Herb Baked Eggs

July 15, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Each week I follow along with Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and attempt to recreate one of her dishes in my tiny New York City kitchen. The catch? This is my version of cooking school and I’m making these recipes for the first time. I’ll share both my successes and um, challenges, along the way and we’ll see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Bring the Magic Home”

The Set-up: Ina remembers her trips to Paris and makes a dinner inspired by the city.

The Menu: Endive, Pear and Roquefort Salad, Profiteroles, Herb Baked Eggs

0:29 – We begin with a trip to Le Grand Epicerie in Paris – one of Ina’s favorite specialty food shops. It reminds me a bit of Eataly, open space, lots of variety.

1:11 – Back in Ina’s kitchen where she’s preparing to make Profiteroles. First step: pâte à choux.

2:24 – This dough is already scaring me - cooking the dough, then adding cold eggs to a hot mixture without tempering first? Somehow it turned out fine, but now a pastry bag is required to pipe the profiteroles.

3:33 – Ina tries to reassure me that if you make a piping mistake you can just scrape the dough back into the pastry bag. Why does that one piece of equipment make me want to abandon all hope?

3:50 – Pro Tip #1: dip your finger in water and press down the little tips so they don’t over cook.

4:45 – Back to Paris where Ina is visiting her favorite flower shop for arranging ideas. Idea #1: pick a color and gather a few flowers that are all in that shade, for example pale pink peonies, roses, and sweetpeas.

5:14 – Idea #2: Pick one flower, say hydrangeas, and make a massive arrangement. Idea #3: Combine one flower with an herb.

6:03 – Ina has decided to practice Idea #1 with a few different orange flowers and confesses that like many of us, finding the right size vase is the hardest part.

10:26 – We take a trip to a fromagerie in Paris for a little cheese tasting. Ina recommends choosing three very different cheeses and selects a soft goat cheese, harder cow’s milk cheese, and her favorite Roquefort, which is made from sheep’s milk.

11:38 – Back in the U.S. Ina is making her favorite salad with Endive, Pear and Roquefort including a dressing with champagne vinaigrette.

13:17 – Flashback to a dinner with Jeffrey at Café de Flore for a simple, but elegant supper of champagne and omelets with ham and cheese.

14:44 – As they eat their dinner Ina begins to scheme a similar recipe to make at home. I can totally relate, eating in restaurants these days is a combination of research and a search for inspiration…

19:29 – The recipe that emerged from their omelet experience is Herb Baked Eggs, which sounds amazing.

20:42 – So far everything that’s going into these eggs is perfect – butter, cream, garlic, parmesan, herbs. Mmmmm.

21:13 – The trick to this recipe seems to be pre-cooking the cream and butter a little bit in the gratin dishes so that the eggs begin cooking as soon as they hit the pan.

22:26 – Back to the Endive, Pear and Roquefort Salad and it’s time to assemble the plates, which basically entails strewing the leaves with crumbled blue cheese, slices of pear, and toasted walnuts.

23:30 – The finishing touch on the Profiteroles is a chocolate sauce enhanced with coffee and honey. Jeffrey is a lucky guy.

27:15 – Dinner is served on the back porch as dusk begins to settle, the birds chirp, the crickets sing. Trust me when I tell you it’s incredibly idyllic.

28:34 – Time to assemble dessert. Each profiterole gets a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce from the most charming little earthenware pitcher.

29:50 – A final toast: “to Paris!”

Final Thoughts:
Ina and I are on the same page – there’s so much inspiration to be found traveling!

When I discovered baked eggs it was a revelation. I can’t wait to try Ina’s version.

I really need to address this fear of the pastry bag. Maybe not with profiteroles though…

Lessons Learned:
I’m obsessed these days with softly cooked eggs and I thought Ina’s Parisian Herb Baked Eggs would be the perfect way to start a moody, grumpy Bastille Day.

Prep: This dish comes together so quickly that you really will want to have both the herb/parmesan mixture, toast, and eggs ready to go before the gratin dish even hits the oven. Trying to do much more than press the lever on the toaster while the eggs are cooking will pretty much guarantee missing the magic moment of done, but not too doneness.

Dish Selection: I know an artist should never blame his brushes, but honestly sometimes the key to cooking lies in the equipment. In this case a wide, shallow baking dish is a big element. The eggs need even contact with the heat to allow the whites to set first while leaving the yolks still soft. When the eggs don’t have room to spread out it’s nearly impossible to achieve that balance. If you don’t have individual gratin dishes and don’t want to buy some then I’d recommend using the largest, shallowest ramekin you have or reduce the eggs by one so that they’re not overly crowded.

Timing: These eggs are a simple dish, but don’t be fooled they require careful watching. If you want a truly soft yolk, I’d recommend starting with 5 minutes (assuming you’re using a shallow dish) in the oven, since the eggs will continue to cook after they’re removed from the oven.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Indubitably, this is small kitchen friendly. I needed shallow gratin dishes (one for each person), small coffee cups (one for each dish), a baking sheet, measuring spoons, chef’s knife, microplane grater, and small cutting board.

