Archive for the 'eggs' Category
I thought I might actually lose some weight this week. Ha! Instead I’ve become hooked on peanut butter toast, those chewy-salty peanut granola bars, and Oreos with 2% milk. When your very best choices are the snacky things, you tend to go a bit overboard. Or I do, anyway.
Damn you, Mr. Christie. You make good cookies.
I’ve been running on fumes this week. (Literally-I haven’t managed a shower in two days.) I haven’t been keeping up with the conversation here or at the Week in Their Kitchen blog as much as I’d like to. Today I didn’t have much time to spend trying to figure out what to do. I thought it was going to be a can of soup night. But I pulled out the thickly sliced zucchini and mushrooms in tomato sauce I made earlier in the week, thinking I’d put it on pasta. But it was so nice and chunky… I warmed it in a little baking dish, made some wells with a spoon into which I cracked a few eggs, and baked it. The eggs are tiny – rolling around in their styrofoam egg container with the expiry date hand-written on it in marker. I wonder if they are from someone’s backyard chickens?
You guys. I can’t believe how good this was. It was brilliant. I am so adding this to my regular repertoire, and not even changing it when I have access to more ingredients.
I’ve made eggs in Pipérade before – with peppers, tomatoes and garlic – but I don’t recall it being quite this good. Perhaps it was the time the vegetables had to spend in the fridge.
It was simply a zucchini, package of mushrooms (and OK – an onion – only because it was on the countertop on Monday and Mike unknowingly chopped and tossed it in, thinking it was with the rest of the stuff) and a shake of dehydrated garlic (one of my three spice choices) sauteed in a skillet with some canola oil. I poured a can of the plainest tomato sauce overtop and let it simmer, then it spent a few days in the fridge. Once the eggs were cracked in, they took about 15 minutes to bake in a 400ºF oven. Wowzah.
We ate it on toast, which was part of the appeal – I’m a fan of bread dragged through thick tomato sauce – and this was almost sloppy-Joe-esque, only better. And what a great, cheap, meatless meal – like eggs on toast for grown-ups. So long as you have tomato sauce, it could be made from any number of wilting veggies.
Speaking of. I know the Calgary Food Bank has become a sort of dumping ground for produce that is unsellable and often on the verge of composting itself. Plenty of companies (generously?) donate what’s garbage to them to the food bank, much of which is on the verge of unusable or already slimy – I’ve seen staff and volunteers out back, sorting through heaps of compost, opening packages to dump out the contents and filter out the plastic packaging. They really don’t need to be spending time and resources sorting through garbage so that whatever is compostable makes it into compost instead of into landfill.
So while we’re collectively eye-rolling over plantains and mushrooms and expired coleslaw (which is dated May 25th, but I ate again tonight, and it was just fine) I’m glad that some of this is being used – clearly plenty of it is perfectly edible, despite its poor aesthetics. We consumers like our produce to be plump and fresh with nary a blemish.
Which brings me to the topic of food waste. It’s something I’ve wanted to address for awhile – I have plenty to say on the subject, but for now I want to toss it out there for you to comment on. Every month, residents of Toronto toss out 17.5 million kilograms of food. (I’m sure statistics for Calgary are similar.) About a third of food purchased in the UK is thrown out every year – that translates to about $19.5 billion in Canadian dollars. Part of the problem is best-before and use-by dates on packaging, which isn’t regulated by any governing body and so determined by the manufacturers, most of whom undoubtedly would like to see a faster turnover of their product. Part of the problem is planning, and ease of accessibility, and sheer volume of food we all keep in our kitchens. (Do you know exactly what’s lurking in your fridge?) And buying more instead of using what we have.
Discuss.
June 03 2010 | breakfast and eggs | 29 Comments »
It would appear I’ve erased the photos of our 24 hours in Banff; not sure how I managed this, but I have. It’s amazing what I can accomplish when I’m not even paying attention.
So I can’t even show you the blast from the past photos from our old-school Banff overnighter – we had a sleepover at the Banff Park Lodge last night, and dinner (strawberry margarita and Loco Gringo Salad – hey, it’s tradition) amid snowboarders at Magpie & Stump.
