Baked Eggs

 

I've been wanting to attempt baked eggs for awhile now, but haven't had the proper ramekins, so this holiday season provided the perfect opportunity to try my hand at this dish.  Basically you crack eggs into ramekins, surround with a little milk or cream (to avoid burning), and bake for 15 minutes or so.  I of course wanted more than just eggs so I layered potatoes, cheese, bacon, onions, and mushrooms.  

Begin by cooking your bacon and once rendered remove to paper towels to drain.  Slice your potatoes (I used peeled fingerlings) and add them with some minced garlic to the bacon grease to cook.  

Once your potatoes are cooked to your liking, start assembling them in your ramekins.

Next up is cheese.

Followed by the bacon.

Meanwhile, saute some onions and mushrooms in the leftover bacon grease (add more butter if needed) and once softened add those to the dishes.  

Make room for your cracked eggs in the center of your mount of food.

Finally add a tablespoon of milk or cream atop the eggs.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 325 F. 

These ramekins were a little shallow for all the ingredients I tried to cram in them, otherwise the eggs might not have looked so separated from everything else, but it didn't diminish from the deliciousness.  Everyone had an individual serving of breakfast goodness all in one place and the baked eggs were an interesting consistency different than what you'd get from frying or poaching.  

Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Baked Pears

I was recently gifted pears, which is interesting because I'm not so much a pear eater.  I consulted google to determine what I could do with these pears that would possibly appease my fruit-hating palate, and lo-and-behold....bacon was the answer!  Big surprise.  This recipe had the makings of all the things I love: bacon and goat cheese.  The pear became an afterthought, which was fine by me. 

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 F, halve your pears, and remove the pits, leaving a nice bowl for your cheese.  Place the pear halves on a cookie sheet, fill the scooped out insides with herbed goat cheese, and wrap with raw bacon.  So maybe the recipe calls for a single slice of bacon, but obviously that wasn't enough, so I went for two. 

Drizzle the pears with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and bake for about 30 minutes (more or less depending on pear size). 

Once done, serve over a bed of greens.  I used mesclun, but you can also use arugula or whatever you prefer.  We made a mild vinaigrette to drizzle over the lettuce before we topped with the pears and drizzled with a little honey.  The juices from the pears, the fat from the bacon, and the sweetness of the honey actually combined pretty well with the greens and cheese and made for a surprisingly delicious pear salad...though that could be all the bacon's doing. 

I had some leftovers so I reheated the pears in the toaster oven to re-crisp the bacon, and one morning I served this for breakfast over a fried egg.  Not bad for a fruit. 

Spice Rubbed Pork Chops

Pork chops often frighten people because of how dry they can end up.  I discussed this before in a previous post describing stuffed porkchops and how to combat the leather effect.  This time I used a dry rub to season the chops and ensured juiciness by purchasing thicker bone-in chops.  If you get too thin of chops, chances are they end up dry and unappealing. 

Again, the dry rub is a flavoring technique that doesn't involve as much pre-prep as the marinade because it doesn't necessarily require an overnight chill.  Choose your favorite spices, mix and apply to the chop, but don't go overboard because it will have a very strong flavor even with minimal spice rub.  I combined cayenne pepper, paprika, oregano, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper, and a dash of cinnamon.  

Apply the spice rub to both sides and let sit for a few minutes to get an opportunity to adhere and flavor the chops.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat, and when the pan is nice and hot add your chops.  Cook for about 5 minutes per side.  You will see nice caramelization of the chops/spices.  This is a good thing, and the sear allows for the juices to remain inside the chops rather than seep out. 

To ensure a cooked-through pork chop, you can then place a lid over the pan or transfer the pan to the oven.  I mentioned this before, but trichinosis (the disease you get from eating undercooked pork) is killed at 145 degrees fahrenheit, which is actually a medium rare chop.  People are too afraid of eating pink pork that they always overcook pork to the point of it being way overdone.  I like to aim for a medium steak with pork.  Most of the pink is gone, but the meat hasn't turned gray and hard from overcooking.


Finally I served these chops with a side of basmati rice I prepared with corn and spinach.  The spice rub had a kick to it, so the rice helped cool it down.  I drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil at the end for flavor. 

