Eggs Jeannette

Today I join Fantastical Food Fight, where every month a theme or ingredient is chosen, and we all choose a recipe - from a cookbook, blog, or our imaginations - and we all share.  Which recipe will come out on top?  It will be fun to find out!

This month's theme is Deviled Eggs.  Now, I've made a lot of deviled eggs in my life. We had chickens when I was growing up, so we always had plenty of eggs, and when we had a church potluck, I usually made some deviled eggs. Strangely enough, I never actually cared for deviled eggs all that much. I mean, they were OK, but nothing special. I wasn't even sure I was going to participate in this month's Fight, until I saw a segment on the Rachael Ray show where they made these eggs. I was definitely intrigued and knew I'd found the recipe.

Eggs Jeannette
Jacques Pepin’s Oeufs Jeannette as seen on the Rachael Ray Show

Ingredients: 

• 8 large eggs
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 to 3 T milk
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 2 T vegetable oil
• For the Dressing:
  * 2 to 3 T reserved egg stuffing (from above)
  * 4 T virgin olive oil
  * 1 T Dijon-style mustard
  * 2 to 3 T water
  * Dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Put the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a gentle boil; turn off heat, cover pan, and let sit for 13 minutes. (Optional - add 1/2 tsp. baking soda to water before covering.) Drain off the water; fill saucepan with cold water, and let the eggs cool until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.  Replace cold water as needed.
2. Shell the eggs and split them lengthwise. Remove the yolks carefully, and mash them in a bowl with the garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.  Add milk and mix until desired consistency. Spoon the mixture back into the hollows of the egg whites, reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling to use in the dressing. 
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet and place the eggs stuffed-side down in the skillet. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until the eggs are beautifully browned on the stuffed side. Remove and arrange, stuffed-side up, on a platter or dish.
4. For the dressing: Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl with a whisk or a spoon until well-combined. Coat the warm eggs with the dressing, garnish with parsley if desired, and serve lukewarm

These aren't exactly potluck fare, but they were egg-cellent for lunch with a tossed salad.  I really enjoyed the simplicity of the filling - egg yolks, garlic, parsley, a little milk, and salt & pepper.  The flavor is really nice, and the creamy dressing adds just the right touch.

If they taste like this, I may just decide I like deviled eggs.  The only thing I changed from the original recipe was to use large eggs instead of jumbo, since that's what I had.  I just cooked a couple extra to have about the same amount of egg and yolk.

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Spring Greens

It's a good thing we like salad, because there is a whole lot of lettuce out in the garden.  Last year's lettuce went to seed, and so we have a lot of new lettuce this spring.  I also followed some advice I read from an old friend and scattered some seeds in the garden sometime in early March on the chance that some of them would survive the freezing and thawing and come up.  You guessed it - more lettuce.  And some radishes.

I've also got a couple chard plants that somehow survived the winter and are growing like crazy.  So, I have chard and radish greens to use, too. The other night I sauteed some of the greens with garlic and olive oil, added a bit of balsamic vinegar, and then fried a couple eggs to go on top - over easy so the yolks could run down into the greens.  It was incredible easy but oh so tasty.  (and I didn't think to take a picture until after I'd savored every last bite)

 The next night I added a bit of rice to the greens and served them with grilled chicken.  (Yes, I had this two nights in a row.)  Both were really yummy and a great way to use all those happy spring greens. I'm throwing radish greens in my salads, too - so good!

Sauteed Spring Greens

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Minced garlic
• Chopped greens - Chard, radish, spinach, whatever you have
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Balsamic vinegar
• Cooked rice (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in medium skillet;  add garlic and saute for a minute or two.
2. Add greens and cook until softened and tender, stirring often.  You may need to add a bit of water as the greens cook.
3. When greens are cooked, add salt & pepper and drizzle with a bit of Balsamic vinegar.  If using rice, stir it in and cook until heated through, stirring.
4. Serve topped with fried eggs or grilled chicken. 

