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Valentines Update

Like most of you, the current economy has one thinking hard about spending money that isn't a necessity. For Valentines Day this year, Mr. L and I thought long and hard about what we wanted to do. With our 2nd wedding anniversary coming up in April and my birthday the month after that, we figured we'd have a pretty low-key Valentines.

Mr. L was sweet and told me that Valentines Day was for me, and that he would do whatever I wanted. So I chose for him to do the cooking and to go shopping with me. When I saw this breakfast on Pinch My Salt, I knew it was what I was going to ask for Mr. L to make for a start to our Valentines weekend. Since Mr. L is also a big lover of eggs, I figured it would be a great treat for both of us.

HEART SHAPED EGG IN A NEST

Note: Once the egg cooked it did spill a bit over the sides so the heart shape was lost in the final product. Doesn't really matter once you put the spare piece of bread on top of the egg. It might help to use a smaller egg, a bigger thicker piece of bread or a larger heart cutter.

The shopping part of the day was up at Stanford Shopping Center which I haven't been to in years. Yes, we made a stop by Sprinkles (more on that another time), but we also hit up Gourmet Franks and Andronicos. Both which yielded some great food.

Dinner for Valentines Day was a favorite of mine that Mr. L used to make for me when we first started dating. Scallops and Mr. L's famous Spicy Green Beans. Only this time he added an extra special treat. He wrapped the scallops in bacon...he even added an extra slice of bacon on top...just because. I do love this man. One of these days I'll have to have Mr. L give me the recipe for his spicy beans to post.

I couldn't let Mr. L be the only one to get spoiled for Valentines Day so I made treats from Joy The Baker for us.

HEART SHAPED DIPPED KRISPIES

Note: After cutting out the hearts, I had the "edges" of the rice krispy treats left. I just sort of smashed them together and spread leftover chocolate on it. I then cut this into squares and took them to work for treats for my office mates.

Do check out Joy the Baker and Pinch My Salt for some wonderful recipes. They are both wonderful inspiration for great things to cook throughout the year. Both the Egg in the Nest and the Heart Shaped Krispies would work great for birthdays, anniversary's or special occasions.

Small Plates - February 11, 2009

INCREDIBLE EDIBLE - Years ago everyone ate eggs. They were good for you. Then came a report that eggs were bad for you. Horrors, they gave you bad cholesterol. Must eat in extreme moderation. Chickens every where danced with glee. Then several years ago a report came out that eggs weren't actually that bad and having three a week should be okay but no more than three. Now they are saying that eggs are no problem at all, have as many as you want! You realize this means in a few years bacon, mayo and butter will be the healthiest foods for you. To find out more about this new report go here.

EGG MOUSE - Can't get your kids to eat eggs? Trying to make eggs "fun" in the morning? How about Disney Eggs? Disney is now selling eggs. Don't ask me folks. Eggs with a Disney character stamped on the shell. And if you have time, you can even find a Micky Mouse mold to shape your sunny side eggs into mouse ears. No idea at this point how much these eggs will cost, but me? I think I'd take some of my Mickey Mouse stamps and stamp my own characters on some cheap eggs and see if that doesn't work with the kiddies. For a look at the commercial touting these new eggs go here.

VALENTINE EGGS - If you are still looking for something to cook your honey for breakfast and really don't want to go to a lot of work but need something with great presentation? Look no further than Pinch My Salts Heart-Shaped Egg In A Nest. Totally cool idea and I think an awesome way to start this Saturday off. Go here.

INCREDIBLE PEOPLE - Did you know Americas Egg Board won a Golden Egg for excellence in marketing in Shanghai last year? What, you didn't even know there was an American Egg Board? How about the fact that this month they started a new campaign about the incredible people who eat incredible eggs? To check out some of these incredible people go to the www.incredibleegg.org site. Maybe you are incredible too?