Chicken Pesto Crepes

 

The other night I was craving crepes, but not interested in going to a restaurant, so I obviously had to make them at home.  Turns out they're quite simple and quick.  Prepare your batter, then prepare your fillings.  Cook the batter, fill the crepe, eat.  

Crepe Batter: 1 egg, 1/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup milk

Fillings: Chicken, red onion, corn, pesto sauce, cheddar and goat cheese

That amount of crepe batter made 3 crepes.  Mix all the ingredients and make sure there aren't any lumps.  Then make sure your filling is completely cooked.  I sauteed the chicken, onion, and corn in a  skillet and then added pesto sauce.  Set aside.  

Heat your nonstick skillet over medium heat and lightly butter the bottom.  Add 1/3 of your crepe batter and swirl it around the entire bottom of your pan. 

Once partially cooked, but obviously cooked through on the bottom (about 1 minute), flip. 

At this point, add your filling mixture.  Like with a quesadilla, I start with the cheese so that it will melt and then put my chicken mixture over it. 

Once melted, transfer to a plate by folding however you'd like.  I went for burrito-style rolls, but you can do triangles, folds, whatever your heart desires. 

Shrimp, Vegetable, and Bacon Stir Fry over Rice Pilaf

Another pretty simple stir-fry over rice...with the addition of my favorite condiment: bacon.  Choose your veggies, saute them in olive oil, add your seasonings, serve over rice. 

Always cook your veggies in the order of what will take the longest to soften to what will take the quickest amount of time.  I always start with the garlic and onion.  Then I'll add the zucchini and asparagus.  Once they're to a good level of doneness I'll add the raw shrimp which I chopped, and when it's almost cooked entirely I'll add the corn and spinach since they don't really need to cook, just be warm. 

For seasonings I added a little cumin, coriander, and salt and pepper.  I could've gone for a wet marinade, but I wanted to keep it simple and let the flavors of the ingredients provide the flavor.  And then, since I can't resist, I threw in some chopped cooked bacon at the end for what I like to consider a nice fusion flair. 

Coq Au Vin

Don't ask me how to pronounce it because I always butcher the name, but this is your classic chicken and red wine dish.  Wine sauces pretty much make anything taste classy and I often serve this over rice for nice dinners and the occasional weekend meal. 

There are many variations on how to prepare this, but I tend to follow a few standard procedures.  1st: acquire your wine.  NEVER use "cooking wine".  This is the most vile of all liquids and should never be used for cooking ever.  Now that I've cleared that up, make sure you always use wine you would be willing to drink (in this case it's ok to have bad taste, as long as it's wine meant for drinking).  I like to use the cheapest wine I can find (2 buck chuck?).  This time I used a nicer Italian red.  It doesn't matter, just cook with the taste you like. 

Begin by pouring an entire 750 ml bottle of wine into a bowl/sauce pan.  Add your raw chicken and any sliced veggies you will be using.  This time I used carrots, onions, garlic, and zucchini.  Throw in a bay leaf for flavor.  Heat this mixture on the stove for about five minutes and you'll end up with a lovely purple juice.  

Let this sit for up to a day in the fridge, or you can be lazy like me and cook everything right away.  Heat a sauce pan over medium high heat and add some bacon.  This is the best part of the coq au vin in my opinion, but you probably already knew that.  Remove your bacon strips, drain on a paper towel, and use the bacon grease to cook your chicken.  Drain the chicken from the wine, pat dry, and add to your pan.  Cook on both sides for about 5 minutes.  You can cook it entirely through, or not, since it will stew for awhile later. 

When the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan so you can chop it up.  Next, you'll want to drain the veggies from the wine, but don't discard the wine!  You'll then saute the vegetables in the remaining bacon grease (add more butter if you need). 

Once the veggies are good and cooked, push them to the side and add some flour to the pan to create a roux.  I added maybe about 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  Then slowly start adding your reserved wine marinade while stirring/whisking.  The sauce will thicken as it's added.  Once you have all the wine in the pan, add your chicken back and add any seasonings you want (I opted for tarragon and pepper). 