Seriously, super simple.  And I didn't really use any measurements, just tossed things in the skillet.  Just remember that greens cook down a lot, so you'll want quite a bit of greens to start with.  And they're good for you, so you can eat as many as you want.

I pushed the greens to the side of the skillet and fried the eggs right beside the greens, and I suppose you could actually cook your chicken in the same skillet, too.  But I seasoned mine and grilled it on the George Foreman grill.  I used a boneless thigh, but if you prefer breasts that would work just as well.  And, I'm sure there are plenty of other things that would be good on a nice bed of greens.  Any ideas?

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole

I made this a couple weekends ago.  It was very simple and tasty.  Because there are only two of us, I only made a half recipe, but it would be just a easy to make the whole recipe, and it would be great if you have a house full of people to feed.  You put everything into the crock pot the night before, and you have a fresh hot breakfast ready and waiting the next morning.

Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
adapted from Everyday Dishes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. sausage
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• sliced mushrooms
• fresh spinach
• 12 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. ground mustard
• 30 oz. bag frozen hash browns
• 2 cups shredded cheddar

Directions: 

1. Brown sausage with onion and garlic; add mushrooms and brown.  Add spinach and cook until wilted.  Set aside.
2. Beat eggs in bowl.  Add milk and seasonings.
3. Grease 4 or 5 qt crock pot.   Pour hash browns into crock pot and then add eggs and sausage mixture.  Stir together and then add 1-1/2 cups cheese.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
4. Cover and cook on low overnight.

The original recipe was to be mixed up and refrigerated overnight and then baked in the morning.  I wasn't sure how it would work in the crock pot exactly so I doubled the milk.  I think that was just about right.  I also added a bit more cheese, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

I'll definitely make this again.

Southwestern Turkey and Hash Brown Casserole

I was searching for a recipe for "Turkey Breakfast Casserole" on Pinterest, because I had some cooked turkey in the fridge, and I was looking for a good way to use it for dinner.  Makes sense, right?  But I just wasn't finding anything interesting by just looking for a turkey casserole.

Anyway, I'm not sure why this particular recipe came up because it had absolutely no turkey in it, but it sounded really good so I went with it.  I just substituted my turkey for the sausage in the original recipe, added some corn, and used roasted red pepper instead of the diced green chilies.  It's pretty much the same...

Southwestern Turkey and Hash Brown Casserole
adapted from Julia's Album

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 a bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup diced roasted red pepper
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups diced cooked turkey
• 1 tsp chili powder, divided
• 1 tsp ground cumin, divided
• 1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 3 cups frozen hash browns 
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 can black beans (15 oz), drained
• 1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.  Generously butter a 13x9" baking dish.
2. Heat oil in large skillet; add chopped onions and cook on medium heat 2-3 minutes. Add chopped pepper and cook until onion is translucent, stirring often. Add roasted red pepper, turkey, and half the spices (1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp salt) and cook until fragrant.  Add hash browns, corn, and  black beans; mix well.  Turn off heat.
3. In medium bowl, whisk eggs, milk, and the remaining spices (1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp salt - and a dash of black pepper).
4. Mix 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and the shredded mozzarella cheese into the hash brown mixture.  Cheese will start to melt.
5. Spoon half of hash brown mixture into prepared baking dish and pour half of egg mixture on top.  Repeat with remaining hash brown mixture and then egg mixture.  Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar on top.
6. Bake, uncovered for about 40-45 minutes, until eggs are set and casserole is nicely browned. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

This turned out really well.  It's good either just the way it is, or with some salsa and sour cream on top.  I love the browned edges.  And the flavors are all really good together.

I thought about adding some crushed tortilla chips to the mix, but since I was planning to serve this with some cornbread muffins, I decided to skip the chips. I also think a green salad would be great with this, but we'd just finished our salad for lunch, and I didn't feel like making another one.  So we had peas instead.  I think it just needs something green to go with it.  Of course, I think that about a lot of things.  Every meals deserves some green.