Source

Scotch Eggs

I had never heard of "Burns Night" or Burns Supper until Mr. L was invited to one several years ago. For those that haven't a clue (like I didn't have back then), Burns Night is a celebration of the life of poet Robert Burns. And for those of you who have no idea who Robert Burns is, think of the song you sing every New Years...Auld Lang Syne which  was a poem Mr. Burns wrote. Usually happening on January 25th (or the nearest weekend), the parties we've been invited to, usually consist of everyone bringing a potluck item. Which traditionally is Scottish since Burns  was a Scot.

On a previous Burns Night, Mr. L made  Rumbledethumps which I had heard of but had never tasted. This year Mr. L decided to make Scotch Eggs. Though they are technically not a Scottish Dish, they still went over great at the party.

I had part of a Scotch Egg at a British Pub once and I wasn't really thrilled with the taste. Maybe it had been sitting around for a while because it seemed pretty dry. The ones Mr. L made tasted great. I had one fresh out of the fryer before they headed to the event (unfortunately I couldn't go). They may sound weird but they do taste good. People at the party initially didn't know what the dish was, but once they started eating the Scotch Eggs, Mr. L said they were devoured with glee.

Mr. L found a couple of recipes online and pieced them together to make this recipe.

TRADITIONAL SCOTCH EGGS

1 lb pork sausage
1 lb ground pork
10 hard boiled eggs
2 large raw eggs
6 ounces dry breadcrumbs (more if needed)
pinch of mace
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper
flour
2 tablespoons water

Shell the eggs. Dust the hard boiled eggs in a little flour.

Mix the mace, salt and pepper with the pork sausage and ground pork. Divide pork mixture into ten equal portions.  Place on a floured surface. Mold the pork meat around the egg, making sure there are no gaps. Beat the raw eggs together with the water. Coat the meat covered hard boiled eggs with the raw egg water mixture and then roll in the breadcrumbs pressing crumbs into the meat if necessary.

Deep fry in hot oil (360 degrees F). Cook for 5 to 6 minutes.

Drain and serve hot. You can refrigerate and serve cold later if you'd like. Cut in half to showcase the egg inside.

Mr. L's Big Thick Omelet

Though it might not seen like it on this blog, Mr. L does cook. Quite well actually. And often. While I may put a meal on the table many days a week after pouring over recipes, researching ingredients, long hours roaming the isles of the supermarket, it's usually Mr. L that will whip something up for us on those nights where I'm too tried to even think about cooking. And he is the designated breakfast cooker. While on weekends I may make a mean English Muffin or bowl of cereal, he is the master of all things eggs.

Mr. L's cooking is a bit different than mine. He doesn't use recipes. He doesn't measure. He doesn't spend hours thinking about a dish. He's hungry, food needs to be on the table so he concocts something. Drives. Me. Insane. I just can't cook like that (yet anyway). I have many photos of these awesome dishes he's served but alas, his "I just put some of this in and we had some leftover that and here eat it, it's good" doesn't usually translate well into a recipe for my blog. I feel very bad that his creations haven't made my blog yet. So when he made this dish for breakfast the other day I asked a TON of questions. I followed him until I got something that I could actually follow again myself. It was simple. It was good. And I didn't have to lift a finger to make it, all pluses is my book

MR. L'S BIG THICK OMELET

4 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon Tabasco Sauce
a pinch or two of ground pepper
1 thick slice pancetta, diced
2 small slices Honey Baked ham
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated organic swiss cheese

Lightly mix the eggs in a small bowl. Add the Tabasco sauce and ground pepper. Mix.

Melt the butter over medium low in a stainless steel frying pan. Lightly fry the pancetta and ham until they get crispy and are heated through. Set pan aside on low (keep warm).

Pour the egg mixture into a 10" frying pan over medium low and cover. Cook until egg mixture is cooked all the way through, browned on the bottom and the eggs have risen approximately 1/4 of an inch.

Turn heat to low. Drain pancetta and ham mixture on paper towels, then scatter on top of the egg mixture in the pan. Distribute swiss cheese evenly on top. Cover pan again until cheese melts (approximately 1 minute). Mixture can be served open faced or slightly folded over omelet style as shown.

Salt to taste. Serves 2 (or one hungry person).

Note: That much Tabasco might be too much for some so use the hot stuff to your taste.

