Baked (Shirred) Eggs (from Mark Bittman's How to cook everything)
Ingredients:
butter
cream (optional)
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
bread crumbs
parmesan cheese
Procedure:
1) Preheat the oven to 375 F. Butter two custard cups or small ramekins. If you like, place a couple of teaspoons of cream in the bottom of each (a nice touch). Break 1 egg into each of the cups, top with bread crumbs and parmesan and then place the cups on a baking sheet.
2) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the eggs are just set and the whites solidified. Because of the heat retained by the cups, these will continue to cook after you remove them from the oven, so it's best to under cook them slightly. Season to taste and serve.
I'll start with the baked egg recipe. I have been wanting to try this recipe for years, ever since I read about it in How to cook everything. I happened to have extra cream laying about (from the ice cream making), so I thought that it would make a luxurious treat. It was super easy to make. I took them out right when the whites appeared solid, let them cool for a little and enjoyed. It was quite good. Like a fried egg without all the grease. I didn't really taste the parmesan or bread crumbs other than as a slightly crunchy aspect in my eggs. My only complaint is that the yolks didn't cook all the way through. Now, for most people perhaps this wouldn't be a problem. But for me, I like my yolks cooked all the way through. Runny yolks sometimes make me nauseous. When I ate the two eggs, I did walk away full and nauseous, so I think I will poke a hole in the yolk for next time. Other than that, they were quite good. I'd like to cook them for Scott sometime.
Chocolate-Chip Drop cookies (from Joy of Cooking, 1975 edition)
Makes: about forty-five 2-inch cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 tbsp AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp basking soda
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Procedure:
1) Preheat the oven to 375 F
2) Cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat until creamy.
3) Beat in the egg and vanilla.
4) Stir in the flour, salt and baking soda.
5) Stir in the nutmeats and chocolate chips.
6) Drop the batter from a teaspoon, well apart, on a greased cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.
For some reason, I was feeling a crazy desire to cook chocolate chip cookies last night. I think I've been feeling a little desire for a few days now, but it really struck at about 11:30 last night. Cookies are one of those basic things that you would think I would be an expert at making. However, the few (maybe three or four) times that I have made cookies, I have always been slightly disappointed with the results. Cookies seem like one of those basic things that everyone should know how to make well. Yesterday, I was determined that this day would be different. So, I went to Joy of Cooking. Now, if you haven't realized by now, Mark Bittman's How to cook everything is my all time favorite cookbook. It is the one I keep going to time after time and I inevitably get results that are good and satisfying if not amazing. I highly recommend going out there and getting a copy if you don't have one. However, there are a few things that he falls flat on. I made pancakes with his recipe and pancakes with the Joy of cooking recipe. Guess which one I liked better? That's right, Joy of Cooking. Maybe there's something about the "old-timeyness" of it all. Bittman's recipe called for baking powder and soda while Joy of Cooking calls for just plain old baking soda. My guess is that baking powder wasn't even around that much back in 1975. Knowing my experience with the pancakes, I decided to make the cookies. Well, I was not wrong in my hunch! These were the best chocolate chip cookies that I think I've ever had (and I've had some pretty good one). Maybe they were even better because I knew that I had made them myself. The hand mixer made them a breeze to whip together (I can hardly wait to get my stand mixer for the same thing). I kept them in the oven for longer than it said (I really think my oven must run a little cooler because this seems to be a common occurrence with me) as they were still pretty soft after 10 minutes. I probably ended up leaving them in there for 20 minutes or so. They came out hot, crispy and brown. Amazing with milk or just by itself. I made them way larger than the recipe called for (so I only got like 24, not the 45). As you can see from the picture, I also didn't space them out well enough on the cookie sheet as they all ran into each other. I had a feeling this would happen, but I didn't particularly care. This was also my first time using parchment paper. It worked like a charm! I will definitely use that again. The cookies slid right off!
Spicy corn bean dip (personal recipe)
Ingredients:
1 can black bean refried beans with jalapenos
1 can green chiles
1 can corn, drained
hot sauce to taste
Procedure:
1) Heat up the refried beans. Add the corn, green chiles and hot sauce and cook until all is warm. Serve with garlic chips. Delicious!
Finally, this recipe demonstrates the other range of my cooking ability; the ability to look around at the ingredients I have and just make things up. This recipe came about a few days ago when I was really hungry but didn't feel like eating the pumpkin pasta leftovers. I looked in my cabinet and pulled out the jalapeno black bean refried beans (I don't like refried beans as a rule, but I make an exception for black bean refried beans). I started heating it up in the stove and decided it was too boring so I added in the corn. Then I thought I would add a little kick and add in the green chiles. It still wasn't spicy at all. So I added in the hot sauce. Surprisingly, it still wasn't spicy but I was so hungry by then that I didn't care. The garlic chips (bought from Gilroy, the "garlic capital of the world") added in a delicious garlicky taste to it all. Best of all, because I was eating the chips with the dip, I didn't get that garlic taste in my mouth when I eat the chips just on their own. This recipe was delicious and filled me up in no time. Scott loved it as well when he got to try it the next day.
So, there you go. Here is a sample of the range of my cooking ability. I go from the top chef, make recipes up as I go (even if it was a simple recipe) to not knowing how to make a relatively simple thing like chocolate chipped cookies. There are definitely some holes in my education, and I'll just have to try to fill them up as I cook more. Perhaps I will work on a steak. Especially since I have a cast iron skillet now (can hardly wait to try this baby out). However, there is also the big day of thanksgiving coming up, so all future cooking plans might have to be put on hold for this major food meal. I can hardly wait!
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| Shirred eggs with bread crumbs and parmesan |
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| Chocolate chip cookies. Yum! |
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