When our adult child was visiting recently he made us a meal featuring noodles and miso sauce. We still had some of the miso paste so when this recipe from the New York Times Cooking pages showed up on my Facebook feed I put it on the schedule for this week's dinners.
I halved the recipe for the mushrooms and scrambled only four eggs as only two of us were eating. This was quick and easy. I tried the method described for giving the eggs a "custardy finish" which worked well. James and I both liked the eggs prepared this way. We will never go back.
Serendipity is sometimes what brings us to try something new. This week it was a recipe on my Facebook feed from New York Times cooking that featured fried rice with bacon. I heavily modified this to something I could make without doing any additional shopping. We had leftover cooked rice and some uncooked bacon. The recipe also calls for cabbage and scallions, which I did not have so I did not use.
I began by cutting the bacon into small pieces and cooking in olive oil in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. When the bacon was cooked I removed it and then put in 4 minced garlic cloves which I sauteéd for about a minute and then added them to the bowl with the bacon bits.
Next I added some olive oil to the pan and then spread the rice in a layer on the bottom of the pan. I added Worcestershire Sauce, salt, and some ground ginger. I let it cook until it became crispy, then stirred it a bit and let it cook just a bit more after re-spreading it then folded in the bacon and garlic along with some sliced carrots and frozen peas.
As the rice was finishing I quickly cooked four over-easy eggs. The rice was divided onto two plates and two eggs were placed on top of each.
We were pleased with the meal. Easy, nutritious, delicious.
In honor of Bastille DayJames and I had a simple French dish for lunch. Oeuf Mayo showed up on my Facebook feed from the New York Times Cooking Pages. According to NYT the description "it's so beloved in France that it has a society to protect it." As with so many recipes from the New York Times the name of the dish tells the ingredients. In this case eggs and mayo. The recipe says you can use either store-bought mayo and spice it up or make it yourself. I made mayonnaise one time many years ago and decided not to do it again. Vegetable oil (rather than olive oil) seems to be especially important when making your own mayo, and I only had olive oil. I added some fresh parsley and basil from my garden to a few tablespoons of Hellmann's along with a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper. I spooned the mayo over the eggs and then added paprika as an additional seasoning. It was a super easy dish to make, but I think I prefer my eggs and mayo as egg salad. We had some mozzarella slices on the side and a crusty french bread (made fresh in our bread machine) to complement the eggs.
Those who have read my very first post know that this blog was inspired by one of my Spanish professors. I was a Spanish major as an undergraduate, and also have a Master's degree in Spanish literature. However, we both also know a bit of French. I learned the language by attending French classes up through the advanced level in college. James has learned mostly by the use of the Duolingo app over the past year - a pandemic project. We actually met in French 101 back in college. It is still a wonder to me how we ever ended up together given James' super poor attendance record in the class.
On the rare occasions that I eat breakfast out I look for Eggs Benedict on the menu. It is one of those things that I (for some reason) believed I could not make at home. I had never even bothered to look up the ingredients to Hollandaise sauce, never mind how easy it was to make. It was a package of Canadian bacon in a recent Crescent Ridge deliverythat prompted me to see what I needed to do to make Eggs Benedict at home. Turns out the answer is "not much". We already had the eggs and English muffins and the only ingredients needed for Hollandaise sauce are egg yolks, butter, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper. I used this recipe from The Kitchn to make it.
Father's Day breakfast was a big hit. We recommend adding a dash of hot sauce when serving.
Notice: No actual poodles were involved in this dinner. Rather ...
As regular readers of Nueva Receta will have realized, we often let the National Day Calendar inspire our culinary choices. The pandemic has affected this tendency in two somewhat contradictory ways. We are more likely to have spare time to browse the site, but we are also less likely to dash out to grab ingredients for a last-minute recognition of a made-up holiday. (Additional notice: all holidays are made up, but that is a discussion for, well, another day.)
