egg...it's what's for dinner

I've been trying to be a little more...resourceful in the kitchen lately. Mainly, my goal has been to use more of what we already have. My solution: I go internet-trolling based on the ingredients that I have on hand. I still usually have to pick up a couple of items at the store, but it's considerably less than what I would normally need.

With 4 fowl friends, we ALWAYS have eggs. I've decided that, since we have 'em, eggs are our meatless Friday go to from now on. *Tangent - anyone in the area, if you'd like some eggs, bring me a carton and I'll fill it.* Below are links to two dishes that I made this week that we really liked.

Eggs in Tomato Sauce

This one is from Smitten Kitchen (which I heart) and was surprisingly filling and I would call it comfort food (what isn't comforting about tomato sauce over yummy, crusty bread?). I have to say, eggs poached in tomato sauce didn't sound appealing at first and the pictures didn't help. BUT, it was very yummy and I'll make it again. The sauce was so simple and really the shining star of the dish.

Mushroom Quiche

I altered this recipe from Simply Recipes. I ask you, who doesn't love quiche? I did not make my own pastry, I used the not-very-good-for-you pre-made from a box. Someday I'll be that good. Along with the mushrooms I added some chopped up roasted delicata squash and some roasted garlic. I (naturally) doubled the eggs and the cheese...because I'm good like that. This was awesome. E and I ate half of the pie for dinner(!) and then had it for breakfast the next morning (and we'll likely have it for breakfast tomorrow morning too).

That's all...just thought you all might want to know what we do with all of the eggs around here. :)

***Don't forget to set your clocks BACK one hour...Fall back!***

Proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy...

I think this quote is attributed to Ben Franklin and he was expounding on the virtues of beer. Now, don't get me wrong, it was no mistake that beer was invented by monks. However, I am now convinced that the real evidence of God's love and mercy comes to us through CHEESE.

I have had a hankering for cheese lately. Who am I kidding, I'll take cheese just about any time. So strong is the love it is even part of what bonds me to some friends. Anyway, this craving sent me on a search for the perfect mac and cheese.

My first stop was a favorite site, smittenkitchen, and I wasn't disappointed. The recipe that I found was attributed to Martha Stewart and looked awesome. After reading through and making a shopping list I started to think that it sounded like a recipe from a MS cookbook that I owned...and it was! If you get this cookbook be warned, the drool begins when flipping through the pages. Seriously, at her judgement, whatever sins Martha has committed, I think God should really take this recipe (and the happiness that it has brought to me and many others) into consideration. :)

I used a nice English sharp white cheddar from Costco called Coastal. I was hoping for Beecher's Flagship (THE best cheese ever) but I needed 18 ounces and that would have been pretty costly, so I settled for the Coastal which turned out to be perfect. I also went with the Gruyere instead of the Pecorino Romano, another good choice. For the bread crumbs I used a buttermilk white bread.

I would have put a picture up...but a) my tiny kitchen was a bit of a disaster after the cooking and b) I was too busy inhaling as much of this stuff as I could. MMMMMMMMMMM. If you know what's good for you, make this.

a new way to egg

When you're finally getting 3 or 4 eggs everyday, you start to wonder if there are other ways to prepare them than boiled, fried, saladed, etc. For dinner tonight I flipped through How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and found a recipe for Shirred Eggs. When making shirred eggs, you bake the eggs either in a ramekin or on a bed (nest) of something like spinach, onions, mushrooms. This method makes for a luxuriously creamy texture something akin to having the entire egg over medium consistency. I prepared our shirred eggs on a bed of sautéed onion and spinach (a slight variation from the Bittman recipe, as I had spinach that needed to be eaten). These were a cinch to make, very hearty and can easily be made to feed 2 or 20.

Shirred Eggs with Onions and Cheese

Makes 4 to 8 servings

Time: about 1 hour

• 4 tablespoons of butter or olive oil (I used 2 tablespoons of an olive oil/butter mix)
  
• 4 cups sliced onions
  
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs (I used a little extra)
  
• 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
• 8 eggs (I used 9, because they fit nicely...I'll let you know how the leftovers are)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Place the butter or oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Two minutes later, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are very soft and tender but not browned, about 15 minutes. (I added the spinach for the last 5 minutes of cooking.) Spread the onions over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, or other similar-sized baking dish.
3. Top with half of the bread crumbs and half of the cheese. Use the back of a spoon to make 8 little nests in the mixture and crack 1 egg into each. Top with salt, pepper, and the remaining bread crumbs and cheese.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the eggs are just set and the whites solidified. Serve with toast.

Here we are right out of the oven

A generous meal of 2 eggs and a mess of onions smothering a piece of sprouted grain toast.

triple silken pumpkin pie

Last year, for Christmas, my sister-in-law gave me a beautiful dessert cookbook called Desserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard, pastry chef at Spago. It is a gorgeous book that is actually entertaining to read, as it presents recipes from different times in Sherry's career. There are little opening paragraphs detailing how Sherry came to be at this or that restaurant as well as short descriptions before each recipe. This is the first recipe I've attempted and I think it was a success! The pie consists of a tender, flakey crust with pumpkin custard topped by maple whipped creme fraische topped by pumpkin caramel mousse. Not for the fat/calorie conscious. By the time I remembered that I intended to take pictures of the process, I was about half-way through, but here they are none-the-less.

You can see the custard under the whipped creme fraishe

Here is the sugar cooking down into caramel

Once the caramel was finished, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and pumpkin were whisked in. Then whipped egg whites were folded in along with whipped cream.

Here is the finished product, still in the springform pan.

Mmm, it was yummy