Note: Mr. L used leftover Honey Baked ham from Christmas. It was the same thickness as the pancetta which made for a nice presentation.

Note: If you want the pancetta mixture to be integrated with the eggs, add a few minutes before eggs set. I kinda liked the way it was just a filling in the omelet.

Quail Eggs and Karubi

Mr. L and I are sushi lovers, though he more than I. He tends to order strange things like Tobiko with Quail Eggs. I tend to stick to things like Super Albacore or San Diego Rolls. But as much as possible we head to our local sushi joints for a meal.

Since  the place I get my nails done is in San Jose's Japantown (I go to the Sakura Nail Bar, a great place to get a mani-pedi), Mr. L and I have lots of places to choose from when it comes to Japanese food. We've also become fond of the little Japanese grocery store that's in the area. The Nijiya Market is barely bigger than my living room but it's packed full of all sorts of interesting items. I love going in and walking down each isle looking at the wonderful fresh sashimi, strange shaped vegetables, fresh noodles and boxed goods. I could get lost in the candy isle since the boxes they are packaged in have such vibrant colors and cool designs.

Our last trip to the market resulted in our buying a little carton of fresh quail eggs. Since Mr. L had just had some Tobiko with Quail Egg for dinner we thought we might try to fry up some little eggs for the next days breakfast. We also picked up a package of 'beef prime short ribs karubi". I think the beef is normally put on skewers and grilled but it had great marbling and a sort of "steak and egg" breakfast came to mind.

Cracking open the quail eggs and getting them into the pan wasn't the easiest thing to accomplish. The first couple just kinda broke into the pan (which didn't bother me much since I like my eggs cooked over-hard anyway), but Mr. L wanted his eggs over easy. I ran to my computer and tried to find something online about frying up these little eggs but it seems most folks either hard boil or poach them (which I want to try sometime). I did read that if you used a sharp heavy knife and gave the little eggs a quick whack in the middle, it might help open them a bit better and it seemed to work okay when Mr. L tried this. As you can see by the photo he was able to perfect his "over-easy" technique. The eggs tasted great...they were so tiny and cute on the plate. I think of them like little silver dollar pancakes, little disks you just put in your mouth hole. I envision a breakfast at some point with quail eggs, silver dollar pancakes, tiny english muffins, a mini-muffin tin sized serving of hash browns and...well...do they even make tiny bacon????

The quail eggs and the wonderful Karubi (the meat was very tender) made for an interesting and tasty weekend breakfast!

Egg Salad With Dill

This egg salad comes from The Silver Palate Cookbook. I made it first probably 20 or so years ago and it's been my favorite egg salad ever since. Please note...this is probably only the third time I've ever made it!

Since this is the only egg salad recipe I've ever made I can't really tell you if it's the best. I only know I like it much better than most of the egg salad I've ever ordered in a deli or restaurant. Most of the egg salad I get is a bit on the 'dry' side, where I would call this a more 'wet' version.

I used the Cut-N-Seal from Pampered Chef to make these cute little sandwiches. You really need some soft bread for this to work so I usually try to find a loaf of fresh white Wonder Bread. This time I used some "whole grain white" bread and I wish I had gone back to the Wonder Bread. You waste a LOT of bread doing this but I think it's so worth it as the presentation is pretty cool (I made these for a friends baby shower many years ago).  I filled these up a bit to much and the first two or three I made had egg salad squirting out the top. Even the photographed ones have more than is really needed. The actual sandwich comes out to be about 2 1/2 inches across. Of course the egg salad can just be put between two layers of regular bread. The cookbook says it works really well on black bread. It also tastes pretty good just spooned from the mixing bowl...not that I would ever do that of course.

I'm going to use this as my entry for The Weekend Cookbook Challenge which this month is being held by Mel's Diner. You are supposed to use a salad recipe from one of your cookbooks. This is my first foray into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge and I'm excited to see what other salads folks come up with. I'll post about the roundup which should be around the end of June.

Do be aware if your husband is anything like Mr. L, they will try to see if they can put a whole sandwich in their mouth at one time. I can't tell you exactly how many of the sandwiches this recipe makes as we were eating them as we made them and I barely had enough egg salad left to give to my mom!

