Egg Baked in Cream

Addendum 9/28/10: I had this on our weekly menu, but the day I was to make it, I realized, "I have no leeks!" Instead, I caramelized some onion (always caramelize more than you think you're going to need 'cuz it cooks down so much) and steamed/sauteed some Swiss chard from our CSA & threw that in too. Results = delicious!!!


I know I just posted a recipe that came from The Wednesday Chef, but I actually made two of hers that week & the other was so good, too, that I wanted to share it. Of course, you should really pop over to her site to read her mouth-watering description of Camino's Egg Baked in Cream and see some yummy-looking pictures. We had it for supper, but I think it would make a fabulous brunch dish & comes across as fancy and difficult. So, perfect for impressing the in-laws for brunch!

It's really quite easy. I think you could probably even saute the leek mixture ahead of time and then just allow a little longer for cooking. Luisa mentions cooking the leeks longer than recommended since she likes them softer, and since I do, too, that's how I did it. Mr. Kluges and I threw some torn-up spinach leaves in the ramekins on top of our leeks & it was great! The girls opted for no leeks & their spinach as a salad, but each ate TWO plain baked eggs with cream, so that was a winner for us. I have to confess that Mr. Kluges & I liked it so much that we ate two each as well! *grin* So, you may want to allow for seconds if you're not serving it with a lot of side dishes!

Egg Baked in Cream
Serves 1 with leftover leeks for many uses

1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 leeks, sliced, light green and white parts only
Salt
2 sprigs thyme, leaves roughly chopped
2 sprigs parsley, leaves roughly chopped
1 large farm-fresh egg
About 2 tablespoons half-and-half
Coarsely ground black pepper
Grilled or toasted bread slices

1. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the leeks, a splash of water and a pinch of salt and cook until the leeks are tender, about 2 minutes. Add the herbs and transfer to a 6-inch cazuela, cocotte or other ceramic dish, covering the bottom with the butter, leeks and herbs.

2. Crack the egg into the middle of the dish. Add enough half-and-half to barely cover the white. Sprinkle with salt and coarsely ground pepper. Cook until the white is set, 8 to 12 minutes. Serve with grilled or toasted bread.

Guacamole with mango and pomegranate

Yeti made this last week for Wednesday dinner, and it was awesome. I'm glad I hadn't read the recipe before I ate some, because I probably would have been scared away by the raw onion. But I don't even remember tasting it. Good stuff!

4 ripe avocados (about 2 lbs.)
1 cup finely chopped white onion
2 fresh serrano chiles, finely chopped (2 tablespoons), including seeds
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (from 1 pomegranate)
3/4 cup diced peeled mango
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Lime wedges to garnish

Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Coarsely mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chiles, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, then fold in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with salt and additional lime juice. Garnish with lime wedges.

(Recipe is from Epicurious.)

Cauliflower & Potato Gratin

Yum. I made this Cauliflower & Potato Gratin last week and it was so good, and warm, and yummy. It would make a great side dish or a vegetarian main dish with a salad. Might be a good option in a case like AKJ's Thanksgiving dilemma last year where she needed to bring a side, but somebody else was bringing potatoes, and veg, and sweet potatoes, etc.

I'm just copy-pasting the recipe over here from The Wednesday Chef, but do go over there to read her fabulous description of it because it'll totally make you hungry.

Note: I used fontina instead of Gruyere, and it filled a 9x13 glass baking dish perfectly.

Cauliflower and Potato Gratin
Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish

1 (1 1/4-pound) head of cauliflower
1/2 pound small boiling potatoes
Salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/4 cup butter
1 leek, white part only, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons crème fraiche or sour cream
3/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese, divided (about 1 1/2 ounces)
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the dried base and green leaves from the cauliflower and discard them. Separate the head into florets about the size of walnuts and chop the stem into similar size pieces. Cut the potatoes into similar-size pieces as well.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high head and salt liberally. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and the cauliflower and potatoes (the vinegar will help keep the cauliflower white). Cook until the cauliflower pieces are tender enough to be easily cut with a spoon, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. While the cauliflower is cooking, make a cheese sauce. In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and stir in the leeks. Cook until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and whisk to make a smooth paste. Add the milk a little at a time, cooking until it thickens. When all the milk has been added, reduce the heat and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the crème fraîche, then one-half cup of the Gruyère, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous grating of nutmeg (a little less than one-quarter teaspoon). Whisk until smooth, then taste and add more salt or nutmeg if necessary.

