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.
We are firm believers in the value of local food, slow food, organic food, freshly harvested. I once had a friend tell me that eggs are just miniature chickens, with all the nutrients packed in there, so you’d better be careful about what the hen was eating when she made the egg. Insightful! And it’s been our good fortune to know Beth Wooten, for so many reasons, not the least of which is her wonderful eggs.
Beth’s eggs are not just local/organic/fresh, they are gorgeous. Check it out – blues, greens, cream, and deep brown. She tells me it’s because of the types of chickens she has, but I never retain that information. I can just tell you that the yolks are the deepest creamy orange you’ll ever see, they rise like nobody’s business, and they taste the way an egg should.
Stolen in a parking lot
These chickens are livin’ the life, I can tell you. They have a run that surrounds Beth’s garden, so when she’s picking vegetables, any stems and leaves and such go right into the top of the run, where the chickens can feast on a lovely salad for lunch. The run goes all the way down to a cool mountain spring. Every so often, Beth gets an email from me, “Dost thou have eggs?” And she finds out how many I want, and we set up a plan for transfer – usually I just break into her car and steal them out of her cooler. 😉 Well, ok, she tells me where I’ll find the cooler, ok? But it’s pretty fun to think of it as getting my egg fix from a dealer in a parking lot… Ghetto eggs… And they are addictive, after all, because once you’ve had farm-fresh organic eggs, you won’t want to settle for anything less.
Once, I asked for pictures of the chickens. You can imagine my delight when Beth sent me the chickens eating a watermelon!! Her caption was, “Everyone loves watermelon on a hot day.” I guess those girls enjoyed it. So, they eat well, they make really pretty eggs, and you can be assured that all the nutrients you wish were in your omelet are right there. Recipe follows.
For individual baked omelets, try the following. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. For a single omelet, use one au gratin dish, spray it with Baker’s Joy (oil & flour nonstick baking spray), arrange add-ins in the dish. Beat 3 eggs with a splash of milk, pour over the add-ins, sprinkle with herbs, and bake for 30 minutes. Ok, “What’s an add-in?” you ask. Well, that’s where the fun comes in!
I always include some kind of cheese:
cheddar
swiss
pepperjack
chevre (a *must* if you’re using roasted red peppers, swoon!)
gruyere
Paired with at least one veggie:
fresh asparagus tips -I fan them out in the dish, but you can chop them if you prefer
spinach chiffonade (which just means thinly sliced into shreds, folks)
onions, sauteed first
bell pepper, sauteed first
roasted red peppers
sliced new potatoes, cooked (slice, wash, cover and steam in the microwave approx 3 minutes!)
mushrooms, sauteed first, in butter and a pinch of the herb you’re using later
diced green chilis (fresh roasted, or canned)
fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced (seeding is necessary or you’ll have too much liquid)
And meat, if you like:
diced ham
cooked, crumbled bacon or sausage
shredded roast chicken breast (this is surprisingly wonderful)
crab meat
Sprinkle with herbs – and I like to use only one, so that it’s showcased:
tarragon
rosemary
dill
basil (see note about parmesan, below)
coarsely ground black pepper
Now, if you use more than one veggie, you may need to cut back to two eggs. If your eggs are fresh like mine, you’ll see your omelet rise two inches above the rim of the dish! It will fall within a minute or two, but it’s fun to watch. If you don’t have fresh eggs, you may want to top your omelet with a sprinkle of cheese before baking.
A special note about parmesan cheese: this is a strong flavor, and something that you’ll want to use on top of the omelet, about halfway through baking. And finally, my-son-the-chef, Nick, likes to brush on just a touch of white truffle oil before serving.
Be creative. Try something new. Send me a picture!