EGG SALAD WITH DILL

8 hard-cooked eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped purple onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 cup prepared Dijon-style mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Peel the eggs and quarter them. Place in a mixing bowl with the onion and dill.

In another bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream and mustard and pour over the eggs, onion and dill.

Toss gently, season to taste with salt and pepper, and toss again. Cover and refrigerate if you must, but the salad is at its best eaten immediately. Makes six portions.

Note: I used less than a third a cup of dill. A third a cup is a lot of chopped dill! I also used Grey Poupon mustard.

Note: I did more than quarter the eggs, I pretty much cut them into pieces as it made it easier to put in the Cut-N-Seal sandwich.

Baked Eggs in Ham Shells

Back in January, while checking out one of my favorite websites, Yumsugar, I came across this recipe. It had everything I was looking for...the recipe looked quick, it called for ingredients I had on hand and did I mention quick? Not being a morning person breakfasts on weekends tend to happen about noon...and they are mostly cooked by Mr. L. So having something that I could make in a half asleep stupor seemed like a bonus to me.

You can go to Yumsugar to get a detailed recipe, but honestly, I don't think you need one. The concept is simple, the ingredients can change for what you have on hand and if you like your eggs more well done like I do, you can cook it longer to get that hard cooked yolk.

To make these fancy, cook them in individual ramekins...makes a quick brunch idea for quests. I just made mine in a muffin tin. These were so quick and easy to throw together that they make a perfect fast and fairly healthy breakfast. Using sliced turkey would probably make it South Beach friendly too.

BAKED EGGS IN HAM SHELLS

You'll need the following

Sliced deli meat (I used Black Forest Ham)
Eggs
Cheese (I used some pre-shredded Jack I had on hand)
Milk
Salt and Pepper
Optional - Veggies (tomatoes, garlic, green onions etc).

Heat your oven to 375 degrees. Put a couple of pieces of deli meat in the muffin tin (overlap them to make a nest). If you are using some veggies (I added a bit of diced tomato) put a spoonful in the bottom of the tin. Add some cheese and a splash of milk. Crack an egg in the center. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until egg is cooked to your liking. The original recipe said 20 minutes which made the eggs well done in my oven. Since Mr. L likes his eggs runny, I cut the time way down and just eyeballed it until they were to his preference.

Note: I used very good sliced ham from my local deli for the above photo. I've also used Oscar Meyer prepackaged ham slices in a pinch. Both versions worked for me.

Note: Depending on the size of your muffin tins, the size of your eggs, and if you add veggies, the entire mixture may not fit. I had to adjust things a bit after I cracked in the first egg and had it running over.

Note: I also spray my muffin tin with a light spray of veggie oil so the nests come out easy and if any egg runs over the top it doesn't stick to the tin.

Spam Fried Rice

The reason there is no photo of the Spam Fried Rice is A) the camera was broken and I couldn't take the shot B) The cat ate it all before I could photograph it or C) We were hungry so we scarfed it all down in seconds flat with no care to whether it was photographed for the blog or not. Your answer will depend on how well you know me.

The Spam? We bought it in Vegas when we went to see Spamalot. For $10 a can. And why would I actually cook with a ten dollar can of Spam? Because it was there, I was hungry, and Jaden Suessed me.

One of my favorite blogs is Jaden's Steamy Kitchen. I found an old recipe on her blog for Spam Fried Rice where she did a little ode to Spam before the recipe. How can one NOT make it after that? To check out her blog for a great photo of the dish, her Ode to Spam in the Style of Seuss and her recipe go here.

I love Spam so this was right up my alley. And Mr. L? Who said he doesn't like Spam? He was scarfing it right along with me!

SPAM FRIED RICE (ala Jaden's Steamy Kitchen)

3 cups jasmine rice, day old, chunks broken up so grains are loose and separate
1/2 can of Spam, cut into small dice
2 eggs, beaten (I used 3)
2 stalks green onion, finely minced (I used 3)
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry which is what I used)
1 teaspoon fish sauce (or soy sauce which is what I used)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
Cooking oil

Heat cooking oil in wok or large, wide saute pan over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add eggs and gently stir to cook eggs. When eggs are about 80% done (still a little runny), remove from pan and set aside.

