Skillet Eggs with Squash

Do you have too many zucchinis?  This is a delicious recipe.  A great way to use up some of those squash in a unique breakfast.  Think healthier hashbrowns, with a zing.

Food network posted the recipe from their magazine on their web page along with a nicer picture of gooey eggs, if you liked gooey eggs. 

I used half the squash mixture with four eggs.  Toms were gooey, mine stayed in the oven for a little longer.  Great way to start the day. 

Skillet Eggs with Squash  Food Network Magazine July/Aug 2011

Ingredients

• 3 pounds (6 medium) summer squash and/or zucchini
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup grated pepper jack or sharp white cheddar cheese

Directions

Grate the squash into a colander using the large holes of a box grater (or use a food processor fitted with the shredding attachment). Toss with 1 tablespoon salt, then let drain in the sink, 30 to 40 minutes. Squeeze the squash to remove as much liquid as possible.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Set aside 3 tablespoons scallion greens. Add the remaining scallions (white and green parts), the jalapeno, and salt to taste and cook until the scallions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the shredded squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in the parsley, nutmeg, and pepper to taste. Cook until the mixture is slightly dry, about 1 more minute. Remove from the heat and let cool, 5 minutes.
Spread the squash evenly in the skillet. Make six 2 1/2-inch-wide indentations in the mixture with the back of a spoon; put 1/2 teaspoon butter in each one. One at a time, crack each egg into a small bowl and pour into an indentation. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the cheese.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked to desired doneness, 10 to 12 minutes. Scatter the reserved scallion greens on top.

June - French Fridays with Dorie

Things fell apart in June.  My mother went into the hospital in the end of May with hip problems.  And then on to rehab where she said that she had no desire to exercise, none.  Not at all.  And she fired everyone...She wanted me to find her "some place Catholic to die."  Fascinating thought, but as far as I can tell, she isn't dying any time soon.  But, she has moved in with the grey habited Polish nuns, going to Mass every day and seems to be a little higher on the happiness continuum.  Still enjoying a good piece of cake.

Scout and I are tackling my summer to do list.  She is incredibly supportive.  I had a list of things a mile long that I intended on doing this summer while I was off from school.  I am now playing catch up.  How many can I do in the few weeks remaining before school starts?

My husband walks around and talks about bread longingly.  You used to bake bread, I hear him muttering.  It has been a sad month or two.  My starter is a little grey.  I'm sure it will come around.

One day in June, I decided to make the majority of the French Fridays with Dorie's recipes for June.  We started with the tomato strawberry salad.  I knew that I had some delightful mozzarella in the fridge, my husband knew that he had eaten it.  Oh well.  This still was a great salad.  Ripe tomatoes, strawberries, basil and mozzarella combined with a smidge of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

We moved on to the ribs with jam and Coke.  So, here in Texas, Tom cooks ribs.  In the backyard.  Maybe in a smoker, maybe the edge of a mountain of charcoal, maybe on a gas grill.  Not in the oven.  Not with jam.  I tried to hide the ingredients from his prying eyes.  But he was onto me the night before when I rubbed the ribs with the spice rub.  Five spice powder, ginger and salt and pepper are rubbed onto the spareribs.  Then they are covered with a mixture of apricot jam, orange juice and the juice of a lemon.  They are the refrigerated for several hours. 

Into the oven in a roasting pan with a few tablespoons of water.  They are cooked, basted every so often for an hour and a half.  Then the Coke is poured around the ribs and they are basted every five mins for another half hour.

These were delicious.  An oriental flavor, fall off the bone tender.  #2 son would love these.

For dessert we had roasted rhubarb over ice cream.  Rhubarb is trimmed and cut into piece, tossed with sugar and zest of an orange.  Covered with foil and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 mins.  When it had cooled, we put it on ice cream.

I grew up eating rhubarb.  I love it.  I had never roasted it.  It is my new favorite way to prepare it.  Not that I see it much here in Texas.

In the beginning of July, I went to DC for a school nurse conference.  I stayed an extra day and we went to the Newseum.  A new museum in DC that is not free, sad to say.  But it was fascinating.  Below is a picture of world.  The green indicates countries with freedom of the press.  Something that we tend to take for granted here in the US. 

Healthy Potato Salad - Daring Cooks

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

We have a couple of potato salad recipes that we like, but I have been intrigued for some time by the idea of a french potato salad.

