This week: Eggs (our ‘Oeuf Oeuvre’)
By the way: I posted a few weeks ago, about peeling hard-boiled eggs by placing them in a pint-sized, covered mason jar with an inch or so of water, and shaking them back and forth vigorously.
See this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3293388/posts
This worked very well for me, after cooking the eggs in an electric cooker, and plunging them into ice water. I had far fewer damaged eggs than I usually do, when I just peeled them right out of the ice water.
Some people asked if it would work if the eggs were refrigerated for a while after boiling; so I tried that this week. I boiled some eggs - this time in the usual way, on top of the stove in a saucepan: place eggs in tap water, bring to rolling boil, remove from heat and wait 10 minutes. Then put in cold water to cool down.
I placed one of those eggs, unpeeled, in the fridge, and left it there for two days. Then, I tried peeling it by the mason jar method. It did NOT work this time. I wound up with so much white peeling away, that all I had left was a yolk with a very thin film of white on top of it.
So, I would say that if you are going to peel your eggs immediately, the method is useful - especially if you are making a lot of deviled eggs. If you’re making a bunch of these to keep in their shells in the fridge, it doesn’t work so well.
But, there are so many variables here that I think the whole issue needs further experimentation. I’ll let you know.
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send a private message.)
-JT
They look good! Thanks!
I love eggs, they are my fave food.
As to crab cakes, I once took the Amtrak to New Orleans from NJ and went the full ride with the sleeper and all the meals. The food was quite good all around, but the lunch they served travelling south on the first leg of the journey was really one of the best meals I’ve ever had, one of the very few I remember.
It was crab cakes (they try to do regional food, and of course we were passing through MD) and fried green tomatoes. Just excellent.
Rather a light meal, so it was perfect for me and it was lunch, but a hungry man (or woman, hey I’m no sexist!) might find it a tad skimpy. The crab cakes were small and very loosely formed, kind of like a nice latke and they just went so well with the fried green tomatoes, which I’ve never had any other time.
I’ve had crab cakes a few times since then, but never 1/2 as good. I hate when they are like huge hamburgers!
Some day I’m going to try and make them.
Just make sure to grease the dish very well, and scramble the egg first.
But when I'm not in a hurry, I like fried eggs with bits of crispy bacon sprinkled in as it cooks. Or popovers, which are really more egg than bread.
My favorite thickener for pie fillings or fruit sauces is eggs and a little flour. It makes the fruit taste richer, where cornstarch dulls the flavor. The exact proportions depend on the fruit and how thick you want it, but as an example:
Pina-colada sauce:
1 20oz can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
(adjust sugars to taste)
1 egg
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1 tablespoon butter
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, mix all ingredients except the extract and the butter. Make sure the egg is thoroughly mixed in! Heat on low, stirring constantly, until it just reaches a rolling boil. Remove from heat, stir until it stops bubbling, and add final ingredients.
This sauce goes great on yogurt, cake, ice cream, you name it! If you want it thicker, double the amount of egg and flour.
I'm still working out the exact proportions for other fruits. I had a strawberry pie that came out soupy because I didn't use enough egg thickener. On the other hand, my mulberry cream pie came out perfect! It tasted a bit like a pudding pie, but was 100% homemade.
The souffle sounds pretty good, I’ve never tried to make one. Sounds pretty close to Quiche though. That I do make...
Don’t know if I have a favorite recipe, I make several I have a hard time deciding between...
If anyone has any interest in sour dough bread, I’ll do up a post.
Quiche is pretty simple.
2 eggs
1C milk
1C cheese (Swiss and Cheddar both work well, I use an italian blend too)
Whatever you want to put in it...sausage, spinach, mushrooms, bacon bits, all sorts of things will work. Veggie or not your choice, I always add at least 1 clove garlic chopped up.
Butter the pan, I use a 9 inch pie pan or cast iron skillet.
Beat eggs and mix in milk.
Spread cheese on bottom of pan, add other fillings, pour egg mixture on slowly.
Bake at 350°F about 30 minutes or until it browns.
I have others, sourdough and regular bread, Calzone, Shepherd’s Pie, pizza from scratch, pizza sauce, some of the best baked salmon you ever had...
Dumb question alert — what makes your souffle rise? As I recall, souffles are fluffy, inflated things, but I don’t see a means by which your souffle would inflate? What am I missing? Or is a sturdy souffle lower and denser than a traditional souffle?
I remember my mom attempted a souffle once and it either failed to rise or collapsed and she joked that it was a “soufflop”!
I ate this every day in Spain!
Tortilla Española
Tortilla española is essentially the national dish of Spain. You can eat it as a tapa, for breakfast, in a bocadillo (sandwich), or for dinner with salad and a bit of jamon. From “Spain...On the Road Again” by Mario Batali, serves 4 to 6 as a tapa or appetizer.
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 pounds waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 extra-large eggs
Directions
Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium- high until very hot but not smoking. Add the potatoes and onion, season with salt and pepper, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat if necessary so that the vegetables do not brown, until the potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 15 to 20 minutes.
Beat the eggs with salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Combine the potatoes with the eggs in the bowl; add to the skillet, spreading the potatoes evenly in the pan, and cook for about 1 minute, just to set the bottom of the egg mixture. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 20 minutes, or until quite set.
Carefully flip the tortilla over (invert it onto a plate if you must, then slide it back into the pan, bottom side up) and cook for 5 minutes longer, until set. Flip out onto a clean plate and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Thanks for your input about bread machines. I went with Breville and so far have been pretty satisfied. My bread making skills are getting better by the day. And the bread tastes so good that there is absolutely no comparison to the store bought one.
Breville has the collapsible paddle which I noticed sometimes doesn’t collapse. But it doesn’t bother me too much.
So far I tried basic white with two different recipes. I’m pretty excited and can’t wait to try making other kinds -only if I could get a loaf consumed each day :-)