Eggy-in-a-Basket: A Recipe for Fresh Eggs

I met Foy while in Savannah, GA for graduate school. She's always amazed me with her knowledge of plants and horticulture, and she always brought something scrumptious and homemade to our many potluck dinners. I make a recipe very similar to this, it's especially great when camping. Try it with some cinnamon raisin bread for an awesome sweet/savory combo. Enjoy this post from Foy!

Eggy-in-a-Basket:  A Recipe for Fresh Eggs 

Eggy in a basket was a staple for our two years as Peace Corps Volunteers.  Jeff and I lived without electricity in a tiny rural village up on the continental divide in Panama.  This was our kitchen:

One of our chief luxuries was the stove and oven we ran off a 10 gallon tank of propane. 

While in Panama I learned how to bake simple bread, much like Miranda’s Onion and Herb Bread recipe.  We had neighbors who sold us eggs from their pollos de patio (patio chickens).   At least once a week, we’d make eggy-in-a-basket.  It is such a simple comfort food. 

Back in The States, we live in an apartment with no room for a bevie of backyard beauties like Miranda’s.  I found the next best thing, a country house along my way to work with a sign that reads, “Brown Eggs $2.50 a Doz.”  The yolks of these eggs sit high and pert and are a dark rich marigold color.  Fresh eggs are essential for good eggy-in-a-basket. 

I like my yolks a little runny while Jeff prefers them set but not opaque.  This is how I make eggy-in-a-basket for the two of us. 

I start with a couple thick slices of bread.  They don’t have to be homemade, but you can’t go wrong with fresh bread.

Then poke out the middles out of each slice.  You don’t want to break the ring.  That’s what’s going to keep the egg in place. 

Butter a large skillet with about a half tablespoon of butter.  I use a non-stick skillet, but I bet a cast iron skillet would be divine.  Place the bread in the skillet.  Put the centers you poked out of the bread in there too.  Then crack one egg into each bread ring. 

If you prefer your eggs over hard puncture the yolk.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper then cook the eggs over medium to low heat. 

Flip the eggies over once the albumin of the egg has started to turn solid white, should take one or two minutes.  Continue to let them cook for another minute or so.  I pull mine off the heat a little before Jeff’s because I like dipping the bread center into the soft yoke.  You can tell if the centers have set by prodding the middle.  If it jiggles it’s not set. 

Eggy-in-a-basket is delicious alone or make a meal out of it by adding some veggies.  We had ours with a side of Brussels sprouts pan roasted with onion and bacon.  If you want the recipe hop on over to my blog, Foy Update: Garden. Cook. Write. Repeat. 

I hope you will try eggy-in-a-basket.  They are a simple pleasure and I know you’ll like them. 

Ciabatta Attempt= Quasi Success

Well, it tasted good, but was NOT the light and fluffy texture ciabatta ought to be. Why? Cuz bread just don't rise in this here house! (said in a hillbilly type moonshiner's accent).
My husband has been clamouring for his 'favorite summer meal' since we've had all these tomatoes draped everywhere in the kitchen: tomato and mozzerella sandwich on ciabatta. We went to the store to buy the mozz and the bread and i thought to myself "9.50$ for a little ball of mozz! I can do that for way less." Normally i'd be right. In this case i was wrong. I got the milk too hot before i added the rennet and the curds just wouldn't congeal. I added more rennet and finally got some curds, but added them to too hot of water for the stretching part and ended up with completely dissolved and disappeared cheese that i salvaged some semblance of curd from that was at least salty and tasted LIKE mozz. Sigh. Plus my bread didn't rise and we ended up with some seriously filling and dense bread that tasted like ciabatta on the outside at least.
I will master this skill if it kills me! Today i'll be utilizing the yummy whey to make some herb bread (i will succeed, i will i will i WILL succeed at baking!), use it in my cranberry nut bread for the holidays, and maybe add it to the chilly i'm making today to tenderize the beans. Not sure if that works or not. Ha. Maybe it's time to make some mayo as well....

Anyway, may not have risen or congealed, but the flavors were still good and these sammies were a filling and great combination with the season finale of Dexter. What an episode!