The Verdict:
Trust Ina to bring back a dish so deceptively simple and elegant. I loved making Herb Baked Eggs for breakfast because it had all the trappings of a fancy breakfast, but required very few fine motor skills – essential when I’m cooking pre-coffee. The herbs, garlic, and parmesan add just the right amount of seasoning even with out salt & pepper, but a little sprinkle of both wouldn’t be over the top. This would be the perfect dish to make when you have a crowd for breakfast – the same effect as a lovely poached or fried egg, but much simpler and it feels special too.

The Goldmine, A Breakfast Sandwich

June 26, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

The Goldmine Breakfast Sandwich | Image: Laura Messersmith — **The Goldmine Breakfast Sandwich** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

A few weeks ago Mike and I took the train north to Boston to celebrate his fifth business school reunion with a group of our dearest friends. It had been a few years since we were last there with time to wander and revisit some of our favorite places. Number One on Mike’s list: a trip to Mike & Patty’s.

He and several friends had breakfast there in the final days of their last semester and the memory of that tiny shop and delicious sandwiches lived on in legend ever since. I missed that inaugural meal and to be honest, I’ve always been a bit skeptical. The guys might be exaggerating, after all. How good could it really be?

Mike & Patty’s is in Bay Village, a pocket of Boston that manages to be in the middle of Back Bay, the South End, and Chinatown, but still feel like it’s off the beaten path. Cobblestone streets, old-fashioned lanterns, and the hope of discovering amazing food at the end of your journey just heighten the sense of a hidden gem. After one bite of my chosen sandwich - The Goldmine - I was convinced the early morning trek was well worth it.

On the surface The Goldmine is just a bacon, egg, and cheese made fancy, but dip below that run of the mill designation and it becomes clear that this sandwich is so much more. First of all, I assumed that the honey – a strange, but genius addition – was the gold in this mine, but actually it’s the fried egg (or egg over easy as you prefer) whose yolk permeates all the corners of this delicious sandwich.

The Goldmine inspires tales of food treasures, hunched-over eating, and plate mopping. Simple pleasures and well worth your efforts to make at home.

The Goldmine (serves: 4)

Ingredients:
4 large eggs
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta, bought or homemade
2 ounces (4 slices) prosciutto
4 tablespoons golden honey
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 loaf challah, brioche, or sourdough bread

Instructions:
Pre-heat the large sauté pan over medium heat and crisp the slices of prosciutto, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the medium sauté pan over medium-low heat spread a thin layer of butter over each slice of bread. Toast the bread in the medium pan until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side, in batches.

Remove the crisped prosciutto from the larger pan and set aside. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter to the warm pan and melt. Once the bread is toasted, spread half of the pieces with 1-2 tablespoons of the whole milk ricotta on one side. Add a slice of crisped prosciutto, and drizzle with 2-3 teaspoons of honey. Reserve the sandwich tops until the eggs are cooked.

Crack the eggs one at a time into a small liquid measuring cup or bowl taking care not to break the yolk. Gently pour each egg into the large sauté pan allowing the white to just begin setting before adding the next egg. Once all the eggs are in the pan, cover with a lid (preferably glass, so you can monitor the situation) and cook over medium heat for another 2-3 minutes watching for an opaque white, but a soft, runny yolk.

Top each sandwich with a fried egg, sprinkle with kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste. Add the second piece of bread and serve immediately!

Need more advice on frying an egg? The Kitchn and Food Network have step by step instructions to get just the cook you're looking for.

Adapted from Mike and Patty’s The Goldmine breakfast sandwich.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, indeed! I used one large non-stick sauté pan with a cover, one medium non-stick sauté pan, a medium cutting board, bread knife, a liquid measuring cup, rubber spatula, dinner fork, butter knife, and teaspoon. That’s all!

The Verdict:
I’m obsessed with The Goldmine. Each component is relatively mild on it’s own, but together they balance each other beautifully. Creamy ricotta, crispy prosciutto, sweet sticky honey all tucked under a blanket of egg-y goodness. Sigh. It's also a great choose-your-own-adventure dish. Like lots of prosciutto? Add an extra slice. Want it a little gooier? Let the honey drizzle a little longer over the ricotta. My last piece of advice: please make this on a lazy weekend morning when a second cup of coffee and a nap are all that’s on the docket. You’ll thank me.

French Baked Eggs

March 20, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

Isn't it nice when last night's dinner offers a head start on next morning's breakfast? Here in New York, despite being the (alleged) First Day of Spring we are currently “enjoying” a little snow storm to welcome the season. Yay? Tangent alert: Days like this remind me of elementary school when we’d make “out like a lion, in like a lamb” paper plate crafts by curling construction paper manes around our novelty size pencils and gluing cotton balls for wool. Just me?

