A good poached egg is truly and unappreciated food item that is mangled in many restaurants. I just have one question. Why is it so fucking hard to make sure my poached egg doesn't have a hard yolk? So disappointing.
There are "egg poachers" out there in the world, but all they really are is egg steamers, which is different from a poached egg. You don't need no stinkin' egg poacher anyway, all you need is:
a pan
water
egg
spatula
Fill the pan with about 1 inch of water. The pan needs to have a tight lid, I forgot to mention that. Put the lid on and bring the water to a hard boil. Crack your egg into the water, and cover. Now, you have to stand there, do not walk away. This is why restaurants always fuck up poached eggs, they walk away. Not only do you have to get that egg off pretty quick, the water will boil over in your pan. When it does that, lift the lid. When the boiling calms down, put it back on. Repeat. About 3 times. At some point you will look at your egg and realize that it's white all over. Now is the time to rescue your little egg from the pan.
Now this is where it gets tricky and why most people would prefer a fried egg. Very gently ease your spatula under the egg. Wedge it under there, making sure the yolk is supported. Pull it out of the pan, letting the water drain off for a few seconds. Gently ease it off the spatula onto your english muffin, into your soup, or on top of your sauteed spinach. Hmmmmm, sauteed spinach and poached egg...
No matter how careful you are, it's possible you will still break the yolk. At this point, it's an emergency extraction so you can save as much yolk as possible. It's very sad when this happens, but you just have to move on and eat what you get. I usually serve this one to Andrew, because I'm very selfish about yolk, and he does not notice as much.
You will notice that there seems to be a lot of egg white left behind. It's true, there is a lot of egg white left behind. I suppose if you like egg whites and order "egg beaters" in a restaurant then you will be sad that you are missing a significant portion o the egg whites. But trust me, you're missing nothin'.
Showing posts with label easy meals to keep them from crying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label easy meals to keep them from crying. Show all posts
Sunday, August 8, 2010
a soup for all seasons
You know when you have a busy day ahead and the very idea of busting out an edible dinner in 10 hours seems totally out of the question? Back away from the take-out menu! This is my simple, easy, basic soup. You can add all kinds of stuff to it, or you can take it as it is. It's great for every season, because soup is always good.
Here are the basics:
Onion
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Tomatoes (canned or fresh. no fresh tomatoes in february!)
French Lentils (the small black-green ones)
Chicken stock or water
Bay Leaf
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Salt Pepper
Depending on the season and supplies on hand, you can add:
Fresh corn (Leaving out the lentils and potatoes. Why? Too much starch)
Avocado as a garnish. So good.
Greens (Kale, Chard, etc. Add when you have about 10-15 more cooking time)
Spinach (save till almost the end or it will overcook)
Green beans
Broccoli or better yet, broccolini
Artichokes (canned or fresh)
Mushrooms (saute in the beginning with onion, etc.)
Parsnips
Poached egg
Potatoes
Canellini beans (fresh, canned, or dried. If dry, soak all day)
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but that's my basic list of options.
I favor French Lentils because they stay firm and do not fall apart. I like that. However, you can also use any other lentil type or even a split pea. These have the advantage of being quick-cooking. If you are going to use French Lentils or dry cannellini beans, rinse them well, pop them into a pot in the morning and cover with water and a teaspoon of salt so they will cook up quickly that evening.
Okay, evening is here, time to whip this soup out. First, chop up that onion and get it sauteing with some olive oil and salt. If you are feeling indulgent, add butter too, or cut the olive oil and just do butter. I'm just saying, butter is good, but fatty. While the onion sautes over medium heat, chop up the celery and add to the onion. If you are doing a potato, chop it up into 1-inch cubes and add that too. Cut the carrots in half and chop into half moons, add to pot. Oh, throw in that bay leaf too. Garlic goes in last.
When everything starts getting soft and smelling good, you will start adding your other ingredients. If you soaked your lentils or beans, pour the water and the beans into the pot. Add chicken stock or water so everything is floating in a nice broth. Cover, bring to a boil, and then turn down to med-low heat. Cook for about 30 minutes or until beans are done.
Whatever you decide to add, make sure you add it at the right time. You don't want to overcook anything. Part of the charm of this soup is the good-tasting vegetables. Generally, 5 minutes is enough time, with the exception of heartier vegetables.