Let this stew for awhile until the sauce reduces by about half or more and the carrots are soft.  I was watching a football game while this reduced, so it maybe had 45 minutes on the stove before halftime.  At the end I mixed in the bacon that we had previously cooked and I ripped up into bite sized pieces.    Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or whatever else you like.  And feel free to add any other vegetables you want.  I often use pearl onions instead of chopped onions, and I love mushrooms in my coq au vin, but sometimes you just have to settle for what you have. 

Teriyaki Shrimp Fried Rice

What do I do when I have leftover rice? Stir-fry!  It's a very simple and quick dinner.  Take the meat and veggies you have, choose your sauce/spices, heat it all together, and you're done.

I started with a little garlic and chopped red onion in some butter.  Then I added the asparagus.  After about 5 minutes I added corn and spinach and the raw shrimp.  After everything was sauteed to my liking, I pushed the veggies/shrimp to the side of the pan and added the already cooked rice to the skillet.  I let it cook a little in the butter and then added teriyaki sauce.  After another minute or two I mixed everything together and cooked over medium-high heat to give the rice a nice little crunch.

Finally, I pushed the rice/veggies/shrimp to the edges of the skillet and in the middle I cracked an egg.  I scrambled it by itself and when it was fully cooked I mixed it all together.  I added a little more teriyaki sauce to my liking, and in about 10 minutes I had a fully seasoned, fresh cooked stir fry dinner.

Pasta Primavera

As a child, nothing on the pasta menu sounded more gross than a bland pasta surrounded by veggies.  Hence, I don't think I've ever knowingly ordered pasta primavera.  But I guess when you're an adult you realize vegetables don't have to taste bad, so I decided to combine a smorgasbord of fresh ingredients to make a delightful pasta that the child version of me wouldn't hate either.

Ingredients: Garlic, Onion, Zucchini, Asparagus, Mushrooms, Corn, Spinach, Shrimp
Sauce: White Wine, Broth, Goat Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, 1tsp Flour

So i basically chopped all my veggies.  In a little bit of olive oil I sauteed the garlic and onion.  After 3-5 minutes I added the asparagus, zucchini, and mushrooms.  Once thoroughly cooked I moved the veggies to the side and added a little flour to create a roux.  I then added the white wine (I probably used about 1/2 cup).  To cut the strong flavor of a wine sauce I added some chicken broth to also reduce/thicken.

At this point I added the raw shrimp, corn, and spinach to cook through.  I added goat cheese to the sauce last, then threw on the cooked rigatoni.  I mixed everything well, poured in a bowl, garnished with parmesan and felt like a good kid for eating my veggies.  Since we know I love cream sauces, using cheese and wine/broth as a base rather than cream itself gave me the same thickening effect, but with a little less guilt.  Highly recommended.

Reduction Sauces - Steak and Potatoes

I purchased two filet mignons so I had two nights of steak and potato dinners.  The first I served with asparagus, the second with zucchini.  And for the sauce, two reduction sauces with garlic and mushrooms and then a garnish of french fried onions. 

The first reduction sauce was a port reduction.  I used a tawny port and added about a cup to a skillet of sauteed garlic and mushrooms and cooked until it was reduced.  The second reduction sauce was balsamic and I did the same thing.  

The asparagus I cooked in a skillet with a little water, salt, and pepper.  The zucchini I seasoned and cooked with a little olive oil.  For the filets, I heated a skillet over medium-high heat, salted/peppered the meat, and seared the steak for about 2 minutes on each side. 

Dish up the potatoes, green veggies, steak, pour the reduction sauce over the potatoes/meat, and garnish with the onions.  Steakhouse dinner at home and you didn't even need a grill. 

Brownies

I made brownies from scratch for the first time ever.  I typically avoid baking boxed brownies, because they end up too cake-like for my taste.  I like them gooey, fudgy, moist.  So it surprises me that I had never attempted brownies from scratch before.  But I wanted something sweet, had come into possession of some cocoa powder, and found a simple recipe online that I figured was worth a shot.

Combine:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
and as many chocolate chips as you want

Don't overmix, pour into a baking dish lined with parchment paper, and bake at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  These aren't cakey, and they still taste good the next day.