Anyway, I’m holding out hope that we will finish March with mild weather, but while the lionish weather is still holding firm I’m sticking with comfort food. This baked egg dish could not be easier or more hands off and it has the dual benefit of being what I think of as a “leftover-makeover.”

Case in point: remember the Company Pot Roast from the other week? It was awesome, but once the roast was gone I still had several cups of beautifully seasoned and deeply flavored sauce. I hate wasting food so there was no way I'd throw something so delicious away. Thankfully, I was reminded by an article in Bon Appétit that both Portugal and Italy have versions of a dish where an egg is poached in rich tomato sauce. The leftover bourgiugnon-style sauce seemed like a great way to make a French inspired take on a Mediterranean classic. Just an idea to file away the next time you have extra stores of tomato-based sauce….

French Baked Eggs (yield: 4 servings)

Ingredients:
4 cups Company Pot Roast tomato sauce
4 large eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 slices multigrain bread, toasted

Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide the tomato sauce equally between four medium ramekins (16 ounce) or other small oven safe dishes. Place the ramekins in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce it hot and bubbling.

Use a spoon to create a well in the sauce and crack a whole egg into each depression. Return the ramekins to the oven and continue to bake for another 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the slices of multigrain bread.

When the whites have turned opaque and firm, but the yolk is still soft remove from the oven. Divide the grated parmesan cheese, fresh thyme leaves, kosher salt, and pepper evenly and sprinkle over the top of each ramekin.

Eggs continue to cook once removed from the oven, so serve immediately while the yolks are still runny with slices of toasted multigrain bread for dipping.

Inspired by and partially adapted from Eggs in Purgatory by Nigella Lawson and Portuguese Baked Eggs by Bon Appétit

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, indeed. I used four 16-ounce, oven-safe ramekins, a liquid measuring cup, measuring spoons, microplane grater, a large spoon, bread knife, and medium cutting board. That’s it!

The Verdict:
I was initially suspicious when I first heard of this dish. The combination of tomato sauce and eggs just seemed bizarre, and when I decided to re-use the sauce from the Company Pot Roast I was afraid we’d try it and immediately have to call for pizza. I want to be modest, but it was delicious and both Mike and I dove right in cleaning our proverbial plates. I advise leaving the yolks uncooked and mixing them around with the tomato, it’s awesome. Don’t skimp on the toast – you’ll need it!

Spinach Salad Frittata

February 23, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

I’m always on the look out for delicious ways to eat more leafy greens and this frittata channels the Classic Spinach Salad while transforming it into a meal. Crispy, salty bacon; rich caramelized onions, and a little tang from a generous dose of whole grain mustard and a dash of red wine vinegar.

Frittatas are one of my all time favorite dishes to cook – as evidence may I present: Exhibit A, Exhibit B and Exhibit C. They’re simple, healthful, and easy; they don’t require extra fussing with a crust (sorry quiche), make great leftovers, and can serve one or two just as easily as a crowd.

This particular edition also has one additional selling point: I’m betting that 99% of the ingredients are already in your fridge, freezer, or pantry right now. Which means you could be eating Spinach Salad Frittata for dinner tonight or breakfast tomorrow without making a trip to the grocery store!

Spinach Salad Frittata (yield: 6 servings)

Ingredients:
3 pieces thick cut bacon
1 1/2 cups (2 medium) thinly sliced onions
10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
8 eggs
1/4 cup skim or 2% milk
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard (I like Maille)
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Kosher salt
Black Pepper
Non-stick spray

Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Dice the bacon into 1/4 inch strips and cook in a large sauté pan over medium heat until crisp stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. While the bacon is cooking, slice the onions into 1/8 inch rounds or half moons.

Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off the bacon drippings, reserving approximately 2 teaspoons in the pan.

Reduce the heat to low. Add the sliced onions to the pan and sauté with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper for 10-12 minutes until caramelized and softened.

Meanwhile, drain the defrosted spinach pressing out as much of the water as possible. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, whole grain mustard and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt.

When the onions are caramelized add the drained spinach and red wine vinegar to the pan. Fluff the spinach with a fork to combine with the onions.

Prepare a 9 inch pie plate or baking dish with a light coating of non-stick spray. Evenly spread the spinach mixture in the bottom and sprinkle the crisped bacon pieces over the top. Pour the beaten eggs into the dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes! I used a large sauté pan, 9 inch pie plate, medium cutting board, and a medium mixing bowl. I also used a dinner plate, chef’s knife, slotted spoon, wire whisk, and rubber spatula in addition to measuring cups and spoons. That’s it!

The Verdict:
I made Spinach Salad Frittata when Mike and I were hosting a guest for a late morning breakfast and we all agreed that the flavor combination worked. The spinach is the star with supporting, but essential appearances from the caramelized onions and bacon (how bad could that be?) The mustard adds a little spice and turns a brunch dish with really simple ingredients into a recipe that could easily transition to dinner.