Category Archives: eggs

Jan 22 0 comments
eggs, vegetables

Breakfast Nests

I love eggs. And not to sound like a total hipster, but I loved eggs before they were cool.  Pie too. And toy camera photography.  Not leggings though, I’m totally jumping on the trend bandwagon there… But eggs, we’ve always been good friends, especially when a dippy yolk is involved.  Breakfast sandwiches, breakfast pizza, pasta carbonara, I love it.  So, it goes without saying that a cupful of breakfast goodness topped with a soft yolked egg is pretty close to heaven in my book.  Egg heaven.

This recipe was very much a Saturday morning refrigerator dump.  My favorite kind of weekend breakfast, where you sauté up all the leftover vegetable odds and ends from the week, add bacon and a fried egg and, voila, breakfast.  I started with a turkey bacon cup (it was what we had on hand, usually I’m a real-bacon-all-the-way kind of girl), filled it with chard and onions, garlic and potato.  Then we topped the whole mess with an egg and baked.

Dan and I have very different preferences when it comes to eggs- I like mine running all over the place and he likes his firm.  This difference of opinions doesn’t usually impact our relationship, (we’re pretty level headed people when it comes to our eggs) except for when I make a dish like this where the eggs are all cooked together.  If, like me, your family has varying levels of egg preference I have a suggestion- for those that like a drippy, yolky egg, follow the recipe.  For those that don’t, leave out the egg and then top the baked bacon/veggies with a fried egg.  Overcooking an egg in the oven leaves the yolk hard and weird, so I’ve found, after a lot of searching for the middle ground, it’s best just to fry a separate egg.

Breakfast Nests

(makes four)

8 pieces of bacon

4 eggs

2 cups chopped (uncooked) chard

1/2 red onion

1 red potato

2 cloves garlic

Salt, pepper, red pepper

1 pat butter

In your pan, cook the bacon until the fat has begun to come off and it starts to crisp.  Take the hot bacon and mold it into a cupcake pan.  Wrap one slice all the way around the inside of the cup, tear the other piece in half and line the bottom. Preheat your oven to 350

Chop onion, potato, and garlic and add it to the pan.  Saute for one minute.  Chop the chard.  Add it in, along with the butter and seasoning.  Toss and cook until chard has wilted.  Divide between the four cups, pushing it down so that there is at least 3/4 inch of room between the vegetables and the top of the bacon.

Crack an egg over the sink, tossing 1/3 of the whites.  Put the yolk and remaining whites into a cup.  Repeat with the remaining three cups.

Bake at 350 until whites have set.  Yolk should be soft, approximately 20 minutes.

Nov 21 1 comments
eggs, muffins, breads, biscuits, and sweet breads

Breakfast Pizza

First of all, I apologize for the phone pictures.  This was not a recipe I planned to post, but one that I photographed obsessively because, you know, that’s what I do.  Anyway, this pizza turned out to be SO delicious that I thought it would be criminal not to share it with you.  So here it is.

I started craving a breakfast pizza on Saturday, after my friends Dana and Juliet brought it up (in all its delicious detail) on twitter.  So often when those two start talking food I drop everything and eat what they’re eating.  Because they eat delicious things.

A breakfast pizza is a pizza topped with anything you love about breakfast.  I’ve seen ones with a million combinations of breakfast meats, cheeses, vegetables, and, of course, eggs.  This one included smoked bacon, caramelized onions, green peppers (the last from our garden), jalapeños, three cheeses, green onions, garlic, and eggs.  And oh. my. delicious.  I want to marry this pizza.

Yesterday we also headed to VA to hang with the nieces and Megan.  Can I just reiterate how great nieces are?  Nieces + breakfast pizza = wonderful Sunday.

Related to, you know, the major holiday coming up later this week, I think this breakfast pizza would be the perfect morning-after meal for the family.  Big enough to serve 4 or 5 adults, loaded with delicious (and, if you’d like, leftovers), it’s easy and very, very good.

Breakfast Pizza

Dough: 
1 tbsp dry active yeast
2 ½ cups bread flour
1 ½ tbsp olive oil
¾ cup warm water
½ tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp kosher salt

Toppings:

1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeño
Green onions
1 bell pepper
1/4 cup soft cheese (brie, goat, chèvre)
1/4 cup white cheddar
1/4 cup sharp cheddar
4-5 strips bacon
3 eggs

Olive oil & salt to finish

Whisk together olive oil, yeast, salt, basil, and water. Whisk until fully incorporated, at least 2 minutes. Add half of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Add remaining flour and knead for ten minutes, until the dough feels like a stress ball.