Fortunately, Pam noticed National Quiche Lorraine Day before I set out for our weekly grocery run, so I I managed to get all the bacon and chives needed to do complete the main version found on the Simply Recipes Quiche Loriaine page. Writer Elise Bauer suggests several options for the crust (including a crust-free variation), so we of course turned to Deborah Madison's tome for a basic recipe.
The "we" in the previous sentence is a bit different this time -- our wonderful kid Harvey is here for a long visit. Since he watches British baking shows a lot, I pressed him into service! He made the pie crust with both wheat and white flour, salt, butter and a tiny bit of ice water. We put it in the fridge in our Pyrex pie plate, because I have learned that even on a mildly warm day, "room" temperature is the wrong temperature for a pie crust. I sat down to read the recipe with more care, and realized that we needed to put the pie in the oven earlier than I thought -- Bauer calls for it to bake for 40 minutes ahead of the filling. We came pretty close to this by the time we had other ingredients ready; we ignored the suggestions for pie weights, foil (which I do not even understand), and whatnot. The crust was beautiful, though Harvey thought it not quite as thin and uniform as he would have hoped.
I started cooking the bacon in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. In just the past year I have finally gotten good at this -- starting at medium high and gradually reducing the heat, removing each piece to drain when it reaches perfect doneness. While I did this, Harvey made the custard -- whisking five eggs very fresh from our friends at Maribett farm (the recipe calls only for three) and then adding the seasonings, milk, cream, and chives.
I shredded cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses together (Gruyere would have been even better, but we already had a lot of cheese in the house and decided we should use some of it) and put a small amount in the bottom of the crust. I then cut the bacon into 1/2-inch bits and distributed it evenly in the crust. We carefully poured the custard over this and put it in the oven. I turned around and discovered I had left most of the freshly-shredded cheese on the Gilligan (our kitchen island). I panicked a bit, because it should have been in the pan before the custard, so that the entire pie would be cheesy. Harvey advised calm, and suggested it might even be nice to have the cheesiness concentrated at the top.
So I carefully added the cheese and set the oven timer for 30 minutes. At that time, the top looked perfect as Harvey had predicted, but I could tell that the custard was still a bit jiggly. Worried about over-cooking the top, I reduced the heat from 350F to 325F and set the timer for 15 more minutes.
#RoundPieSquarePhoto
The ding-ding sounded again just as Pam finished a (rather dumb) Zoom meeting -- perfect timing! And this was the perfect meal to enjoy on our deck with some apple sauce on the side and Chardonnay in our glasses.
We followed this with some raspberry Entenmann's in honor of the attainment day of Pam's father Jack, who would have been 99 years old.
So what about that poodle, anyway?
I played the B52s song at the start of preparing this meal because it was not just a day to celebrate eggy custard pie (aka quiche), but also National Rescue Dog Day -- and this is a song about the singer's complicated relationship with his dog. As the people belonging to a rescue dog, we can certainly relate!
This recipe fo Mushroom, Goat Cheese, and Herb Frittata showed up on my Facebook feed last week. I had some goat cheese leftover from making some goat cheese quesadillas (an old favorite) last month so I picked up some mushrooms the next time I went to the grocery store so I could make this tasty dish. The recipe calls for either fresh or dried herbs; I used dried. I also halved the recipe and used our smaller indispensable cast-iron skillet since I was only cooking for two. The other deviation I made from the recipe was that after I sautéed the onions, mushrooms, and herbs I left them in the pan and just added the egg/cheese mixture to it. I couldn't understand the reason for removing the veggies and adding them to the egg, wiping out the pan, adding more oil to it and then pouring everything back in. Maybe it would have been even better than it was if I had done it, but I'll never know.
This recipe comes from the New York Times Cooking page. It was super simple to make in our indispensable cast-iron skillet. Also filling and delicious. We will definitely be making this more often.