 

Not light, fluffy, or full of air holes. At least the crust is perfecto.

 

 Is there a technique in the kitchen or any other homesteading skills you just can't get the knack of?

Chicken Salad

As an elaboration to my earlier post on using all the bits and pieces from a cooked chicken, here is the chicken salad i made. Super delicious, and a great way to use those not-so-pretty chunks and shreds of chicken salvaged from a boiled carcass. This blend was super simple, relying mostly on the great flavor of my recent batch of homemade mayonnaise.

First, for the mayonnaise:

• 1 freshly laid egg, one fresh egg yolk
• Pinch salt
• Half a spoonful of dijon mustard
• 1 ice cube whey
• 1 ice cube meyer lemon juice
• Olive oil

If your egg is freshly laid, it's warm and ready to be processed. Never try and use a cold egg from the fridge. One of my eggs wasn't just laid, so i placed it in the hot water left in the bottom of my canner - also placing the bowl of the food processor in the same water to warm it.
Drop in all the ingredients except the oil and process until froth, about 30 seconds or so. With the attachment that lets you process and add stuff at the same time, slowly add the olive oil. SLOWLY! Start with a drop - ONE DROP. Then slowly pour the skinniest stream you can. The slow addition is the key to good mayo. My mayos of the past have been delicious, but dark yellow. This mayo has been properly emulsified and is a lighter color, more reminiscent of store mayo. I leave my mayo out for the rest of the night and then store in the fridge (as per the instructions in Nourishing Traditions). I find there is still always some seperation of oil at the bottom of the jar - i'm unphased by this. This mayo is super delicious and makes me want to make french fries to dip in it, evil nom nom nom nom.

For the salad:

• Chicken salvaged from a boiled carcass - could also use rotisserie chicken, but it'll be greasier to begin with
• Homemade mayo - i used all that wouldn't fit into the little jar i keep the mayo in. Maybe a full half cup. I wasn't skimping!
• 1/2 cup or so of finely diced jicama
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• Pinches salt and basil
• Pinch diced fresh garlic chives

Just mush together and enjoy! I served mine on a cabbage coleslaw (with no mayo, just vinegar and mirin) and served the husband a nice, fat sandwich with a side of carrots and cheese.

Here's to using every last bit!

And don't forget! The winner of my $50 GIVEAWAY will be announced this coming Tuesday, my blogversary. Check out the post and enter for your chance to win a giftcard to CSN stores. I will choose the winner Monday night, so you have until I fall asleep to post a comment and i'll announce the winner Tuesday afternoon! Yay!

Egg and Tomato Salads - Bounties of Summer

Today is the last official day of my venture in kid friendly, low heat recipes (thank goodness!) but i will have one more recipe next week that is sure to please most kids, and my desire to avoid processed foods. One of our few food vices are Morningstar Farms' 'chicken' nuggets. They're vegetarian and taste just like chicken, without the grease, nasty animal parts, or other questionable textures of real chicken nuggets - but clearly they're highly processed. So, next week i'll be trying my hand at homemade nuggets using ground turkey. One day we'll have our own poultry and goats to grind up into nuggets and sausage, but baby steps, baby steps: my first try will be with store bought ground turkey.

Anyhoo, today i've got two recipes, both utilizing my Summer's bounty. This is the time of year i long for all Winter! The time of year where i can walk into my yard, suffer a million mosquito bites, and enjoy a fresh dinner comprising solely of homegrown veg and herb. Since it's never quite the same, thrown together based on what is ripe, i don't usually post the recipe - but last night's dinner was just so yummy and beautiful i thought i'd post it. All the veggies can be interchanged to some degree, but what's better than freshly picked homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers??? I can't think of anything.