5. Butter a 6-cup gratin dish and spread a thin layer of the sauce evenly over the bottom. Arrange the cooked cauliflower and potatoes in an even layer over the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and spread evenly with the back of a spoon. It should come about three-quarters of the way up the vegetables.

6. Scatter bread crumbs evenly over top and then scatter the remaining one-quarter cup Gruyère over that. Bake until the gratin is bubbling and the top is browned, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve immediately.

Wednesday Fun #116 - Happy New Year!

Hello, all! Well, based on the responses (or lack thereof! *grin*) to last week's WF, either y'all haven't learned/done/tasted anything new in 2009 or else you were all too busy with holiday fun to check in. That's fine and good, because it leaves you lots of room to answer this week's question!

Do you have any food-related resolutions or goals or "Hm, I think I'd like to"s for 2010? I mean, even if it's the not-uncommon-at-all "eat healthier," let's hear the nitty-gritty of it for you. Are you going sugar-free or caffeine-free or carb-free or something-free for a month or the year? Increasing your veggie intake? Committing to trying a new recipe each month? Swearing to yourself you'll order something new at your favorite restaurant rather than your same favorite dish every time? Maybe you want to get to the farmers' market more often, or join a CSA? Maybe it's just that you'll get some new kind of fruit on occasion when you're at the store.

How about it? Any food wishes for 2010?

Wednesday Fun #115 - Reflections on 2009

I don't know about you, but I've tried a few new things in 2009, made a few new things, and learned a few new things. For example, I canned my first pickles! We opened them about a week ago when the in-laws were here since my MIL had given me the recipe. I'd already realized I needed to pack the pickles in a LOT tighter, but upon opening I learned the importance of canning the pickles as soon as possible after picking so they stay crisp... and also that when my MIL's canning recipes call for vinegar, they mean apple cider vinegar, not white.

So, how about you? Any noteworthy new foods tried? New recipes attempted (successful or not)? New techniques learned? Let us know about some food-related thing you learned/tried in 2009!

Wednesday Fun #114 - Christmas Traditions

Thanksgiving's got its (admittedly stereotypical) traditional foods what with your turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes (possibly with marshmallows), cranberry sauce (possibly still with its rings from the can), & pumpkin pie.

Christmas has got...what? Christmas cookies? Peppermint sticks? Eggnog? All good and tasty, but not a lot of substance there. (Well, other than all the "substance" that ends up on my hips after a few rounds of Christmas cookies!) I'm wondering if you and your family have any traditional Christmas DINNER-type foods. Do you always have ham? Turkey (again)? Standing rib roast? Pierogies? The yearly lobster dinner? Some ethnically-traditional dish passed down for generations from one side of the family or another?

What's YOUR traditional Christmas (or Christmas Eve) Major Meal food?

Wednesday Fun #113 - C is for Cookie!

Life's been busy 'round here with holiday prep, including some cookie baking. So far we've made a variation of Syl's Pretzels and Hugs with caramel kisses as well as some sugar and molasses cut-out cookies. Not that we actually made the dough for the cut-out cookies (yay, store-bought buckets o' dough!), because that's NOT the fun part of those. The fun parts are rolling, cookie cutters, and sprinkles!

So, how about you? Have you made/do you plan on making any cookies this holiday season? What kinds? Anything especially drool-worthy that, gosh, you should probably share with the rest of us Recipeeples? :)

Wednesday Fun 112- Boca Chica review

Well kiddies, Shonuff just recently turned 35 and when Pusher asked where I wanted to have the birthday dinner I picked Boca Chica. This is Mexican food without messing around. Family recipes carefully made and full of flavor. Presented in a more of a fine dining style than most Mexican food you can get. They give you soup or a salad with most meals and the decor while still being Mexican themed is like you might find at a nice resort.