Now I know you want to know about the poached egg. I learned this from Olga's Restaurant on Orcas Island. In fact, I came up with this recipe from a soup I had there. The poached egg is so fucking good. It adds some protein, and if you are an egg hound like me, then you will be really happy. I had this soup for breakfast, which is probably why they threw the egg on. But I think it's perfectly appropriate for dinner too.
The finishing touch with this soup is crusty bread. But regular old sliced bread is great too. Or skip the bread, you don't need it!
Here are the basics:
Onion
Garlic
Carrot
Celery
Tomatoes (canned or fresh. no fresh tomatoes in february!)
French Lentils (the small black-green ones)
Chicken stock or water
Bay Leaf
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Salt Pepper
Depending on the season and supplies on hand, you can add:
Fresh corn (Leaving out the lentils and potatoes. Why? Too much starch)
Avocado as a garnish. So good.
Greens (Kale, Chard, etc. Add when you have about 10-15 more cooking time)
Spinach (save till almost the end or it will overcook)
Green beans
Broccoli or better yet, broccolini
Artichokes (canned or fresh)
Mushrooms (saute in the beginning with onion, etc.)
Parsnips
Poached egg
Potatoes
Canellini beans (fresh, canned, or dried. If dry, soak all day)
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but that's my basic list of options.
I favor French Lentils because they stay firm and do not fall apart. I like that. However, you can also use any other lentil type or even a split pea. These have the advantage of being quick-cooking. If you are going to use French Lentils or dry cannellini beans, rinse them well, pop them into a pot in the morning and cover with water and a teaspoon of salt so they will cook up quickly that evening.
Okay, evening is here, time to whip this soup out. First, chop up that onion and get it sauteing with some olive oil and salt. If you are feeling indulgent, add butter too, or cut the olive oil and just do butter. I'm just saying, butter is good, but fatty. While the onion sautes over medium heat, chop up the celery and add to the onion. If you are doing a potato, chop it up into 1-inch cubes and add that too. Cut the carrots in half and chop into half moons, add to pot. Oh, throw in that bay leaf too. Garlic goes in last.
When everything starts getting soft and smelling good, you will start adding your other ingredients. If you soaked your lentils or beans, pour the water and the beans into the pot. Add chicken stock or water so everything is floating in a nice broth. Cover, bring to a boil, and then turn down to med-low heat. Cook for about 30 minutes or until beans are done.
Whatever you decide to add, make sure you add it at the right time. You don't want to overcook anything. Part of the charm of this soup is the good-tasting vegetables. Generally, 5 minutes is enough time, with the exception of heartier vegetables.
Now I know you want to know about the poached egg. I learned this from Olga's Restaurant on Orcas Island. In fact, I came up with this recipe from a soup I had there. The poached egg is so fucking good. It adds some protein, and if you are an egg hound like me, then you will be really happy. I had this soup for breakfast, which is probably why they threw the egg on. But I think it's perfectly appropriate for dinner too.
The finishing touch with this soup is crusty bread. But regular old sliced bread is great too. Or skip the bread, you don't need it!
omelet
The omelet is one of the world's perfect foods. The best thing about it is that once you know what you are doing with the omelet, you can be a Master Omelet Maker. Let's be clear: most people do not know what to fuck they are doing when it comes to making and omelet. But you are about to.
Back to the perfection of the omelet: It's fast, it's easy, it's nutritious and tasty. You can also throw just about anything into it and it will taste good. Know why? Because an omelet contains melty cheese, and melty cheese is good with everything. Name one thing that is not good with melty cheese. ... ... ... Can't do it, can you? Now, this is the meal you make when you forgot to plan any kind of dinner. Or lunch or breakfast. The omelet is one of those rare things you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.
For an omelet you need:
a non-stick omelet pan, or a wide and shallow pan
a rubber spatula
butter
eggs
salt
milk
cheese
whatever you are going to throw in there. You can throw pasta into an omelet and it will taste good. If you are using vegetables, give them a saute or a steam first.
Now the key to a good omelet is lots of butter. Coat the pan with it, I want to see some froth on that pan when the butter melts. You want your temperature to be medium-- not too hot, not too cool, but if you must err on any side, too cool is better than too hot. If you cook an omelet too quickly it will not be right. Crack your eggs into a bowl and stir them just enough to break up the yolks and integrate the salt (big pinch) and the milk (a splash). Also, have your cheese ready if it needs to be grated or sliced. I hope you know enough to know you can put any kind of cheese into an omelet.