Summer Salad

• Freshly picked homegrown tomatoes. I used Porter Improved and Japanese Black Trifele (which tastes a lot like Cherokee Purple, very rich and meaty, but is way more productive. Always pick at blush or with green shoulders, and eat with green shoulders or they taste almost rotten)
• 1 freshly picked lemon cucumber. Could use 2, i only had one ready.
• Nice bunch of lemon basil
• Pinch garlic chives
• 1 small  red onion
• Several cloves of  garlic
• Salt and Pepper
• Cayenne and Chilly powders - could use fresh or dried peppers
• 1 cob fresh corn, boiled lightly, kernels removed
• Splash balsalmic
• Very light drizzle olive oil
• Optional chunks of homemade cheese, or feta or mozz

Simply chop all the ingredients - finely or chunky depending how you like it. Add vinegar and olive oil and seasonings and stir it up. I served mine with some pieces of sausage - mostly for the husband. I just can't get enough of dinner stirred up from Summer sunshine!!
This is similar to salsa, so if your kiddos like salsa you could chop all of these ingredients finely and serve as such, or just add cucumbers to all your favorite salsa recipes.

Egg Salad Plus

• 4 boiled eggs, chopped and mushed
• 1 very small onion finely chopped - may omit for kid friendly version
• Pinch of garlic chives, scallion, or one clove garlic - may omit most of the raw veg for kid friendliness
• Fresh Genovese basil, about 3 leaves finely chopped
• Dash cayenne
• 3 strips turkey bacon cooked and chopped fine
• Smoked paprika - hot or sweet, good pinch
• Spoon full of homemade mayo (which tastes very mustardy)
• Two spoons of mustard - dijon or brown
• Note: you don't need much mayo or mustard and can omit the mayo completely and just spread mayo on the sandwich bread for mayo likers
• Salt and Pepper
• Sundried tomatoes would also be really good

Cook the bacon to desired blackness. I added half the onions in with the bacon to absorb the bacony goodness and cook a little which both softens and mellows the onions. In the future, i may do this with all the onions as the raw onions add an in congruent crunch and a little too much zesty-heat. Mush all together and mix in bacon. That's about it! Will keep a few days so you can double the recipe to have more on hand in the fridge. We're going out of town this weekend, so this batch is for travel lunches or snacks on crackers. I love how brightly colored my egg salad is - gotta love those Summery hens - prolific layers! I'll miss those fresh eggs when they stop laying as much later in the season.

So, off we go to celebrate our first anniversary as a wedded couple! It's been a wonderful year so far, and i look forward to many more in the future. It is so wonderful to spend ones life with ones best friend: especially when he loves my cooking as much as he does! Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be back to posting on Tuesday.

Recipe: Pizza Toasties

No hot pockets here! My dad has long been enamored by hot pockets. I don't understand it. They don't taste real, they have palpable oozing grease, and they're chaulk full of preservatives. No thank you. They aren't even quick! Frozen, you have to stick them in the microwave, turn occasionally. It takes as much time as this following recipe, and mine's made from food, not whatever is in hot pockets. I don't see how anyone could not like this recipe, so let's hope the niece agrees.

Pizza Toasties

• Bread. Preferably whole wheat, but go with the favorite variety on hand. I use pepperidge farm's calorie light whole wheat bread: it's thin and soft, full of nutrients but only 45 calories a slice
• Cheese. Cheddar, Mozz, Swiss - sliced, shredded. Doesn't matter: go with the favorite or what's on hand.
• Pizza Sauce. You can buy canned 'pizza sauce' already seasoned, but i make my own:
• 1 can tomato paste.
• 2 cloves finely diced garlic - may substitute with garlic powder or garlic salt, or omit entirely if the toastie recipient isn't too keen on garlic
• Salt and Pepper - not too much, but enough to balance the sweetness of the tomato paste
• Pinch dried oregano, 3-4 finely diced leaves of fresh basil, or generous pinch dried basil

• Generous dash cayenne - again you may omit this if the recipient doesn't like heat, but i find it to be less spicy than it is balancing to the sweetness of the tomato past.
• This sauce is good for several days, and in fact has greater flavor after the ingredients have hung out for a while together - so you may want to make the sauce the night before. Or just make it for these toasties and then enjoy the fruits of your labors the next morning with some freshly fried eggs on toast. Yummmmmmm.
• Optional fillings- chop so as to reduce the chances of inner molten ingredients snapping back onto chins or lips, or falling out all over the plate or lap:
• Black olives
• Pepperoni
• Onions
• Peppers