Coat a glass bowl with olive oil. Place the dough ball in the bowl, turn once, and cover with a damp towel. Let rise for at least an hour. Punch down and let rise another 15 minutes.

While your dough is rising, cook your bacon.  I like to cook mine on a rack in a 375 oven (takes about 30 minutes).  It cooks nicely and evenly.  When I do that, however, I always cook one or two pieces in the pan so that I have drippings to caramelize the onions in.  So, get your bacon going.  Dice your onions and pepper, and mince your garlic and jalapeños.  In your bacon drippings cook the onions, garlic, and jalapeños until nice and brown.  Next shred your cheese.

Roll out your dough and heat your oven to 500 (or as high as it goes).  Start with a layer of your soft cheese.  Then spoon your onions over this.  Add peppers, bacon, and cheddar cheeses.  Crack three eggs over the whole pizza.  Sprinkle the pizza with coarse salt.  Brush the edges with olive oil and salt.

Bake for 12 minutes for drippy eggs (my preference) and 14 for solid egg yolks.  Enjoy!

Apr 18 0 comments
appetizers, eggs, the picnic series

Deviled Eggs for Mary

 

This weekend was my cousin Mary Catherine’s bridal shower.  Mary was my bridesmaid, is a dear friend, and a favorite family member.  She’s one of the many things I love about my big, crazy, blended family.  It has been wonderful getting to know her fiance, Sean (who we love), and Dan and I couldn’t be happier for them.

Friday I drove down to Durham, and after a pit stop to wish my little brother Reid a happy 22nd birthday, I headed to my Aunt Diane’s house to start the weekend festivities.  Maddie and Mary’s sister (and maid of honor) Elizabeth did the planning and all of the heavy lifting, but I was able to pull my weight a little with this deviled egg recipe.  The spread was incredible, the decorations were perfectly over the top, and the 425-picture slideshow of Mary was just ridiculous enough.

The shower was full of laughter, (happy) tears, silly games, and complete love of Mary.  There was dancing and eating well into the afternoon (even during a tornado) and at seven, we moved on to part two: the bachelorette party.  With Mary in a veil, sash, bride trucker hat, and feather boa we headed to Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

Mary with her sister, Elizabeth, and their mother, Diane

Generally speaking I kind of suck at going out bachelorette parties.  I’m awesome and totally into it until about… 11.30 wherein my body realizes that it should be in bed.  And instead I’m in a bar where the music is (usually) too loud and even the people watching has gotten old.  Sort of like time lapse grumpy.  But this weekend there was one thing that kept me laughing- Mary.  She made it impossible not to have fun, from booing the zillion other bachelorettes* to dancing along to Supa Tight.  It was her day and she made it amazing.  I can’t wait for her big day next month!

Mary & Sean, practicing for the big day

*If you’re one of the many bachelorettes we booed on Franklin Street Saturday night, I apologize.  It wasn’t us speaking, it was the drinks with dirty names.  You looked great in your tiara and we wish you a lifetime of happiness with your groom!

Mary & Sean engaged in one of the stranger shower games we’ve played

See more photos of Mary’s shower here.

Deviled Eggs

12-14 eggs

1/2 cup mayonaisse

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp paprika, plus extra for topping

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Dash of hot sauce

Hard boil the eggs.  Run them under cold water and then peel.  Slice the eggs in half and remove the yolks.  Mix into the yolks all the remaining ingredients.  Adjust the mayonnaise as necessary until the filling is creamy.  Scoop a little filling back into each egg white.  Sprinkle with paprika and chill.

Apr 12 4 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, eggs

Spring Vegetable Quiche

I set out this afternoon to make a quiche with asparagus and wild mushrooms.  I thought, so seasonal! So local! So delicious! But, being me, I can never leave well enough alone.  When I got home with my groceries for the week I thought, well, I can add some chives from Tuesday’s dinner, some green onion from Wednesday night’s dinner, some cherry tomatoes from Thursday night’s dinner (I know, not seasonal).  I kept adding until it was this mass of vegetables floating in egg.  I’m not complaining.