Chicken Curry Soup with Rice

I was feeling quite under the weather last week, so obviously for dinner I had to make the quintessential chicken soup.  Opting for rice instead of noodles, and a bit of a kick to really help drain those sinuses (tmi?) this chicken curry soup was born.

I found a spice bottle in our spice rack with a hand-written label on it that said "curry powder".  There are lots of types of curries, all with very distinct flavors.  I didn't really know what I was getting, but I figured I'd never met a curry I didn't like, so I would have at it.  Turns out this one resembled the Indian curries I'm accustomed to.  It worked out.

So first I sauteed the garlic and shallot in a little olive oil, then added 1/2 cup of brown basmati rice (uncooked) to coat in the oil mixture.  Then I added the curry.  Probably about 1 tbsp (it's better to under-add the spices at first, then go back for more if you need them).  I mixed and heated everything through to really let that flavor infuse as much as it could.

Then I added the chicken broth (maybe 3 cups worth? sorry, i never measure) and sliced carrots.  This would allow the rice to cook in broth instead of water, and the carrots to soften. 

The rice would normally take about 20 minutes to cook, so after about 15 minutes I added the raw chicken.  I used sliced chicken breast meat.  I added this later because I worried that if it was stewing too long it wouldn't stay as tender, so closer to the end point was when I wanted to start it poaching.

Once done, the rice was falling apart, the carrots were soft, the chicken tender, and the broth with just the right amount of kick.  You can add more broth as you find necessary, and I added a little bit of pepper and dried tarragon.  Suddenly being sick didn't feel so bad. 

Beef Stroganoff

 

Beef Stroganoff is a pretty easy fixin, because it's really nothing fancy.  The sauce is beef broth and sour cream, but Stroganoff plays the role of comfort food well and is a nice change-up if you're making pasta again but want to alter the sauce/toppings.

I found myself with two remaining thinly sliced steaks, so I cut them into strips.  I also chopped some garlic and shallot, and had I stocked my fridge properly, mushrooms would've also been invited.

Start by sauteing the garlic and shallots (and mushrooms) in a little bit of butter or olive oil.  Then add your steak strips and cook until browned on all sides.  

Next it's time to make the roux.  Move your ingredients to the side of the skillet so that the butter finds itself alone on the opposite side.  Add some flour.  Depending on how much butter/grease you have, add about a tbsp of flour and mix it with the grease until a roux forms (the firm combination of flour and oil that is mostly solid).  

Add your beef broth at this point (as much as you want sauce on your pasta...1 cup? 2 cups?) Don't worry, thanks to the flour the broth will reduce and thicken so you may need more than you initially add.  

Once you cook the broth down to the desired amount of sauciness, add your sour cream to taste.  About 1/4 cup - 3/4 cup should be plenty.  Mix and then add your final touches of fresh herbs.  I recommend dill.  I did not have dill so I went with tarragon.  It helps to have a little bite to combat the beefy/creamy taste of this dish.  

Pour your meat/veggies/sauce over freshly cooked pasta (egg noodles work well for this, but I just had regular fusili), garnish with herbs if you'd like, and serve!

Rice and Beans

This was one of those "what can I throw together with existing ingredients, but that is very dense because I'm very hungry" meals.  Lacking tortillas, I figured I could make what I would normally put in a burrito, but eat it like a stew-y mush.

Rice and beans.  A good starting point.  I only had brown basmati rice, though, so we'll call this a bit of a fusion dish.  Basically I cooked the rice according to the directions.  In a separate skillet I heated a little olive oil to cook the garlic and onions.  Then I added a can of black beans, which I partially drained.  As the beans cooked, the liquid diminished, so I thought I'd maybe treat this like a black bean soup, and I added some chicken broth, which too cooked off eventually.  I added the sliced chicken to basically poach in the liquid, and once no longer pink I added the rice.  I now had a soupy mixture, so I added the juice of 1/2 a lime and cooked until the liquid was reduced completely (only about five minutes or so).  To finish it off I added a bunch of fresh cilantro and scallions, poured it in a bowl, and melted some cheese on top.  It definitely did the trick and filled me up.

