple cookie.

xxx

F I V E – S P I C E   C O C O A   M E R I N G U E
adapted from Mark Bittman’s iPhone app “How to Cook Everything”

6 egg whites
6 pinches cream of tarter
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cup superfine sugar
3/8 cup cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon five spice powder.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl sift together sugar, cocoa powder and five-spice. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine egg whites, cream of tarter and salt. Whisk until peaks start to form then slowly add sugar-cocoa mixture. Continue to whisk until stiff peaks have formed. Using a pastry bag or spoons, make small mounds of meringue, 1-2 inches in size. They can be placed quite close together since they don’t rise. Bake in oven for 2 hours then turn off oven and open the door a bit to allow the meringues to cool for another hour. Store in an airtight container for up to three days.

Posted by ChefDJen in dessert, eggs | 1 Comment »

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Brisket with Savory Corn Bread Pudding

I have been asked by my church to create a Seder meal to be enjoyed by 80 or so congregation members the week before Easter. The good things about being Lutheran at Easter time are A) I don’t have to give up anything for Lent and B) I don’t have to keep the meal kosher (which provides many more options).

Last year I made braised lamb with couscous for the meal. Braises are great for a group because once you get them started you can just pop the pan in the oven to cook for a few hours while you work on the rest of the meal. Plus, they are really hard to ruin. And couscous is the easiest thing on the planet to cook (pour couscous in pan, add seasonings if desired, add boiling water to just above the couscous, cover for five minutes, fluff).

I obviously can’t make the same things two years in a row but I think I’ve got a plan for a fairly low stress, really tasty meal.

I definitely want to stick with a braise (see above for my reasons) so I decided to do a brisket. I asked some friends if they had any great brisket recipes and this was my first response. It sounded really good so I decided to give it a test. I’d like to give credit to the author of the recipe but my friend said that she got it from her mom who probably got it from a magazine, or a Web site, so the origins of the recipe are unknown.

The original recipe calls for an 8-10 pound brisket. However, since this is just for husband and myself I halved the recipe for testing purposes. I know I will still have tons of leftovers, but I am not mad about that.

Here’s the ingredients for the brisket

4-pound brisket
salt and pepper
1 Tbls oil from sun-dried tomatoes (see below)
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced (oil reserved)
2 bay leaves
8 sprig fresh thyme (the recipe called for dried thyme but I had the fresh in the herb garden so I used it instead)
1 cup beef stock
1 cup dry red wine

Plus my brand-spanking new dutch oven (it was on clearance at the grocery store for $34.99, I had to buy it)

The brisket was pretty big so I cut it in half so that I could brown it in the dutch oven (plus I have a plan to try a method of reheating the brisket in a couple of days and I wanted to be able to split it evenly). I seasoned it really well with salt and pepper and then browned both pieces on both sides one at a time (I didn’t want to crowd the pan because that leads to boiling not browning). I took the meat out of the pan then deglazed the pan with a little bit of the beef stock.

I added half the onions, half the sun-dried tomatoes, a couple of sprigs of thyme, the garlic and the tomatoes. Then I added the brisket and topped it with the remaining onions, sun-dried tomatoes and a couple more sprigs of thyme. I poured the rest of the beef stock and the wine over the top and then pushed the bay leaves down into the liquid.

I brought this up to a simmer, covered the pan with foil, added the lid and popped it all in a 350 degree oven for 4 hours.

While this was in the oven I started on the Corn Bread Pudding. I had some leftover corn bread in the fridge and this seemed like a very good use of it.

Here’s the ingredients for the Savory Corn Bread Pudding

1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
6″ x 9″ square of cornbread, cut into large cubes
3 eggs
1 cup milk
8 cherry tomatoes, halved

I started by sauteing the onion and red bell pepper. Once they were done I combined them with the cornbread in a large bowl then poured this into a 9″ x 9″ dish. I whisked together the eggs with the milk and poured this over the cornbread. I then arranged the halved tomatoes over the top then popped this into the fridge for a couple of hours. When there was about an hour left in the cooking time of the brisket I drizzled a bit of olive oil over the dish, seasoned it with salt and pepper, then added the dish of corn bread pudding to the oven.

Smellovision would be good here because the smells coming out of the kitchen were so good. The brisket was falling apart and the onions and sun-dried tomatoes had kind of melted together into a tasty gravy.

The corn bread pudding was a really good accompaniment (and I think it would be really easy to prepare for the group).

The pudding had a nice crispy top which was good texturally with the brisket. My leftover cornbread happened to have corn and chipotle peppers in it. I think I will probably keep the corn but I will get rid of (or at least reduce) the chipotles (a lot of people really don’t like spicy food).

The vegetable on the plate is steamed snap peas with a champagne vinegar and lemon buerre blanc sauce.

Tonights dinner was really good. On Wednesday I’m going to experiment with a method of reheating the brisket and a couple of different side dishes (so I can compare and contrast). I can hardly wait.

Posted by ChefDJen in beef, bread, eggs | No Comments »

About Me

I'm a personal chef living happily with her picky-eater (but willing to try anything) husband, neurotic black lab and a red heeler puppy.

I watch way too much TV and enjoy hip-hop more than any reasonable grown-up should.

I'm an avid swimmer and sometime triathlete (whenever I'm not nursing an injury).

Find out more about me here.

About This Blog

I'm cooking my way through the oldest cookbook in my collection, Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook, published in 1967. The book was a gift from my grandmother, but belonged to my great grandma Etta.

Beware, jello molds lie ahead.

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