Turn heat to high. Add a little more cooking oil to pan. When hot, add diced Spam to the pan. Cook until Spam is browned. Add green onions, fry until fragrant. Add spinach, fry until softened. Add rice and the cooked eggs and toss to incorporate all ingredients throughout rice.

Let it all just sit still in the pan so that the grains of rice have a chance to heat up, about 1 minute. Toss  so that the rice that is on top now is on the bottom. Add cooking wine and fish sauce (or soy sauce) and stir again. Season with ground pepper. Is every grain of rice hot? If not, cook longer.

Taste...salty enough? If not, add a little more fish or soy sauce. But since the Spam is salty already, you might want to go light on the sauce.

Note: I used some microwavable Jasmine Rice from Trader Joes. I made it a day ahead (which took a whole 3 minutes). It tasted pretty good for pre-done rice. I added an extra egg and onion. I didn't put a full 2 cups spinach, I just used what I had and I used dry sherry and soy sauce.

Grandpa Cooley's Angry Deviled Eggs

At the book signing of Lost Recipes, Christopher Kimball talked about this recipe and it's strange name. Back in November when there was a National Deviled Egg day, I remembered Kimballs talk and decided to try the recipe from his book.

In one of the cooking class's I took we were taught to read the recipe twice before you even start taking out ingredients or utensils. Silly me sort of forgot that little rule when I started these eggs. Knowing that dry mustard was to be used, as I started tossing ingredients into the bowl, when I came to "2 teaspoons yellow mustard" I picked up the yellow can of dry mustard and proceeded to add 2 teaspoons...which should have been the yellow wet French's mustard. Dry mustard was supposed to only be 1/4 a teaspoon. Oops. Sigh. I tried to take as much of the yellow mustard out as I could without taking out the other ingredients but I'm not sure how successful that was.

One of the tips the book gives was to turn the egg carton on it's side to help "center" the egg yolks. This absolutely did not work for me as not only were the yolks not "centered" but quite a few of the yolks ended up so close to the edge that barely a hairs width of white separated the yolks from the outside. Didn't help when you cut them in half and made adding the deviled egg mixture back almost impossible.

Another tip was to shake the pan after pouring out the hot water to crack the egg shells. I think I was a little rough as the whites seemed to have "dents" in them from the cracked shells. Some of the shells came off really easy and others were a bit tough to get all the little pieces of shell off.

One tip that was given is something I will now use on any deviled egg recipes I make and that is to put the yolks through a sieve. It made a much smoother mixture and also helped keep out those rubber lumps of yolk that seem to pop up now and then.

I ate one of these immediately after putting them together. The egg mixture was still a bit warm. The egg tasted okay, but nothing special. Eating one the next day gave the ingredients a time to gel and the deviled egg tasted really good. A bit tangier than regular deviled eggs and really good. Quite addicting actually.

GRANDPA COOLEY'S ANGRY DEVILED EGGS

12 large eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Paprika for garnish

Place the eggs in a large saucepan, cover with an inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat.
Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a medium bowl with 1 quart water and a dozen ice cubes. Pour off the water from the saucepan and gently shake the pan back and forth to crack the shells. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to the ice water and let cool 5 minutes.

Peel the eggs and slice them in half length-wise. Transfer the yolks to a fine-mesh sieve and use a spatula to press them through the sieve and into a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients (except for the paprika) and mash the mixture against the sides of the bowl until smooth.

Arrange the whites on a serving platter and fill with the yolk mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and serve. makes 2 dozen filled egg halves.

Note: Test kitchen notes say to start with two tablespoons of horseradish and add more as desired. I added the three and then I ended up adding about another half tablespoon of the horseradish and another 2 tablespoons of mayo. The original mixture was to "thick" for my taste. I would also probably see if it needed more salt (I'm afraid some of the salt I originally added was taken out when I tried to delete some of the extra dry mustard).

Note: I'd let these set in the fridge for a while before serving them.