For these toasties i filled with homemade pizza sauce, cheddar cheese - sliced, and pepperoni. I found this pepperoni at the store that tastes just like pepperoni, but isn't greasy and disgusting or made from cattle (or swine or whatever pepperoni is usually made from). I'll probably find out that Hormel is part of the evil conglomerate of America's food business, but i don't have the tools to make my own turkey pepperoni, so this will have to do for now. I cooked two toasties using two methods: A toastie maker, and a fry pan. Both have their ups and downs:

Toastie Maker

• Quick and easy
• Low mess
• Even melting
• Burns only at the edges if you watch the time - adding a nice crisp without char
• Makes the toastie all squished - could be a pro or a con
• No hot stove to stand over
• Have to own a toastie machine, and have a place to store it

Fry Pan

• Easier to burn the sandwich
• Quick and easy, but requires turning and monitoring
• More mess
• Less even melt, though a lid over the sandwich helps to increase melt
• Have to know what temp to set: i like to start on high, then decrease to medium when i put the bread in. Still, i tend to over char the bread a bit. Sticking to medium all the way may be better, but it takes longer.
• Takes longer than the machine.
• Most people have one

Either way, the basic procedure i use makes for quick, easy, low mess toasties:

1. Gather ingredients.
2. Set out bread on plate, stacked
3. Slather sauce, then pepperoni, then cheese on the top slice of bread
4. Meanwhile - heat pan or plug in toastie maker, spray with nonstick
5. When surface is warm, carefully place loaded bread slice onto surface, centered
6. Top with second slice of bread (you may choose to butter the top of this slice of bread, i just use more nonstick - if using the toastie machine that isn't necessary as you pre sprayed both surfaces
7. Close machine, cover fry pan with lid
8. Toastie machine takes about 5 minutes, but check ever 2 or so until level of cooked has been achieved. Fry pan takes a bit more time to ensure even melt - check underneath after 2 minutes and flip when desired char has been reached. Second side takes about half the time. Fry pan is trickier as ingredients may leap out when flipping.
9. Ta - Da! Enjoy your toastie, but be careful: the inner pocket is hot! (and so much better than Hot Pockets!

There you have it! Tasty Toasties fit for a family. From gather and chop to melty delicious in about 10 minutes. And no preservatives necessary (well, except for that pepperoni... we'll have to wait until we build our pacific northwest native american smoke house for our own version of THAT ingredient)
:)

Egg Salad Recipe

My egg salad is a little different every time, depending what i have on hand and what my mood is. It tends to be a bit crumbly and escape from betwixt the sandwich bread every so often. This weekend i will mush it with my potato masher to reduce this effect some.

The basics revolve around these elements:

• Boiled eggs, 1 or 2 per serving depending on hunger
• Finely diced onion
• Finely diced pickle
• Salt
• Mayo
• Mustard
• Dried basil
• Cracked pepper

Added elements:

• Other dried herbs: turmeric, oregano, thyme, cumin
• Finely diced garlic or garlic powder
• Paprika, sweet or smoked
• Bacon bits
• Smoked salmon
• Cayenne/ pepper flakes
• Sun dried tomatoes

I like to finely dice up the onions and garlic first and place in bottom of small bowl. After cooking the eggs, i burn my little fingers peeling them while still hot, cut in half on cutting board and place cut side down onto onions. There, i cut with a knife into little dices, then mush a bit, mixing the egg with the onions. Repeat with as many eggs as you plan to use.  Let's base the amounts in this recipe on 2 eggs.
Mix the eggs with the onions, add pickles if you're using them and a good spoonful of mayo. I usually use about equal amounts of mayo and mustard, and not a ton of either. I can always add more mayo to my sandwich bread, right? Mix well and add whatever herbs/spices you like to taste. Finally, throw in any special touches like bacon bits or smoked salmon at the end and serve on some soft bread: my favorite is a soft oat bread from orowheat, or those delicious Oregon breads i used to have back when i lived in the Northwest. You could also serve on toast, a waffle as in this photo, or eat out of the bowl with a spoon!

I love egg salad. I think the most important thing is to be sparing with the mayo, don't forget the mustard, and taste as you mix as too many flavors can muddle things up a bit.

Enjoy!