Gratin-style Shirred Eggs

"One egg or two?"

"Is that all you're making?  That's not a meal."

I beg to differ, dear.  That's the exact conversation my husband and I had when I decided to make these.  Eggs are a nutrition powerhouse and I do, in fact, think that eggs alone constitute as a meal! 

Shirred eggs are simply ones cooked in a small buttered dish (such as a shallow ramekin) and finished off under the broiler.  The result is a softly set white and liquid yolk.  Everybody knows the perfect egg has a runny yolk! 

Some people find the process tricky, but once you get the hang of it, you'll have soft, delicate eggs every time! 

We doll these shirred eggs up with the addition of cream and some cheese. 

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 eggs
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese (any cheese will do, this is just what I had on hand)

Heat broiler to high.

Divide the butter between two small, shallow, fire-proof ramekins (about 4 inches in diameter).

Place dishes over moderate heat (it helps to have a gas range - if not, then I'd just throw them under the broiler to begin with).  Once butter is melted, add 2 eggs to each dish.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until a thin layer of the white is set on bottom.

Add 1 tablespoon of whipping cream to each dish and top with mozzarella cheese.

Transfer dish under broiler and cook until white is softly set, and yolk is still runny, about 5-6 minutes. 

You'll end up with two perfectly runny eggs and some nicely browned cheese.  Plenty enough for a protein-packed breakfast!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week - I might be absent for the rest of it - it's a big, busy week at school and work!

Blanquette de Boeuf

 

Hey everyone!  How are you guys doing?

This week is just flying by, isn't it?!  Well, it is for me anyway!

Today we've got a Blanquette de Boeuf.  The name in and of itself is an oxymoron because a true blanquette (white stew) is made with a white meat, veal, or lamb.  It's not usually traditionally made with beef.  However, since beef is probably the cheapest out of veal or lamb, and I wasn't particularly in the mood for chicken, beef it was! 

The main difference with a Blanquette is that the stew meat is blanched rather than sauteed.  But just because we don't caramelize the meat beforehand doesn't mean this lacks in flavor!  It really packs a flavor punch and you'll definitely want to try this for yourself!


Ingredients:


3 lb. beef shoulder/chuck roast
9 cups beef stock
1 onion, julienned
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
10 parsley stems
1 sprig of thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
salt and pepper, to taste
1 oz. butter, plus more for sauteing vegetables
1 oz. flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1 cup pearl onions
4-5 baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
juice from 1/2 lemon
pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Start by trimming any excess fat or silver skin from your roast.  Then cut meat into 1 to 2 inch cubes.

Place meat into a dutch oven or large soup pot and cover with cold water.  Season with salt and bring to a rapid boil.  As soon as the water is boiling, turn off heat and carefully drain the meat.  Rinse to remove any impurities.

 

Return meat to pot and add enough beef stock to cover.  I had about 9 cups of stock before all of my meat was covered.  Of course, this will vary from roast to roast (and how small or big you cubed your meat), so you don't have to strictly use 9 cups.  Just enough to cover the meat.  Place the parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns into a cheesecloth (or coffee filter) and tie up tight.  Place the bag in the pot along with your julienned onion, celery, and carrots.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours.

 

Strain the meat from the stock, keeping and setting each aside.  Discard the cheesecloth with spices.  In the pot, add your butter and flour.  Make a blonde roux (about 3-4 minutes, until golden in color).  Slowly add back in stock, whisking constantly.  Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes, until slightly thickened.  Now, if you just wanted regular beef stew, this would be your stopping point.  You've basically got your brown gravy and all you would have to do is add back in your meat.  But we're gonna take it a step further and make this a little bit richer by adding the liaison of cream and egg yolk.

Return meat to the thickened stock.  In a small bowl, whisk together your egg yolk and cream.  Make sure the soup pot is not at a boil, you want it to be at a slow simmer (under 135 F).  If you're at a boil, you'll just curdle your eggs as you add them in.  Slowly add a couple ladle-fulls of hot stock to the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent clumping.  Once your egg yolks are tempered, add them to the soup pot.  Stirring somewhat constantly, keep the mixture at a steady simmer.

