Confessions of an Innkeeper: I’ve had my B&B since 1998, I’m 58 years old, and today I poached an egg for the first time in my life. I’m astonished how fast, how simple, how easy – and why in the world have I been so intimidated by this??!?
Nevermore! Break an egg (cold & fresh) into a small bowl. Put an inch of water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and then ease it off to a simmer. Add a teaspoon of salt, two of white vinegar, swirl to make a whirlpool. Ease the egg right into the center of the whirlpool. Cover and remove from heat. NO PEEKING for five minutes. Poof. Egg. I didn’t trim edges, cherry pick the best ones, or anything. This is how they came out. I took them out of the pan with a slotted spoon, laid momentarily on a paper towel and put them in the bowl. That’s it. Oh, and I ate them. With pleasure.
I have a wonderful bride, named Judy. She and John were married here about a year and a half ago, and they recently moved to this area. (Recently, as in 27 days ago.) Judy and I have been having a great time going out and about and exploring the mountains together. One of our trips was to Barber’s Orchard fruit stand (such an understatement to call this place a ‘stand’) where we got apples and baked goods and gorgeous little butternut squashes. Is that right? Squashes? Well, we got more than one squash, ok? I did, anyway. Judy just got one. She said, “What are you going to do with those?” and I told her, “Make fabulous soup.” She asked how and I was almost embarrassed to tell her how easy it is.
Here goes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
I used two, er, of the squash. Cut your squash in half (that’s the hardest thing you’re going to do, today) and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Lay the squash, cut side up, in a roasting pan. I love (love) garlic (love garlic, Love it), so I peeled six cloves for my two squash. Es. Squashes. Whatever. For the squash. Then I peeled and cut a nice sized yellow onion into quarters, and laid a quarter and a clove-and-a-half of garlic into the cavity of each squash half. Then I drizzled good olive oil over the whole thing.
Then it baked for the better part of an hour – until I could poke a fork into the squash and it was like soft butter (or like a baked sweet potato, or -oh wait! like cooked squash, yeah that’s it).
Next step is to get that stuff into the blender. You can use a food processor or what have you, but Larry has a monster commercial Vitamix, and that puppy makes some smooth soup. (And blender drinks, like the pina coladas last night with the fresh pineapple – oh, did I get distracted?) Ahem. Soup. Yes.
If you’ll run a sharp knife around the edge of the squash -just to break the ‘skin’ created by baking- and then score the meat of the squash (not all the way through!) it will simplify spooning it into the blender.
My blender held one squash, along with the quartered onions and cloves of garlic that cooked in each one, plus two cups of good chicken broth and a cup of water. The whole thing was repeated for the second squash.
Look at that! Is that gorgeous, or what?
Here it is, blended, with a bit of nutmeg, cayenne, white pepper, and salt.
And heavy cream. The Elixir of Life. Right up there with butter. Gotta have it.
Two notes: First, only a little of the cream floated on top, so there is a LOT more cream than you see pictured. Second, no I don’t have any idea what the measurement was on the cream. “A generous bit.” There ya go.
Finally, simmer and stir, simmer and stir. You’ll have a lovely treat in about half an hour.
Buttermilk Pancakes – light as air and lots tastier
The whole entire secret to making good pancakes -really excellent pancakes- is eggs. You can use a recipe, you can use a mix. But if you use a mix, you have to ignore the part where it doesn’t call for eggs. Separate a couple of eggs, and beat the egg whites – you want them pretty stiff, like a meringue. I sprinkle in a bit of sugar toward the end because I’m impatient and it makes them peak faster. (‘Peak’ as in, when you lift the beater out of the egg whites, it leaves a nice peak.) Now, set these aside and mix up your regular pancake batter, and fold in that meringue. I’ve used lots of recipes, but none of them make better tasting pancakes than Krusteaz buttermilk pancake mix. Now, I do add Mexican vanilla and the eggs to that mix. If you’re a purist who wants a recipe, here’s mine: 2 eggs, 3 C flour, 2 T baking powder, 1 t baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 2 T sugar, 1 T brown sugar, 2 C buttermilk, 1 T Mexican vanilla, plus whole milk as necessary. Whip egg whites, adding 1 T sugar to help them hold their peaks. Set aside. Mix everything else, including egg yolks. Add milk in small amounts until you have the consistency of very heavy paint. And then fold in the egg whites. They don’t need to be blended in completely. Cook on a preheated 350 griddle.