With the exception of the tomatoes (for which you can substitute dried), this dish is a symphony of spring flavors.  The thing that I love about quiche is that it is hearty and light at the same time.  The vegetables danced in the fluffy eggs, and paired with a rich crust it is the perfect anytime meal.  Great for brunch, great for dinner.  Great for life.

Since that’s pretty much all I have to say about the quiche (except try it, it’s awesomely vegtastic), I thought I’d wax poetic about my newest accomplishment.  It’s not really an accomplishment yet, more like a lead to what I hope will be an accomplishment- I think that I’ve found a way for us to have a garden.  I’m exploring my options between community gardens in Baltimore City and yard sharing through a site called hyperlocavore.  Either way I have my heart set on gardening this season so I’m planting seeds (a little late) in these egg shells.  In the past we’ve wrestled with the biodegradable planting pots, which never seem to totally degrade, so I’m excited to try planting in egg shells.  It’s composting and gardening at the same time.  Wish me luck.

Spring Vegetable Quiche

6 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup grated american cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup diced wild mushrooms, cleaned

1 cup diced fresh asparagus, cleaned

1/4 cup cherry or dried tomatoes

2 tbsp minced chives

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1/2 red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt & pepper

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Pinch of cayenne

Crust (recipe here, subtract sugar and add 1/2 tbsp salt)

Prep all vegetables.  Whisk together eggs, milk, and cheeses.  Stir in vegetables and spices.

Spread crust out into pie pan and pour mixture into it.  Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 or until solid and golden brown.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Enjoy.

Aug 15 5 comments
beans, slaws, quiches, mashers, and casseroles, eggs

Smoked Mozzarella and Tomato Quiche


quiche5

My mother will quite literally laugh out loud when she reads this, but I wouldn’t consider myself a messy person.  Okay, so not only my mother will make fun of that statement.  But, having known truly messy people over the years (and lived with them), I would say that I keep it clean…ish.  Dan isn’t particularly messy either, though he is a pack rat of the highest order.  I usually feel like our apartment is decent.  If we were to unexpectedly die with no time to clean, I wouldn’t be too embarrassed about my mother finding it in it’s typical state.  I mean, unless she checked the baseboards, which really only get dusted when she comes to visit (because she checks while I’m sleeping.  Remind me another time to tell you what she did to my college apartment the week after my tonsillectomy).

quiche4

This weekend Dan and I finally faced the reality that was our hall closet, a closet unusually big for a metro-area apartment.  When we moved in it was all organized by a system, but in the past year it has gotten… well, out of control.  It could be the camping gear or perhaps the old television that Dan isn’t quite ready to get rid of yet, but it’s packed floor to ceiling with crap all the way up to the door.  A problem, you could say.

quiche3

Since all of our day Saturday was going to be consumed with the frustrating chore of cleaning out the worlds most crowded closet, I thought ahead and made a quiche.  Ever since I saw the movie Waitress (we’re big Nathan Fillion fans) I’ve spent my free time making up pies in my head, as Keri Russell’s character was apt to do.  So, on my way home from work on Wednesday, while trying to figure out what to do with the heirloom tomatoes leftover from a pesto tart and the smoked mozzarella I had bought but wasn’t going to use before it went bad, I thought up the perfect quiche.

quiche2

And it was perfect.  I made it Wednesday night while the ingredients were already out, baked it, and froze it.  On Saturday, after hours of trying to make sense of how much crap we’ve accumulated in one short year, we sat down, watched an episode of Firefly, and enjoyed a quiche that was smoky and juicy, light and full of flavor.  With a gin and tonic, of course.

quiche1

Smoked Mozzarella and Tomato Quiche

6 eggs

1/4 cup smoked mozzarella cheese, diced

2 cups diced red, orange, and white heirloom tomatoes

1 clove garlic, diced

1 cup milk

1 tbsp dried basil

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

Salt

Pepper

1 pie crust (recipe here)*

* Some adaptations to the pie dough recipe.  No sugar.  Add 1/4 tbsp salt.  Add 1/8 cup shredded parmesan.  Add 1 tbsp dried basil.  Add a pinch of pepper.

Put your dough into the pie dish.  Toss tomatoes with half of the salt, pepper, and basil.  Spread into the dough.

Top with diced mozzarella.

Whisk together egg, milk, parmesan, and the remaining seasoning.  Pour over other ingredients in the crust.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until cooked through.