W had his first introduction to chocolate bear claws and Rundle rock (chocolate dipped sponge toffee named after Mt. Rundle) at The Fudgery in the Sundance Mall. (As kids, this was our post-ski stop before the drive back to Calgary or our hotel; my sisters always got candy apples, but I chose fudge or something chocolate-and-caramelly – I wasn’t about to get suckered into fruit on a stick, disguised as chocolate.) M and W spent much of the evening/morning in the pool, and I did a talk to a group of anesthesia residents, who were subjected to listening to me babble and make romesco dip and bean cookies for an hour or so.
But I guess I can tell you about the quickie I made when we got home and I needed some sort of ballast against our breakfast buffet, road coffees and far too much nibbling from the fudge bag. (I did not intend that to be a metaphor for ANYTHING, just to be clear.)
We weren’t much in the mood to eat or cook when we got home, but I needed something – so I skilleted a can of chick peas in hot oil and garlic, much the same way I do roasted chick peas with chard, but quicker, and with a dab of curry paste. I tore in a few sad chard leaves, then topped it with a poached egg, as W had required poached eggs on toast for dinner.
Honestly, it was one of the best things I’ve eaten in awhile.
February 27 2010 | eggs | 11 Comments »
Have you ever panicked that there is just so much food and so little time? I do. Frequently.
I remember the first time I felt a pang of THERE IS JUST SO MUCH TO EAT AND ONLY SO MANY DAYS IN A WEEK AND HOURS IN A DAY! AND MONTHS IN A YEAR! EVERY DAY I HAVE TO DECIDE! I’M NOT GOING TO HAVE TIME TO EAT IT ALL! THE MATH JUST DOESN’T ADD UP! – it was triggered by a coconut cream pie. So now every time I get overwhelmed by the food possibilities out there (eating in and out), or unreasonably angry that I’ve wasted valuable space and calories on something that was not all it should be, I think of coconut cream pie. OK, not really every time. But sometimes I have my coconut cream pie moments.
I get this feeling a lot when I get sucked into the vortex of food blogs – skipping from one to the next, bookmarking stuff and taking mental notes that invariably more mental notes get loaded on top of until I go a little bit mental. Once in awhile something I see jumps the queue – this was one of them. And I had a bag of the daintiest little Canadian du puy lentils that remind me of smooth, speckled green river stones that I was dying to use.
A Gourmet recipe, it was originally titled “Fried Eggs Over Warm Lentil Salad with Lardons”, which sounds appealingly rustic and British, but of course we don’t generally use the term lardon to describe the bacon in our skillets, and because I’m trying to be a little bit less lardon I poached my eggs instead of frying them. Every little bit helps.
This was actually lunch and dinner; at 6pm I tossed the leftover lentil salad back into the skillet I had just cooked plain old pork chops in, tossing them around to warm them and get some of those flavourful bits. It made a great accompaniment; ditto pork tenderloin or roast, I’d imagine.
Poached Eggs Over Warm Lentil Salad with Bacon
Thanks again, Gourmet. (This of course has been adapted – I also tossed the spinach right in and wilted it, rather than scattering it overtop the eggs as per their instruction.) If you want to throw a peeled clove of garlic into the pot of lentils while they simmer, go right ahead.
3/4 cup dried lentils (I used little green du Puy lentils)
4 slices bacon, chopped
2 leeks (white and pale green parts only), finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, or to taste
1 cup baby spinach
1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon (optional)
salt & pepper
4-8 large eggs
In a small saucepan, cover lentils with about twice as much water, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, or until just tender. (You can do this ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you’re ready for them.)
While the lentils are simmering, cook the bacon until crisp in a large, heavy skillet; transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate, leaving the drippings in the skillet. (If you like, pour them out and add a drizzle of canola or olive oil.) Add the leeks, celery, and carrot and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Add vinegar and cook until it’s mostly evaporated. Drain the lentils well and add them to the skillet along with the spinach and tarragon; cook, stirring, until heated through and the spinach wilts. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the bacon.
Meanwhile, poach your eggs. Divide the warm lentil salad among 4 plates and top with the eggs. Serves 4.
One Year Ago: Roast Chicken and Hummus Wraps and Mandarin Milkshakes
January 11 2010 | beans and eggs and one dish and vegetarian | 29 Comments »
I think if one is going to discuss tomatoes, the issue of classification (fruit or vegetable) should be cleared out of the way at the outset.