The reason for the first tablespoon of sugar is to make the meringue. The second is to sweeten the batter. The brown sugar adds depth. The meringue makes the pancakes say, “Poof!” when they hit the griddle, and puffs them up light as air, while the sugars combine to make them brown so prettily.
The reason for the Mexican vanilla is two-fold. First, it’s really good vanilla. The second is that, when I’m out of vanilla, Larry has to take me back to Mexico. If you are tempted, now, to tell Larry where I can find Mexican vanilla closer to home, I’m going to have to do something about you. So… don’t… Ok?
If you just really don’t like to cook, that’s ok. I’ve got this one. Come on down, and I’ll make you up a mess o’ pancakes.
Ok, so I bought the teeny tiny itty-bitty micro mini squishy marshmallows to make scones. Because I was buying raspberry chocolate chips for scones, and lemon drops for scones, and cinnamon bits for scones, and I already had milk chocolate chips and graham crackers at home… so when I spotted the teeny tiny itty-bitty micro mini squishy marshmallows, I thought, “Aha! S’more scones!”
But this morning wasn’t about scones. We were having Cherry Chapelure (my version of oven French toast) with a pecan praline topping, and I had these lovely apples for the fruit course. I really (really) didn’t want to make baked stuffed apples. And the t.t.i-b.m.m.sq. marshmallows were just sitting there… trying to look all innocent… temptation in the making… irresistible…
So, I peeled, cored and sliced the apples. This next step will revolutionize your morning, if you haven’t figured it out already: put the apple slices in a bowl with a healthy splash of orange juice (toss ’em around in it). The OJ will keep them from browning. Now cover and steam them in the microwave until they are just tender. They get a head start on cooking, and it helps them keep their shape.
I sprayed ramekins and layered the apple slices with a sprinkling of t.t.i-b.m.m.sq. marshmallows. Not too many. Just enough to make the apples say ahhh. Then I put graham crackers and vanilla wafers into a big baggie, sealed it shut, and rolled them just like a pastry with my rolling pin, until I had nice coarse crumbs. Added just a hint of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves to the baggie, shook it up, and topped my apples. Then I melted way too much butter and drizzled it over the top. Off it went into the oven to bake with the Chapelure and sausage patties, and voila – breakfast.
This was all packed into the breakfast basket along with cinnamon-vanilla syrup, maple syrup, orange juice, and everything they needed to make a picnic breakfast happen, covered in pretty linens, flowers tied to the basket, and delivered to the cottage door.
And voila. S’more Apples. A new addition to my breakfast repertoire, for sure!
After a request for a ‘plain’ breakfast, and a bit of discussion, guests have had a breakfast basket delivered daily with ‘plain’ food. Today’s was a pretty crystal tray of fresh cut fruit (nectarines, kiwi, and grapes) with no dressing or yogurt or sauce, per request. Frittatas made with eggs and ham, potatoes, peppers, onions and herbs (and a little cheddar because I can’t help myself). Cheese grits, by request, and yes there’s a little jalapeno in there because, well, I’m pretty sure there’s a law about that… And some decidedly un-plain cherry scones. I just love this Southern man to pieces – he wants sweet tea at every meal. How precious is that?
