Eggs Benedict

When I originally started this food blog I was under the impression that keeping it up to date would be a piece of cake. My thought process was that I could make an entry every day. Of course that task would be more realistic if I didn't have to work or go to school (or sleep). I slightly omitted those facts in my excitement and blogging enthusiasm. As enjoyable as sharing the love of cooking is, it's also quite time consuming! The whole process includes: cooking, taking pictures, thinking of what to write in my introduction, typing up a legible recipe with directions, arranging pictures, and researching interesting scientific facts to include. One of the most difficult tasks is the picture taking. It's relatively easy to take pictures of the process, but I always forget to take pictures of the final product!!! I usually only remember after I've devoured everything, and I doubt an empty plate with crumbs would look very nice.

In this case the plate would have been licked clean of all its saucy goodness.

Eggs Benedict

Bearnaise Sauce (A typical Eggs Benedict recipe will call for Hollandaise sauce. I find Bearnaise adds more oomph.)
Canadian Bacon
English muffins (I use whole wheat ones)
Eggs

Follow the directions on the packet for how to make Bearnaise sauce. Set aside and keep warm.


Toast English muffins and place on a plate for preparation.

Heat Canadian bacon as instructed.

Poach eggs. Poaching means that the eggs have been cooked in water. No oil, butter, or fat is needed.

Did you know? A completed egg is expelled about 25 hours after leaving the hen's ovary. Each egg is about 3% of the hen's body weight. A quarter of the hen's daily energy expenditure goes toward egg-making.

To poach an egg, bring a small to medium pot of water to a low boil. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar to help keep the egg white from spreading. Once the water is at a boil, vigorously stir the water to create a miniature whirlpool. Quickly crack an egg into the water and continue stirring. The stirring also helps prevent the egg white from dissipating in the water.

Wait approximately 3 - 5 minutes for the egg to poach. A poached egg should have a nice, undisturbed, soft yolk surrounded by the solidified, opaque egg white. The result is cooked albumen and runny yolk.

Remove egg from the water with a slotted spoon.

How to arrange the eggs Benedict:
Place the toasted English muffin on the bottom. Add a slice of Canadian bacon to the muffin and top off with the poached egg. Smother in as much sauce as wanted.

Mmm mmmm. I really did lick the plate. Shhh.

Almond Tortes

Throughout my cooking and baking escapades I have built up a repertoire of skills and talents. However, there are still things out there that elude me. My dream is to one day be able to:

1) Bake and decorate a tiered cake (using fondant)
2) Create a multi-course dinner
3) Make pasta noodles from scratch
4) Fillet a fish
5) Be able to consistently crack and release an egg with one hand
6) Light my food on fire

While I work hard to improve my egg-cracking skills I can read Gourmet magazine! I drove home recently to visit my parents and was surprised to see an issue of Gourmet The Magazine of Good Living at my doorstep with my name on it. My uncle, with whom I share a love of cooking, had subscribed me to the magazine! First thing I did, of course, was flip through the pages looking at the photographs. Instantly I saw something I knew I had to make immediately when I had the chance.

Almond Tortes

For the crisps:
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 butter
1 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For the filling:
1 cup chilled heavy cream
2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 dash ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (or pure bourbon vanilla extract)

For the Crisps:

Preheat oven to 375 with rack on lower shelf.

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients and heat over medium-low heat until everything is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.


Line a baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop teaspoons of batter 5 to 6 inches apart on backing sheets.

Note: Try to use a light-colored baking sheet because the crisps are more likely to burn on darker ones.

Bake until lightly browned (around 8 minutes).

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet rack for 5 minutes before removing completely to rack to cool. Let cool completely.

Note: This is what happens when you do not properly read instructions. I failed to place the drops 5 - 6 inches apart on multiple baking sheets. My crisps turned out as one giant, beautiful rectangle crisp. I rectified this situation by taking a scissor and cutting the rectangle into about 20 small squares.


For the Filling:

Beat cream in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form.

Gradually add sugar. Be careful not to over beat. A good indication of over whipping is when the cream starts to look like curds. Although this consistency is not exactly whipped cream, it tastes the same.

Did you know? When whipping cream, the agitation caused by the whisk adds air bubbles into the cream. Fat globules in the cream partially coalesce (unite) in clusters, spread and surround the air bubbles. The fat-surrounded air bubble becomes more stable (less likely to pop) and will link to other fat-surrounded bubbles. In between the fat globules are water, lactose, and protein molecules. This crystalline fat structure, along with the other molecules, helps the cream stabilize into those well-known fluffy clouds and become stiff. If the cream is whipped too far, the fat will churn and butter particles are formed.

Fold in cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. You can adjust the amount of spices based on your taste preferences.


How to Assemble Almond Torte


Take one almond crisp and top with whipped cream and berries. Cover with a second crisp. Top off the whole thing with more whipped cream and berries. The crisps are very fragile and break easily. These small broken pieces can be used as garnish. Or you can always use my alternative which is to eat the broken pieces immediately to remove any misshapen crisps. We might as well put them out of their misery.