Tuna & Broccoli Pie

I was looking for some kind of tuna rice casserole recipe when I ran across this Broccoli and Tuna Rice Pie, and it looked so good I just had to try it.  It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it reminded me of the eggs my dad always made when I was growing up.  His didn't include rice or broccoli, just eggs, tuna, and cheese baked in a cast iron skillet.  So good!  (Why don't I make that once in a while?)

Anyway, we had this the other night for dinner, and it was really good.  The leftovers tonight were even better!

Tuna & Broccoli Pie

Ingredients:

•  1 to 2 T butter
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 T dried chives
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 can tuna, drained
• 8 oz. broccoli florets (if frozen, run under water to thaw)
• 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella
• 8 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F
2. Melt 1 T butter over medium heat.  Add onion and saute with basil and chives until onion is translucent.  Add more butter if needed as onion is cooking.
3. Turn off heat and stir in rice, tuna, and broccoli; add cheese.  Spoon mixture into greased deep dish pie pan.
4. Whisk together eggs and milk; season with salt and pepper.  Pour over rice mixture. Shake dish to settle eggs and remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. If necessary, cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much.   Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes; Cut into wedges and serve.

Serves 4

I baked this in my cast iron skillet, because I used it to saute the onion and I figured it could go in the oven, so why dirty another dish.  And because my dad always baked his eggs in a skillet.  BUT, I won't be doing that again.  The cleanup was harder than I expected.  Maybe my skillet just isn't seasoned properly... but usually I can just scrub it out with a bit of salt and this time I had to do some soaking and a lot more scrubbing.  So, next time I'm using a pie pan.

Since there are only two of us, we ate half of this for dinner one night and then I heated it up again for dinner tonight.  For the leftovers, I heated it at 350° for 15 minutes covered and then I removed the cover and heated for an additional 15 minutes.  And then I added just a touch more cheese to the top and left it in the oven just long enough to melt it.  I'm not sure what the reheating did, but this was even better the second time.  The bottom and edges of the already cut wedges crisped up a bit, and the flavors had blended better.  We really enjoyed it.  Oh, and a little hot sauce on top is good, too.

Baking without Eggs

What do you do when you're in the middle of baking and suddenly realize there are no eggs in the house?  Substitute something else you do have, of course!  I saw these Egg Substitutions on Facebook and thought this list might come in handy someday.  So I'm sharing.

I'm going to have to try some of these even if I'm not out of eggs.  Just because.  I'll save the eggs for omelets!

Chard and Cheddar Omelet

I found this recipe over at Recipezaar, made these omelets once, and then forgot all about it until I was sending chard recipes to a friend last week.

Chard and Cheddar Omelet

Ingredients:

• 2   tablespoons   butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ounces swiss chard, stemmed and chopped (equals about 3 cups of packed chard)
• 3/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 5 large eggs
• 3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1.  Melt 1 tbsp of butter in an 10-inch diameter non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and saute until soft (about 2 minutes). Stir in the swiss chard, cover, and cook until tender (about 4 minutes). Stir in the hot sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a small bowl, and wipe the skillet clean.
2. Whisk the eggs, 1/4 cup cheese, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.
3.  Melt 1/2 tbsp butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the egg mixture and cook until the eggs are just set in the centre (about 2 minutes), tilting the pan and lifting the edge of the omellete with a spatula to let the uncooked portion flow underneath. Scatter half of the chard mixture over half of the omelette. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese over the chard. Fold the omelette over the cheese, and slide onto a plate.
4. Repeat with the remaining butter, egg mixture, chard, and cheese.

  Made them for dinner the other night - so good!

Tip: When making omelets for dinner (or any time), turn your oven on warm and place the finished omelets in the oven while you cook the rest.  That way everyone can eat at the same time, and the cheese gets all melty, more than it does just from cooking in the skillet.  Of course, you want to make sure your plates are oven-proof!  I usually cook all our omelets, and then while they're staying warm in the oven, I make toast to serve with them.  When the toast is done, the omelets are perfect, and we can all sit down together.

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