I took the wedding fairies to the Disney World EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for a little team-building. Oh, fine, all right, ok, it was an excuse to go be foodies in Florida now that wintry weather has set in. And it was fabulous! Photos and recipes and inspirations to follow. Just a heads up: anything you can serve for dinner can find its way onto a breakfast plate, with just a little bit of creativity. Stay tuned… There’s more to come…
This morning, a bride requested the recipe for the Blueberry White-Chocolate Chapelure she enjoyed here on her wedding day. My reply is included below. Just so you know, Chapelure is just French for ‘bread crumbs’. To the best of my knowledge, nobody else calls their oven-baked French toast ‘bread crumbs’, so if you’re offered chapelure anyplace besides Timberwolf Creek… well… you might want to get more information! Ok, here’s my answer for Annette:
It’s sooo easy. And I just typed it up for Letitia – so, voila! If you’re using commercially frozen blueberries, you’ll need to rinse off the juice oryou’ll have grey food. The blueberries you had here were from my Uncle Carroll’s garden, and picks them “in the morning before the sun hits them” and then dries them on cookie sheets so that they are “neat”. Best when using commercial to tuck in the berries *after* pouring the egg/milk/sugar/spice mixture over the bread, the prevent them from smearing.
Berry White Chocolate Chapelure
Baker’s Joy cooking spray
4 slices of bread (approximate!)
2 croissants
1/4 cup berries (either frozen blueberries, or dried cranberries)
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
4 eggs (if using ‘medium’ eggs, you’ll need 5)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
dash of nutmeg, mace, cloves
maple syrup
Using individual ramekins, spray with cooking spray.
Into a big mixing bowl, cut leftover bread into cubes. Be careful not to ‘smoosh’ the bread. Use more than one kind of bread (French, sour dough, oatmeal). Tear the croissants. Toss the bread to mix it up. Distribute randomly into the dishes. You want the dishes to be over-full. Don’t press it down.
Tuck in frozen blueberries OR dried cranberries, and then add white chocolate chips.
Mix eggs and milk with brown sugar, spices and vanilla. Pour carefully over bread mixture.
Put in the refrigerator, and then cover lightly with plastic wrap -don’t tuck it in around the dishes, just lay it over the top. You want the bread to lift as it soaks up the eggs & milk. Refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, remove from the fridge, take off the plastic, and let stand at room temp for 20-30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees about half an hour. It should be puffed and lightly browned. Serve with warm syrup on the side.
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Note: this adapts really easily to whatever ingredients you have on hand. You’ll want two add-ins… like
–Raisin Walnut
–Blackberry Pecan
–Apple Cinnamon (peel the apples & chop small, sprinkle the top of the chapelure *lightly* with cinnamon and then sugar, before baking)
–Brown Sugar Peach (this is added AFTER the chapelure comes out of the fridge, in the morning – drain a can of peaches and toss with a little brown sugar and lay the fruit right on top of the bread, and then bake)
So, we have this really wonderful breakfast. It’s delicious. You start with a giant muffin tin, and line each ‘cup’ with thin slices of Black Forest ham. Then you want to melt a little butter in a saucepan and add cooked spinach (well-drained), cream cheese, and some good parmesan, plus a dash of nutmeg. Once that’s thoroughly heated and blended together, spoon it into the ham. Now, carefully break an egg over the spinach. Pour a bit of heavy whipping cream over the top of the egg. Bake until the eggs are set and the edges of the ham get crispy.
Put some pepperjack cheese grits on the side – preferably coarse stone-ground grits from a local mill (we like the one in Cherokee) and serve with raspberry-chocolate scones.
Now, we’ve been trying to come up with a name for this lovely meal for ages. When my son, Nicholas, was cooking, he actually pioneered the dish and put the ingredients together to get just the right flavor. (He also makes another version with diced portabello mushrooms in a creamy shallot sauce in place of the spinach -swoon!) He dubbed them ‘Eggs Nicholas’. Today, I was told that with the spinach filling in there, they should be called Green Eggs and Ham.