When the pan has some nice heat on it, pour your eggs in. Let's talk pan-to-egg ratio a minute: you don't want to load up the pan with to many eggs. If you pour too much in there, it will take forever to cook. You want no more than a half inch of eggs in the pan. When you pour in the eggs, just let them sit. Don't fuck with them, these are delicate chicken fetuses we are dealing with. What you are waiting for is for the edges to set a bit. When they do, whip out your rubber spatula, gently lift up the edge of the omelet, as much of it as you can, and tilt the pan so the runny stuff flows off the top of the omelet and onto the pan where you just lifted the omelet. Shimmy your way all around the pan with this method. Keep doing this until no more runny stuff is left. When this happens, turn the heat down a notch and clap a lid on the pan. This will finish the cooking of the egg, and any runny stuff you couldn't tuck underneath the cooked egg.
Go get your filling supplies, take the lid off the pan, and cover half of the omelet with it. Which half you ask? The left half if you are right-handed, and the right half of you are left-handed. The reason for this will become clear in a moment. Clap the lid back on, and turn the heat off so your cheese can get melty, and any cooking that still needs to get done can finish up.
Assemble your plates. Now, if this is one person-one omelet, then shimmy (I love that word) the omelet onto your plate, filling side first. When the first half of the omelet hits the plate, lift the pan so that the unfilled side can flip over and land on the filling, making the perfectly folded omelet. If this is a two-or-more omelet, then cut it in the pan, and manually fold it over and lift each individual piece. Now, why do you cut the omelet while it is still open? Because it is easier to cut the filling without a layer of egg coming between you and your knife, therefore making you look even more masterful as you present this perfectly cooked and perfectly presented omelet. Viola!
Back to the perfection of the omelet: It's fast, it's easy, it's nutritious and tasty. You can also throw just about anything into it and it will taste good. Know why? Because an omelet contains melty cheese, and melty cheese is good with everything. Name one thing that is not good with melty cheese. ... ... ... Can't do it, can you? Now, this is the meal you make when you forgot to plan any kind of dinner. Or lunch or breakfast. The omelet is one of those rare things you can eat for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.
For an omelet you need:
a non-stick omelet pan, or a wide and shallow pan
a rubber spatula
butter
eggs
salt
milk
cheese
whatever you are going to throw in there. You can throw pasta into an omelet and it will taste good. If you are using vegetables, give them a saute or a steam first.
Now the key to a good omelet is lots of butter. Coat the pan with it, I want to see some froth on that pan when the butter melts. You want your temperature to be medium-- not too hot, not too cool, but if you must err on any side, too cool is better than too hot. If you cook an omelet too quickly it will not be right. Crack your eggs into a bowl and stir them just enough to break up the yolks and integrate the salt (big pinch) and the milk (a splash). Also, have your cheese ready if it needs to be grated or sliced. I hope you know enough to know you can put any kind of cheese into an omelet.
When the pan has some nice heat on it, pour your eggs in. Let's talk pan-to-egg ratio a minute: you don't want to load up the pan with to many eggs. If you pour too much in there, it will take forever to cook. You want no more than a half inch of eggs in the pan. When you pour in the eggs, just let them sit. Don't fuck with them, these are delicate chicken fetuses we are dealing with. What you are waiting for is for the edges to set a bit. When they do, whip out your rubber spatula, gently lift up the edge of the omelet, as much of it as you can, and tilt the pan so the runny stuff flows off the top of the omelet and onto the pan where you just lifted the omelet. Shimmy your way all around the pan with this method. Keep doing this until no more runny stuff is left. When this happens, turn the heat down a notch and clap a lid on the pan. This will finish the cooking of the egg, and any runny stuff you couldn't tuck underneath the cooked egg.
Go get your filling supplies, take the lid off the pan, and cover half of the omelet with it. Which half you ask? The left half if you are right-handed, and the right half of you are left-handed. The reason for this will become clear in a moment. Clap the lid back on, and turn the heat off so your cheese can get melty, and any cooking that still needs to get done can finish up.
Assemble your plates. Now, if this is one person-one omelet, then shimmy (I love that word) the omelet onto your plate, filling side first. When the first half of the omelet hits the plate, lift the pan so that the unfilled side can flip over and land on the filling, making the perfectly folded omelet. If this is a two-or-more omelet, then cut it in the pan, and manually fold it over and lift each individual piece. Now, why do you cut the omelet while it is still open? Because it is easier to cut the filling without a layer of egg coming between you and your knife, therefore making you look even more masterful as you present this perfectly cooked and perfectly presented omelet. Viola!
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