Balsamic Marinated Steak with Pesto Mashed Potatoes

I bought these weird thinly sliced steak strips that called themselves sandwich strips.  I figured I'd marinate them, grill them, put them between some bread, and do the whole sandwich thing.  Well, my bread went bad, but I was hungry, so I figured I'd treat these steaks how I normally would a skirt or a flank steak.

I went for a balsamic-based marinade, so into the ziploc bag went the balsamic vinegar, salt/pepper, rosemary, garlic, and a touch of olive oil.  Into the fridge it went while I sliced some red onion and scallion (onion overkill? probably. but they were all i had in terms of complimentary produce).

I then made some mashed potatoes, because nothing goes better w/ steak than potatoes.  I mashed with cream cheese and pesto sauce, rather than milk and cheese, for a little variation.

Finally, it was time to cook the steak.  It took about three minutes since it was so thin, and I didn't want to overcook.  Heat the skillet over medium-high heat.  Add your steak, red onions, and the juices.  Cook the steak about 1-2 minutes per side.  Turn over, repeat.

Plate your mashed potatoes, lay your steak atop them, and drizzle with some of the red onions and reduced balsamic vinegar marinade.  Garnish with some fresh scallions if you're feeling like your breath won't be pungent enough already.

Spiced Shrimp with Avocado Corn Salsa

My friend hosted a dinner party last weekend and I volunteered to bring an appetizer.  The entree was turkey chili, so I wanted something that could compliment that and provide a little something different.  Now I'm embarrassed to say I did not take a picture of my finished product (mostly because it was in her kitchen surrounded by people I just met and I didn't feel the need to whip out my camera to document a bowl of shrimp).  So here's a stock photo from the internet, but if you look below you can see the blurry image of my bowl of salsa with shrimp dangling around the rim!

Look at that lovely bowl of appetizer holding it's own amidst a sea of lavish tableware.  Ok, enough about my lack of photography, here's how you make it.

Take your raw, peeled, deveined, butterflied jumbo shrimp and put them in your dry rub with a little olive oil and garlic.  I used cayenne pepper, paprika, ground coriander, dried oregano, cumin, pepper, diced garlic, extra-virgin olive oil.  Toss the shrimp to coat and place in the fridge until ready to grill (at least 30 minutes). 

Next prepare the salsa.  Dice your red onion and tomato first.  Then add your corn and chopped scallion.  I added the avocado, cilantro, and lime juice last, so as to avoid browning of the avocado.  Again, toss to coat and store in the fridge until ready to serve.  

I brought the uncooked shrimp and salsa to the dinner party and grilled the shrimp on the stove there.  You don't really need to oil the skillet since there's oil in the shrimp marinade.  Using tongs and a grill pan, cook about 2-3 minutes on each side until the shrimp is cooked through.  Arrange shrimp surrounding the salsa.  Rather than scoop the salsa with the shrimp and eat with your fingers, I recommend a fork.  The spiciness of the shrimp coupled with the cool and citrusy salsa make for a perfect pairing, and also go nicely before a hearty turkey chili. 

Banana Bread

I'm a big fan of banana bread.  Every time I buy bananas and don't get around to eating them before they turn brown, I throw them in the freezer and accumulate them until I have enough to make a batch of banana bread.  I have tried many recipes.  Some use milk, some use cinnamon, some are dense, others are fluffy.  My current favorite recipe doesn't use many ingredients, but it does use brown sugar in lieu of granulated sugar.  I also may notoriously undercook my baked goods, but I haven't had any complaints yet, so if you are so offended, just leave the bread in the oven the extra ten minutes.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened, not melted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 - 3 overripe bananas

Step 1: Acquire over-ripened bananas.  Yes, they are brown and look like this:  Don't fret.

Step 2: Cream butter and brown sugar in a bowl.  This is much easier with an electric mixer, but I had to suffer through hand mixing (woe is me).  Once creamed, add the eggs and the bananas.  Lumpy is ok.  

Step 3: Combine flour, salt, and baking powder and slowly add to the mushy banana mixture until everything is combined.  At this point add any extras you want: nuts, chocolate chips, or nothing at all.

Step 4: Pour into a greased baking dish (preferably a loaf pan, but use what you have) and bake for an hour to an hour and 10 minutes.

Step 5: Remove from oven.  Test doneness with a toothpick.  Slice and serve!