I saw this recipe in an article from the New York Times that listed what the newspaper's food editors prepared when they didn't feel like cooking. It looked simple and fun so we put it on our dinner list for this week. I started by chopping some scallions and chopped up some mushrooms I found in the refrigerator as well. I heated our small indispensable cast-iron skillet added a bit of butter and sautéd the veggies for just a few minutes and then added two beaten eggs to the pan. The eggs cooked quickly in a thin layer. Once they were cooked (but still just a bit runny) I placed a warm tortilla on top and heated just long enough for the tortilla to stick. Now comes the scary part: the recipe says to "flip onto a plate egg side up". I found this a bit daunting, but with careful use of a spatula and a bit of patience I managed to do this successfully for both the wraps I made. I folded the wraps into quarters as indicated. Since this looked a lot like a Mexican dish, and it was National Tortilla Day, we had tortillas on the side and served with sour cream and salsa. James added some Tabasco sauce to his as well and declared it delicious - and cute!
During the Thanksgiving weekend two different friends each gifted us with a dozen eggs. In addition we received our usual 18 eggs with our weekly dairy delivery from Crescent Ridge Farm so we set out to make some egg-based dinners. First up was wasour annual post-Thanksgiving sweet potato and turkey hashtopped with fried eggs. Last night's recipe for zucchini frittata came from Jane Brody's Good Food Book (which has an entire section devoted to egg-based main courses). I chose this one because I had some shredded zucchini in my freezer from this summer's harvest from my garden. I also had all the other ingredients I needed on hand.
I started by mincing two garlic cloves (also from my garden) and chopping one onion. I sauteéd these in a lot of butter for about a minute in my indispensable cast-iron skillet and then added the thawed and drained zucchini. Next I beat six eggs to which I also added a bit of whipping cream, dried basil (also from my garden) and some shredded parmesan cheese, and added the mixture into the skillet. I cooked over a medium heat until the eggs began to set, at which point I added some more parmesan cheese to the top and moved the skillet to the oven which I set on broil. Once the top was nicely browned and puffy I removed it and let sit for two minutes before serving.
This was easy, flavorful, and had a lot of texture.
On one of his early pandemic shopping trips James brought back a big tub full of fresh baby spinach expecting that we would find some uses for it. He was right, and it has since become a staple of his biweekly grocery runs. We have not only been looking for recipes in which to use it, but have also started putting it by the handful on our sandwiches in lieu of lettuce.
I originally found the recipe forthis frittata from Food52on a listicle from Huffington Post called "The Only 40 Egg Recipes you'll ever need" (I have prepared some of the others which you can find here).The frittata called for chorizo but I just used regular sausage because it was what we had. I used canned chickpeas, and didn't roast the red pepper (even though James actually kind of likes to do that). I sautéed the pepper instead along with the onions and garlic.
The meal was quick, relatively easy, filling and delicious.
During our pandemic lockdown we've been buying more eggs than usual and having at least one egg-based dinner each week. Seven weeks in we have not yet used any delivery or curb-side pickup for food. We've only prepared meals at home with food purchased from infrequent trips to the grocery store, and our usual weekly Crescent Ridge Farms delivery.
About two weeks ago I made an old family favorite comfort dinner - mashed potato casserole (baked mashed potatoes and cooked spinach topped with cheddar cheese). I did not use all of the spinach James bought, so I found the frittata recipe in an old family favorite cookbook - Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. Its use of eggs and spinach cinched the dinner plan. In addition to these two ingredients this recipe also calls for one sliced onion, one sliced potato, and feta cheese. I also added some crushed garlic. The onion and potato went into the skillet first, followed by the garlic, and then the spinach, which did not take long to wilt. Eggs went in next and as they started to set the feta to sprinkled on top. I covered the skillet and turned the heat down a bit for a few minutes, then uncovered and placed under the broiler for two minutes to brown the top.