Blue Cheese Hamburger

I joined my roommate on an excursion to Target yesterday with no intention of purchasing anything. I was doing pretty well until the VERY last minute when we passed a stand containing era music. It was then that I was faced with a dilemma. On one hand, there was a fantastic CD titled "The Timeless Sound of Big Band Swing" and I had a gift card that would cover the price. On the other hand I had five fingers. So I decided to grab the CD, and boy am I happy with my decision! Makes me want to pick up swing classes again. You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail! (I always thought they were saying "You gotta drunk drivin', and then you wail". It makes so much sense, now).

Every once in a while I get a craving for a giant, juicy hamburger. When I do not cave to hunger and laziness and head to the nearest In 'N Out, I make my own hamburgers. It may not be the classic cheeseburger but, trust me, it's fantastic!

Blue Cheese Hamburger
(Recipe tweaked from Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Hamburger buns (I use whole wheat to maintain an appearance of being healthy, even if it's false)
Ground beef (Once again, try to be healthy. I only buy 96% Lean/4% Fat)
Onions (I prefer red onions for this recipe)
Mushrooms (Optional)
Blue cheese, crumbled
Salad Greens
Butter or Olive Oil
Tabasco sauce or Cholula hot sauce
Mayonnaise
Salt
Pepper

Place your ground beef into a medium mixing bowl.

Did you know? A freshly cut meat surface is naturally purple in color because of the muscle protein myoglobin. As myoglobin is exposed to oxygen it becomes red (oxymyoglobin). That is why the outer surface of ground beef is red while the inside is still purple (it has not been exposed to oxygen).

1 lb. can serve two hungry people. How lean you want your meat is entirely up to you. Obviously there will be more flavor with fatter meats. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add hot sauce to taste. I am a wimp and therefore added a teeny, weeny little splash. The hot sauce adds great flavor to the burger. Mix that meat up so the salt, pepper, and sauce will be distrubuted evenly.


Set meat aside to carmelize onions. Add about 2 tbsp. of butter to a pan over medium-low heat. If using 1 pound of meat for 2 people, I reccomend using a very large red onion (unless you don't like onions. How could you???). Slice the onion and add to pan. Heat on medium heat for about fifteen minutes, allowing the onions to carmelize. Stir/toss onions occasionally. With about 5 - 10 minutes remaining, you can add the sliced mushrooms if using.

While the onions are carmelizing, we can go back to our ground beef. I am all about fairness so let's divide the hunk of ground beef into two equal parts and then form them into patties. Throw the patties onto a skillet or grill (I use something similar to a George Foreman Grill, that way it cooks both sides at once, cutting down the total time!). Cook for about 6 minutes on each side.


Toast the hamburger buns if you want. Spread with mayonnaise (one can add hot sauce to the mayo for an extra kick, too). Add any other wanted condiments. I stick mainly with mayonnaise. Place patty on bun.


Add a handful of blue cheese to the top of the burger. The way it's done in my photo is in reverse, but I've found it's easier to do the cheese first.


Hopefully by now the onions will be looking like you could eat them right from the pan. Or is that just me? Add a beautiful, heaping pile of onions on top of the cheese and burger.


Add the mixed greens on top of that.


Cover it up with the top of the bun and yay! Have yourself a delicious burger. You will need napkins for this!
Have a happy Easter tomorrow!

Portobello Mushroom Chicken

There is a certain type of calm that blankets the atmosphere when it rains.
It drizzled for a little bit last night when I got out of work. It's a great way to end the day.

My roommate sauteed some mushrooms the other day and inspired me to make this:

Portobello Mushroom Chicken

Portobello Mushrooms
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Flour
Onions
Olive Oil
Butter
Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Because I did not use a recipe for this, there are no official measurements.

Combine salt, pepper, and flour in a bowl and mix well. Dredge chicken to coat outsides evenly. Pat off any excess flour.


Over medium heat, heat olive oil and butter in medium to large pan.

Add mushrooms and onions to saute. Pour balsamic vinegar over mixture. It's up to you on how much vinegar you want added. I stopped when had a red hue.

Did you know? Vinegar is a solution of acetic acid in water. The word vinegar comes from the French vin aigre, meaning sour wine. Vinegar can be made spontaneously in Nature or induced deliberately. 1st, sugar is broken down into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide gas through a process kown as fermentation. The ethyl alcohol is then oxidized (a chemical reaction in which an atiom, ion, or molecule loses electrons) to acetic acid. Bacteria known as Acetobacter aceti help the ethyl alcohol react with oxygen to form the acetic acid.

Place chicken in pan, when sufficiently heated, for about 4 minutes on each side.


Remove chicken when cooked through, remove mushrooms and onions after sauteed.



Option: If chicken is not readily available, one can boil up some pasta and add the mushroom mix to that. It's just as delicious and so much easier!

Add some Parmigiano-Reggiano for extra flavor.