Good Morning.
I started thinking about doing a blog about eggs in the middle of the night. This was after I woke up from a dream where I came home from somewhere and discovered, to my great distress, that my dining room had been redone in a garish blue flocked wallpaper. I would suggest having any one of the following egg dishes in a nice, warm kitchen with subway tile.
Here's an omelet sort of dish that can be baked in the oven so you don't have to stand at the stove.
1 tsp. butter
9 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Grease an 8x8 baking dish with butter. In a bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, milk, salt and pepper. Add the chopped green onions and pour the mixture into the dish. Bake at 350 degrees until set, about half an hour. Remove from oven, sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for another three minutes until the cheese is melted. Makes four servings.
A even heartier dish is the following Hash Brown and Poached Egg Skillet.
8 tsp. butter
4 cups frozen hash browns, thawed
2 egg whites
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 small white onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
4 oz. ham, diced
3 oz. grated cheddar
6 large eggs
Using 3 teaspoons of the butter, grease three 6- inch cast iron skillets or 6 small ramekins. Melt 4 teaspoons of butter in a pan or the microwave and place in a bowl. Add the thawed hash browns and egg whites. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine
carefully. Divide the mixture evenly between the skillets or ramekins. Press into the bottom and up the sides. Bake in a 475
degree oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the filling: melt the remaining teaspoon of butter in a small skillet. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, and ham. Cook, stirring, until the onion is soft and translucent. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Remove the hash brown skillets or ramekins from the oven and divide the onion/ham mixture among them. Top with cheddar, return to the oven, and bake for two minutes. Remove from oven and crack two eggs apiece if using skillets or one on top of each ramekin. Bake until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny, maybe seven minutes. You can serve the skillets directly at the table, as long as you have pot holders on the plates. If using ramekins, remove the filling and give each person two each.
This recipe will serve three people. Vegetarians can eliminate the ham and add more onions and peppers or perhaps a few mushrooms. Meat lovers can substitute cooked, drained, and crumbled sausage for a nice change.
I had my first Monte Cristo at a resort at Big Sky, Montana. The place was gorgeous but the altitude was 'way up there and
people were having a variety of physical reactions best left not detailed here. In any case, this recipe takes a Monte Cristo
to, um, new heights.
2 eggs
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
4 thick slices French bread, slightly stale is better
1 tbsp. butter
8 thin slices deli ham
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 slices Havarti, not dill
8 poached eggs
Whisk together the 2 eggs, cream, sugar, salt, pepper, and spices. Lay the bread slices into this batter. Let each side get
thoroughly soaked, like for five minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter and cook the bread slices until golden brown, perhaps 2 minutes per side. Put the slices on a cookie sheet. Saute the ham slices in the skillet for a minute or two and remove. To assemble , place a cheddar slice on the toast, top with a ham slice, and top that with a slice of Havarti. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes. To serve, place the bread slices on plates and top each with two poached eggs. Most people shudder at the thought of making them in a pan of boiling water - get those little poacher things with the little cups, watch carefully so you don't overdo them, and call it good.
In my mind the best accompaniment for any sort of egg is a muffin and here are three suggestions.
Raspberry Lemon Muffins
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup frozen raspberries
Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, oil, and lemon juice. In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until blended. Fold in the frozen raspberries
and spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Cool before serving.
A second option is Cinnamon Orange Muffins with a streusel topping.
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter, softened
In a bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together the oil, orange juice, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just blended. The batter may be lumpy.
Line 12 muffin cups with liners and fill them halfway with the batter. In a small bowl combine the brown sugar and teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle about a teaspoon of this mixture onto each muffin cup. Spoon the rest of the batter over the cinnamon so that the muffin cups are about 2/3 full. Mix up the remaining 1/4 cup flour, sugar, cinnamon, and softened butter to make a crumble and sprinkle over the tops of the muffins cups. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool before serving.
It is 50 degrees here this morning, hence, the following:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Prepare a dozen muffin cups as above. In a bowl, combine the sugar, oil, and eggs. Add the pumpkin and water and stir well. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir in the chocolate chips. Fill the muffins cups about 2/3 full. Bake them in a 400 degree oven for 22 minutes.
Today's blog is a mix and match format. Pick one egg dish and one muffin unless you're having the Monte Cristo that has bread built into it. Or forget the eggs, make up a batch of each muffin and have half a dozen friends in for coffee. Or fix up a batch of each muffin, make up a gift package of six muffins, two of each kind, and take your treats to the homes of the half dozen friends or give the whole mess away to the local women's shelter. Or make up the muffins and put them in your freezer for six months while you figure out what you want to do with them. Or leave them in the freezer until they have to be thrown out. What you do with a bunch of muffins says a great deal about how you vote.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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