What about the food makes me love Boca Chica? Well, let me explain how I normally get a sense of a Mexican restaurant. I've got it down to sort of a science (I've gone to a lot of Mexican places). There are three things I check for... Tamales, Chile Rellenos, and Mole sauce. Now if a place has all three of these dishes it's a good sign... but there are times when some or all are bad. If two out of three are good to great then the place is good just a bit limited. So I'm betting you know how Boca Chica did.

Tamales... these appear to be a simple thing but aren't. If you don't like corn meal then of course you aren't going to like them but the proper balance between the corn meal and pork is very tricky. Boca Chica nails the balance and actually presents the tamale in the husk of corn... a presentation I've noticed is done most places you get a great tamale. Boca Chica Tamales = excellent.

Chile Rellenos also sound kind of simple, stuff pepper batter and fry. Well this is a dish I love but is often done poorly. Not a problem at Boca Chica, you taste the pepper, you taste the filling and they all meld together to make the wonderful flavors this dish can create. Another win for Boca Chica.

Then there is Mole sauce. This like the previous two dishes is fairly labor intensive. The sauce at it's best is cooked for hours so the flavors can meld. Boca Chica's is done right and it shows, it's easily in the top 5 I've ever had. Their sauce is strong on the cocoa flavor with that bitterness showing through even while it is balanced nicely by the rich roasted pepper flavors.

I think I might have to go back soon...

Cream Cheese Chutney Dip

I am ashamed to even try to call this a recipe, but it's good and fits the theme.

4-8 oz of cream cheese on a plate (spread it around if you want it to look pretty)
spoon Major Grey Mango Chutney on top (use less if you don't want it too sweet)

Spread this on crackers. I find water crackers and Wheat Thins work well. Delicious!

December's Theme - Party Food

Our normally scheduled Wednesday Fun will be usurped today by the monthly theme update. Hope y'all don't mind, but I've still got unpacking & laundry to do from our Thanksgiving trip!

(I will put up a poll, too, but actually, I'll be scheduling to leave it up for two weeks so I hopefully get a large number (well, relatively speaking, that is!) of you to weigh in on it.) (ShoNuff, feel free to do a poll with your review anyway next week, if you'd like!)

Anyway, December's theme is Party Food! Hooray! Since there are so many get-togethers, parties, and, of course, New Year's Eve coming up, let's hear your recipes for dips, appetizers, finger food, cute little desserts, etc.

Here's a few we've got so far:**

• Diplowhat shared some Taco Salad Dip that is making me hungry.
• Or you could go with her Dead Sister Dip. (But maybe call it something festive!*grin*)
  
• Also in a TexMex-y vein, we've got Nectarine's Chicken Enchilada Ring.
• I really love Tomato Bruschetta, even if it's way better in summer.
• Syl's Cucumber Sandwiches make me think of summer, too, but that never stops me from eating them!
  
• The Sexy Blonde posted a Roasted Bell Pepper Antipasto that I think sounds more "pro-" than "anti-!" (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)
  
• Nectarine shared some Caramel Dips for Apples. Nice if you want something in addition to or instead of a cheese/creamy sort of dip.
• Apple Berry Salsa is also from Nectarine - again, also a nice fruity option.
• A more exotic option than (or addition to) a veggie tray could be Diplowhat's Miso & Cucumber.
• Pusher's Peppered Tuna Skewers might go great next it, too!
• And if you're looking for another seafood option, The Sexy Blonde shared a recipe out of the South Beach Diet cookbook for a Salmon Ball.
• Also along healthier lines, this time from Cooking Light, she also posted Proscuitto-Wrapped Figs Stuffed with Bleu Cheese.
  
• Pusher's Soft Pretzels. You might think "Oktoberfest" thinking about pretzels, but color your salt green & red with food coloring & you've got an officially holiday-looking snack!
• No one can guess what's in the sauce for Nectarine's Crazy Meatballs, but it doesn't stop them from coming back for more!
  
• If you want to be fancy, and are willing to stand in front of a pan of oil for a while during your party, you could make these Crisp-Fried Vegetables that are really good, if not at all make-ahead-able.
• And how can you not end with some classic (and colorable) Cream Cheese Mints from Pusher?

** As always, if I've missed a recipe you think should be on this list, let me know & I'll add it. I only looked through the Appetizers/Cocktail food label, so there could very well be other good recipes under Snacks or Desserts or whatever. Thanks!