Two years ago we had a Geology student from Georgia (the country) stay with us for a semester. Luka also came back last spring and stayed again for a few weeks. We shared some good times and he introduced us to Churchkhela (aka Georgian "Snickers" bars). I immediately thought of him when I saw this story from Gastro Obscura about Khacahpuri. I sent him the link to the story and asked how to make it, and he replied with this link . That was over a year ago, and on Friday I finally made this tasty dish for dinner. I started on Thursday night by making the dough in our 21-year old bread machine.
The recipe indicated that the dough could be made ahead of time and refrigerated. Once I was ready to use it, I broke it into fourths and rolled each quarter out and then shaped into a "boat"with points on each end. I filled each with a mix of shredded Fontina and Parmesan cheese and baked at 450 for 15 minutes on our baking stone - I eschewed the parchment lined baking pan called for in the recipe. This made for an especially crispy crust. The bread was then taken out of the oven and I used a spoon to make an indentation into the middle of each in order to crack eggs into them, then baked again until the eggs were cooked. You can see from the photos below that two of the "boats" ended up with double-yolk eggs.
Bread with cheese after initial baking
The double yolks were just a bit of luck. Each boat had only one egg cracked into it.
Prêt à manger!
As the recipe indicated, I left the whites a bit runny and mixed them together with the cheeses before eating. These were really filling. James and I each ate two (one each single yolk, and one each double yolk). We would easily have been satisfied with one, but it didn't seem as if these would keep very well for leftovers, so they were eaten all in one sitting.
Bloggers and their muse Luka Adikashvili, May 2017
James adds: Delicious indeed, and filling, as Pam wrote. A late breakfast the next day was strongly indicated.
New York Times Cooking doesn't generally fool around with clever names for its recipes. The name of the dish typically accounts for most of the main ingredients. And so it is for Pasta with Mushrooms, Fried Eggs, and Herbs(although it also has some cheese, not accounted for in the name).This was a bit more complicated than I expected. It required two skillets, as well as a pan to cook the pasta, so there were a lot of dishes to wash afterwards as well. I was amused by the recipe's admonishment "red wine not optional" as James and I so often enjoy a Malbec with our meal. This time though we paired the food with a red blend that had a bit of a kick, and frankly weren't thrilled with it. Perhaps if we had just stuck with our old favorite we would have enjoyed it more. The dish wasn't bad, but it is unlikely we will have it again. Too much work for the a dish we didn't really love.
Breakfast for dinner is never a bad idea. Last week I made a variation on Breakfast Tostadas with Cumin Roasted Fingerling Potatoes gleaned from this list of The Only 40 Egg Recipes You'll Ever Need.
We didn't have fingerling potatoes, but we did have a whole host of baking potatoes, which I diced into an approximation of the fingerling size. I skipped the guacamole because we didn't have any, and didn't feel like shopping, and I used a chile-pepper flavored cheddar instead of the Cotija cheese. Otherwise, I pretty much followed the recipe. It was an easy weeknight dinner. One we will likely have again.
While James was out of town earlier this month I had the chance to catch up with a friend whom I see a lot, but don't get to talk to as much as we'd like. I invited her for dinner and made a variation of Cowboy Skillet - a recipe I found on allrecipes.com when I searched for recipes with eggs, potatoes and sausage (three ingredients I had in abundance). The food was good. The company was charming, and the whole evening was simplyhygge. I really need to have friends over more often.
Some thirty years ago James and I spent our wedding night at a hotel in Columbia, Maryland. The following morning we had breakfast at a restaurant on Main Street in Historic Ellicott City called Side Streets. The restaurant is long gone, but we have a lasting memory of the delicious first meal of our first full day of married life - an Eggs Benedict-esque repast made with crab meat in lieu of ham.