Botanically, tomatoes are indeed fruit. This is a fact of common knowledge, yet although people are quick to point it out, they hardly consider treating them as such. One would no more make a sweet and cinnamon-scented crisp out of tomatoes than they would stuff an apple with crumbs and top it with cheese. (Although come to think of it, either one might be quite tasty. I have, after all, discovered this year that tomato paste makes a more than suitable addition to a spicy Jewish apple cake, and I’ve for a long time added a spoonful to carrot cakes.)
And that’s because tomatoes are – ready for this? – vegetables. The term is purely culinary, referring to any plant whose fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves, or flower parts are used as food. So from a culinary standpoint, from the arena in which it matters (the kitchen), a tomato is a vegetable. But whatever you call it – I’m just happy that my plants are producing some.
(And in case you do get pulled into the fruit vs. vegetable debate, you can play the Supreme Court card: legally, tomatoes have been considered vegetables since the late 1800s when the US imposed tariff laws that included a duty on vegetables but not fruit, forcing the court to decide; furthermore, tomatoes are the state vegetable of New Jersey – 8,682,661 New Jerseyers can’t be wrong.)
So yes, it’s Tomato Week, the final installment of Summer Fest 2009, and I’m late to the party again – last week seemed to completely blow by without much more than roasted beans, let alone greens.
This week though, my tomato plants are bursting. Bursting! I no longer have tomato envy. I am the proud mama of two flourishing plants, picked up around May/June from Home Depot with high hopes and replanted (at about a foot tall) in the old double sink propped up against the fence and filled with dirt. They are now over-the-fence-high; over the summer as they grew I propped them up with bamboo sticks and chunks of hockey sticks, secured with twist ties, and maybe it’s all that Canadian karma, but it worked. One is heavy with cherry tomatoes, not all ripe at once but promising a tomato-heavy month; the other produced small “patio” tomatoes, sort of like a cross between a Roma and a regular beefsteak. They are still green, but they’re there. And there are lots of them. And I grew them. Or at least, didn’t kill them.
One of my favourite things to do to a cherry tomato is roast it; drizzle with oil, scatter with garlic and sprinkle with salt, then roast at 400F or so until they release their juices and shrivel, then start to get sticky, dark bits. There are so many things you can do with roasted tomatoes: scrape out of the pan onto hot pasta with crumbled feta or goat cheese and tear some fresh herbs over top; add chicken or veg stock and puree for roasted tomato soup (add a splash of cream at the end); scatter over pizza; or make a savoury clafoutis.
Roasted Cherry Tomato and Goat Cheese Clafoutis
A clafoutis is a baked French custard usually studded with cherries and sweetened with sugar; this one is savoury, but resembles the original with cherry tomatoes. Serve it warm or cold, in wedges. It’s probably great as a sandwich, tucked between buttered toast.
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
2-3 garlic cloves, left whole
canola or olive oil, for cooking
salt and pepper
4 oz. soft goat cheese
2 Tbsp. snipped fresh chives, parsley or basil
3 large eggs
1 cup half & half
3 Tbsp. flour
Preheat the oven to 400F. Spread the tomatoes and garlic in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, roll around to coat and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to shrivel and turn golden.
Scrape into a pie plate or other shallow baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Turn the oven down to 350F. Crumble over the goat cheese and sprinkle with chives.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream and flour; pour over the tomatoes and cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and pale golden. Serve immediately, wait until it cools to room temperature, or chill and serve cold.
A lot of tomatoes are finding their way into kitchens this week:
Margaret of A Way to Garden made some quick tomato sauce, ever so slowly; Matt of Matt Bites shows off his Tomato Top Ten. Shauna of Gluten Free Girl slices them up and makes a smoked salsa. Marilyn of Simmer Till Done made us an upside-down tomato-basil bread. Paige of The Sister Project simmered tomato soup. Jaden of Steamy Kitchen (thankfully!) made a Caprese salad with basil vinaigrette. And Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple simmered some tomato jam – yum.
Check them out – Summer Fest 2009 – like summer itself – is coming to an end.