Heat a large saute pan to medium high heat and add about a tablespoon of butter.  Add pearl onions and mushrooms.  Saute until just softened, about 3-5 minutes.  Add vegetables to soup pot.

Finally, season the stew with lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste.  Ladle into bowls and serve with a desired starch or all by it's lonesome.

This was definitely a hearty and rich bowl of stew.  Andy definitely loved it.  The meat was tender, the gravy was out of this world good, and it was oh so filling!  Give it a shot and let me know what you think!  Have a great rest of the week guys!

Salmon w/ Lemon Cream Beurre Blanc & Sauteed Vegetables

The traditional beurre blanc we made the other day was a very temperature sensitive sauce.  A lot of us don't have the time or patience to hover over something to make sure it doesn't break.  Am I right?  Well, a cream beurre blanc is a more stable version of a beurre blanc.  It allows the emulsification to become more stable. 

So today I've got a beautiful salmon dish, topped with the beurre blanc.  Easy. Simple. Delicious. 

Ingredients:

Lemon Cream Beurre Blanc:

1/2 tablespoon shallot, minced
1 teaspoons olive oil
3 oz. white wine
4 oz. heavy whipping cream
4 oz. butter, cut into 1 oz. portions and chilled
juice from 1 lemon
3 sprigs thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Salmon:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
1/2 cup flour, for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Vegetables:
 
1/2 lb. haricot vert (French green beans)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
salt and pepper, to taste

Start by making your beurre blanc.  Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute shallots until translucent.  Add wine, lemon juice, and thyme and reduce mixture by half.

Add the cream and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce by two-thirds.

Remove from the heat, but keep warm.  Whisk in the butter, an ounce at a time, moving back to the heat if necessary.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Strain mixture and hold warm.

Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper on both sides.  Dredge salmon in flour, patting off any excess.

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan and add salmon, skin-side down (or presentation side if you've removed the skin).  Cook to desired temperature and set aside.

Season your vegetables and saute under medium high heat (you can use the same pan as the salmon, if you'd like - make sure to wipe out any excess grease).

To plate, place a mound of vegetables in the center of the plate.  Top with salmon fillet and beurre blanc.

This was a meal we enjoyed out on our back deck.  It was such a lovely summertime meal.  Hope you guys are having a great week so far!

Cabbage Au Gratin

Have you ever had one of those weeks, or days, where everything seems to be too good to be true? Or things have just been going so well lately, that you know something is bound to just screw it all up? Yeah, well we've had one of those weeks. Andy's been having Jeep trouble, and so we've been having to survive on one car, and let me tell you... it's not pleasant. Especially when our schedules differ so drastically. And it's not like we can afford having an extra bill of fixing a car, right? But it hasn't killed us, so I suppose it's making us stronger. But I really wish his Jeep would get fixed faster, hehe.

Anyway, I made it through the 1st week of the semester without any problems, so I suppose that's good. Definitely going to have my head buried in a bunch of books this semester though. I think I've already done more reading in this 1st week than I have an entire semester. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I blame my current headache on this reading.

So I figured today would be a good day for a comfort recipe. You can practically "au gratin" any vegetable, and most of us associate this with potatoes. While potatoes are all well and fine, I had an abundance of red cabbage from our CSA's a while back, and decided to apply this au gratin method to them. I was not disappointed.


Ingredients:

1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small onion, sliced thinly
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Bring a medium sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add cabbage and boil to about 2-3 minutes. Drain and quickly submerge into a bowl of cold water in order to stop the cabbage from continuing to cook. (I added ice cubes to some tap water to make sure it was really cold) Drain the cabbage again and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a large skillet, melt the butter under medium high heat. Add onion and cook for about 5 minutes, or until beginning to soften. Stir in the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir until fragrant and cook for an addition 3-5 minutes.

Add in cabbage and toss well. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add in wine, and cook until almost entirely reduced. Lower heat to a simmer and slowly add cream and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper, if needed.

Place in a medium sized ramekin and top with additional parmesan cheese, if you wish. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until cheese is browned.


This definitely turned out way better than I had ever imagined. The flavor is so rich from cream, butter, and cheese that there's no way that this could go wrong. And with cabbage? This definitely will turn any anti-cabbage person into an instant cabbage lover. Enjoy and happy weekend!