French potato salad is made by boiling sliced potatoes and coating them with a dressing while the slices are still warm.


I used a recipe from The New Best Recipe Cookbook.   Red potatoes were sliced and boiled in salted water.

When they came out of the water, they were coated with a dressing made with mustard, wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of the water from the boiling potatoes, olive oil, garlic and pepper. 

The potatoes were left to soak up the dressing for 10 minutes

and then tossed with parsley, chives and shallots.

This was a delicious, easy recipe.

Mustard Batons

This weekend we welcomed a new addition to our mustard family.  Some of you might be wondering how we can accept any more members into our family.  Each one brings something to our lives, sometimes it is as simple as a little spice, maybe some sweetness, maybe a little French attitude but we relish each member of our family.  

This week's French Fridays with Dorie was a simple recipe for Mustard Batons.    I took my visiting brother in law to Rustlin Rob's in Fredericksburg, TX.  Rustlin Rob's is a condiment heaven.  I knew that I was making mustard batons for an appetizer for Easter so I visited the mustard section.  Maybe that was a mistake.  How many mustards are too many mustards?

When I tasted the Creole Cognac mustard  I knew that she had to come home with us.  The tangy, delightful flavor would be perfect for an appetizer.

 I unfolded some thawed puffed pastry and rolled it out to the required size.

 Mustard was spread on half of the pastry, it was folded, cut into one inch strips and brushed with a beaten egg.

I grew up outside of Philadephia, we used to go downtown to ride the escalators and eat hot pretzels.  When I hear mustard and bread, I can only think of topping it with flaky salt.

Delicious easy recipe.

Fish for Lent

It really isn't a challenge to eat fish on Friday's for Lent.  I think to make a true act of penance we should all switch to liver on Fridays...

We had mussels steamed in wine, shallots, parsley, bay, pepper and a little butter.  We dunked bread in the broth and enjoyed ourselves.

Edible Containers - Daring Cooks

For April's Daring Cooks; Challenge we had a creative challenge.    Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I love chili rellenos, but try to stay away from batter fried food.  I decided to stuff roasted, peeled poblanos.  First, I asked my husband to bring home the straightest poblanos that he could find.

Then, I roasted them and peeled away the blackened skin.   I made a small slit in them to remove the seeds.

After they were peeled, they looked pretty dark.

I roasted some chicken and made a tomato sauce with garlic, tomatoes, onions, cinnamon and cilantro.

I mixed up some mexican cheese, the chicken, some black beans, a little jalepeno, corn, some of the tomato sauce and cilantro and stuffed the peppers.  They were delicious and I am looking forward to seeing what else I can stuff in them!

éclairs - FFwD

My husband walked into the kitchen and glanced at my opened copy of Dorie Greenspan's around my french table and then he said "you're not an éclair maker are you?"

Does the man know me or what.

 
When I saw this Friday's selection for French Fridays with Dorie, I almost skipped it.   I know the people in this house and they aren't eating éclairs.  But then I thought, I can take them to work.  They eat anything at work.  Someone is always hungry.


This week's recipe calls for vanilla éclairs, cream puff dough filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with white glaze.  To get the people in this house to try them, I knew that I needed to add some chocolate, so I decided to top them with a ganache.

I made the pastry cream early in the morning and put it in the refrigerator to cool.

I like making puff dough.  We eat gougeres on Christmas Eve.  However, they don't involve a pastry bag.  They can easily be spooned onto a cookie sheet.


Eclairs need a pastry bag,  I have previously been identified as not an éclair maker and I am comfortable with that label.  I am not comfortable with pastry bags.  How do you get the sticky puff dough into the bag without making a mess?  Perhaps it is a skill thing, one that I may not develop at this stage in my life.  I think a third hand would come in handy.  I got the dough into the bag, made the four inch strips and baked them.

I went out to work on the yard and let the elairs cool.  We had such a long, hard freeze, we have lost some plants.  By my front door, I have two bicolored iris plants.  They are perhaps my favorite plant.  They bloom and bloom.  Unfortunately, a lot of the plant had to be cut back after the freeze.  But today, there is one flower.

When I had finished with mulch, I returned to the eclairs.  The cooled eclairs were cut and filled with pastry cream and then topped with chocolate ganache.  They were tasty, it was a fun experience.