One Year Ago: Grilled Cheese with Elk Pepper Salami, Pickled Beet and Apple Salad
August 18 2009 | appetizers and eggs and vegetarian | 22 Comments »
Made high tea today for donors attending the Family of Hope Tea at the Alberta Children’s Hospital; wee sandwiches with the crusts cut off, lemon scones with berry jam and cream, my Mom’s nut balls, vanilla bean meringues and lemon curd tartlets. I made it home (through rush hour) by 5, but after milling about with the neighbours out front it was suddenly 6, and so we had the last of the egg salad for dinner.
Egg salad, in my opinion, must be eaten on soft white bread, spread with soft butter. Crusty bread and rolls are the natural enemy of egg salad, causing it to squirt out the other end upon biting. All teas must have small sandwiches, and among them must be egg salad and cucumber (I did mine with chives and fresh mint from the garden), but plain old egg salad, though I love it, seemed dull. So along with the mayo I stirred in a bit of curry paste (powder would work as well), a handful of finely chopped red pepper, tore in some cilantro and snipped in some chives. It was pretty fine, if I do say so myself. Luckily, having made a batch using 18 eggs, there was enough left over.
For dessert – now here is an example of how a few sad leftovers quickly reassembled turned into something that when you describe it sounds downright fancy – I had a few extra lemon biscuits (or scones – pretty much the same thing – scones tend to be sweeter and denser, with an egg added, but these are sweet too – scones without the density and egg?) and a bit of whipped cream, but no berries save for frozen wild blueberries. So I thawed them with a drizzle of maple syrup and swirled that into the small dish of leftover cream, which had sort of deflated after several hours, and then got a bit watered down from the juicy berries and maple syrup, and made a kind of fool, albeit a sloppy one. A sloppy fool on a flaky bun. You are what you eat, I guess.
Large-Batch Lemon Biscuits/Scones
I used a small biscuit cutter to make mine, but the open end of a tomato paste can is perfect. Or for square scones, which look very cool, simply cut them into squares using a pastry cutter or knife. If you like, add fresh or frozen blueberries as you stir the milk into the dry ingredients – if they are frozen don’t thaw them, or they will turn your dough greenish and wet.
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2/3 cup butter, cut into chunks (I used roughly a third of a pound of butter for each of three batches – it doesn’t have to be exact)
1 cup milk, plus a little extra for brushing on top
coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
In the bowl of a food processor (or a large bowl), combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Add the butter and pulse or work with a pastry cutter, fork or your fingers until the mixture is well combined and crumbly, with bits of butter no bigger than a pea – you want to leave some larger bits, rather than blending it completely – the larger chunks are what will make them flaky.
If you used a food processor (this is my favourite way) – dump the mixture into a bowl. Add the milk and stir just until you have a soft dough (you may need to use your hands). Pat the dough out about 3/4″ thick and cut into small rounds with a biscuit cutter, glass or open can rim, or a knife. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, spacing them an inch apart. If you like, brush the tops lightly with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 30-35 biscuits.
Header update: Thanks, really, for all your input. The cookies were a place holder really, I didn’t want to spend too much time on this if the consensus was a big thumbs-down. I thought I’d use this template and do up several with different images, and then add some sort of plug-in to make them automatically rotate. Or change it altogether. Or something.
Any thoughts on a different tag line? Some of you may have mentioned in passing that it’s stale and cookbooky, which is definitely not what I want to portray. You all know this site better than me even, being on the other side of the screen.
It’s difficult to encapsulate yourself in a graphic design format, particularly when a) you’re not a graphic designer and b) you can’t figure out this stupid new computer program. And yes, it had occurred to me to call an artist/graphic designer friend (and I’ve had some offers- thank you!) for help, but I wouldn’t want to presume that dinner might be a fair trade for their time and skill. Plus – graphic designers all have their own sense of style too. What if they don’t jive? I’ve worked with many (not friends!) that came up with things I just didn’t like, or that didn’t quite grasp what I wanted. Of course, I don’t even know what I want, except that it be hip/fun/current/usable as a header with elements that could be used on their own for a logo. Like a header transformer. I would hate to not like what they do, or be ultra high-maintenance and force them to do a dozen different things and then go back to the first, or change my mind and do something completely different. I don’t want to be one of those people.
One Year Ago: Tim’s Everything Bagel, Old Cheddar Cheese
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May 28 2009 | cookies & squares and eggs and sandwiches | 51 Comments »
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