I was inspired by the leftovers of my birthday meal(Oysters à la Gino) to make something similar to our matrimonial breakfast for brunch on Memorial day. All of the oysters got eaten at dinner on Saturday, but there was a fair amount of crab and bacon filling leftover, which James baked in a tiny casserole dish. I spread some of this filling on each of two pieces on Naan bread and broiled for about a minute. Meanwhile I fried two eggs, and then placed one on top of each of the crab/bacon/Naan piles. I added some shredded Parmesan cheese and then broiled again for another minute or so until the cheese melted. Nothing wrong with this meal, except that I wish there were more!
This recipe comes from our Extending the Table cookbook. It seemed like a good choice as it comes from one of our favorite countries (Nicaragua) and it looked like a simpler version of the Company Egg Dishwe made two months ago. Unfortunately it was not up to snuff. Although I put in more/different spices than called for, including our fail-safe (cumin), this turned out rather watery and bland. James didn't even finish his.
Huffington Post says there are Only 40 Egg Recipes You Will Ever Need. Thiscomplex dishis one of them. There are several pieces that need to come together, but the end result is indeed sublime. The avocado hollandaise was the easiest part and involved simply putting avocado, lemon juice, water, and oil into the blender and mixing until smooth. I put it on high to create a super creamy sauce.
I cooked the bacon while I mixed the ingredients for the corn cakes. There was a bit of time involved as I had to dice onions, peppers, and garlic. I took the advice provided in the online recipe to cook the cakes in the oil from the bacon. I poached the eggs just as the cakes were finishing. The corn cakes were topped with the bacon and egg, and then the sauce was added. As a final touch dried Chipotle pepper was sprinked on the top. This created an eye-pleasing presentation, especially when complemented with a Caprese salad on the side. The meal was an explosion of tastes and textures and was well worth the time spent to prepare it. It paired well with Chardonnay from Westport Rivers Winery.
Last week we wound up with 2 1/2 dozen eggs in our house. Luckily I remembered that I had saved a link some time ago claiming to have The Only 40 Egg Recipes You Will Ever Need. There I found this recipe for Baked Ranchero Eggs with Blistered Pepper Jack Cheese. In addition to a recent house guest who will be with us through the spring, we had invited a friend to join us for dinner as well. Since this called for a dozen eggs it seemed like it would make plenty of food, and use up some of our plethora of cackleberries. The recipe itself was simple enough to follow, although it did take longer to prepare than I anticipated, so I am glad I started the prep work early. It is cooked and baked all in the same cast-iron pan, so fortunately clean up is pretty easy. This was a big hit with everyone, and made for dandy leftovers as well.
We were a day late with our summer solstice celebration meal from The Wicca Cookbook, but since our wonderful daughter had offered to cook for us on the actual solstice I wasn't about to start worrying about specific dates.
Of the fifteen recipes included in the cookbook under "Summer Solstice" we selected the vegetable frittata because we had all the ingredients (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) on hand, it was simple, and because our vegetarian daughter was dining with us. This frittata has peppers, sliced potatoes, onions (the recipe says scallions, but we used what we had), basil, and goat cheese (the rest of what was left from last week's Pasta with Grapes), and of course eggs and milk. The recipe as written in the book has a few problems: for instance it begins with a description of how to roast a red pepper by holding it over a flame, wrapping it, letting it sweat, and then rubbing off the skin before slicing. The recipe, however, never mentions when, exactly, one is supposed to add the pepper to the dish. Since I was using frozen, pre-sliced bell peppers I wasn't too concerned though. I figured out to sauteé them as I was finishing with the potatoes. I mixed all the ingredients (except the potatoes and peppers) together in a bowl first, then cooked the potato slices in our indispensable cast-iron skillet until they were tender then I added the peppers and cooked a few more minutes. Once the potatoes and peppers were ready I added the egg mixture and cooked until the eggs just started to set, then put the skillet in a preheated 350 oven for 25 minutes. I impressed myself with how perfectly fluffy this came out. We enjoyed our meal outside with some Malbec.
