Spicy Tangy Old Fashioned Southern Deviled Eggs

If you want a really good deviled egg, you have to go to a real enthusiast for a recipe. Lucky for us, I happen to know such an enthusiast, or at least, I own her cookbook. It takes a real enthusiast to write a 464 page cookbook devoted entirely to eggs. I mean, can you imagine the research phase of the project? So many eggs. So many.






Lucky for us, she stuck with it, earned herself a James Beard award, and gave us a veritable Bible of winning egg recipes. And if you happen to have some extra Easter eggs to use up, or you're going to a summer barbecue, or you are just craving some really excellent old fashioned deviled eggs, you've come to the right place. This one's a winner!



Spicy Tangy Old Fashioned Southern Deviled Eggs
adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients
4 large eggs, hard boiled and cooled
2.5 tablespoons good quality mayo
1.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard
hot sauce, such as Tobasco (I used Sriracha HOT Chili Sauce)
sea salt or kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
paprika for seasoning




Halve the eggs, and carefully remove the yolks to a separate bowl.




Mash the egg yolks with a fork until they are crumbly (Marie says to pass them through a fine mesh sieve, but I mash them with a fork. This is because she is a perfectionist and I am lazy. It's up to you how you want to do it, but I think we both know you want to be lazy with me. Think of the dishes. Convinced?)




Add 2.5 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard, and hot sauce to taste. I used about 1/2 a teaspoon of Sriracha, but it really just depends on what hot sauce you use and how spicy you like it (be advised, if you like it REALLY spicy you may want to use less mayo, otherwise your filling will get a little runny. I learned this lesson on the first batch when it took about a tablespoon of Tabasco to get it spicy enough for me!)




Mix until smooth, and salt and pepper to taste.




Carefully spoon or pipe with a bag and pastry tip into the halved whites. Sprinkle with paprika and enjoy!

Autumn Spiced French Toast Recipe with Maple Butter Glaze • Gluten free, or not!

A couple of weeks ago our church did a Christmas pageant, in which French toast featured a prominent roll. One of the characters just went on and on and on about how much she loved French toast on Christmas morning, and although I haven't eaten French toast in years, suddenly I found myself with an irresistible craving for it. I think I haven't liked French toast in the past because it tends to be soggy and bland. This recipe is anything but! The spices really kick the flavor up a notch, and the milk to eggs ratio us just right, leaving these light and fluffy. And when you top it all with the maple butter glaze? Heavenly. A warm, melt in your mouth breakfast, perfect for a chilly autumn or winter morning.



Autumn Spice French Toast with Maple Butter Glaze
serves 2-3 (makes 4-6 slices)
double the recipe to feed more

this recipe is simple to make gluten-free - just substitute in gluten free bread. My new favorite is Udi's gluten-free white sandwich bread, but use whatever you like best.

ingredients
2 large eggs
1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4-6 pieces day old bread (you don't want it too moist, or the toast will get soggy in the middle), gluten-free or not
vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons, or 1/2 a stick)
1/4 cup grade A maple syrup


1. In a medium sized bowl, combine 2 eggs, 1/3 cup milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon ginger. Whisk to combine.

2. On medium heat, heat enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a nonstick pan. Dip a slice of bread into batter, coating each side, and fry in heated pan, 2-3 minutes on each side, until toast spring back when lightly touched in the center. Set aside and repeat.

3. For Maple Butter Glaze: Heat 1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons or 1/2 stick) and 1/4 cup grade A maple syrup in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then remove from heat, and let cool. Pour into a serving vessel, or directly over toast. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Blender Hollandaise Sauce with Tangerines and Lemon

I'm going to tease you with eggs benedict but not give you a recipe until tomorrow. Aren't I mean? I'm so mean. Watch me being so mean. Can I console you a hollandaise sauce recipe? Because you have to make hollandaise if you are going to make eggs benedict, right? See, there's a purpose to the meanness.

Hollandaise sauce makes me so happy. So lemony, so buttery, so velvety drizzled over asparagus or poached eggs. It's just, you know, such a hassle to make. And sometimes, it doesn't come out and it curdles. And it doesn't keep well, so you have to eat ALL of it or else throw it away. It's kind of a bummer.



Luckily we can have it when we have brunch at a fancy restaurant, right? WRONG. Honestly, you should never eat restaurant hollandaise sauce. Ever, ever. Just, go read Kitchen Confidential and you'll understand. Mmm. Bacteria soup. So healthful. (Sarcasm friends, in case you weren't sure).

All of that conspires together to mean that I only ever enjoy hollandaise sauce about once a year.

Until now.

This particular recipe is easy peasy. Seriously! All you need is a whisk and a blender. I have never made an easier hollandaise sauce, and it keeps like a dream. You know what that means? I CAN HAVE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY. Um, until it runs out I guess. But I have a container of it in my fridge right now, ready to be drizzled over my next poached egg on hot buttered toast (hallelujah!).

You better believe I am going to enjoy it.




Easy Peasy Hollandaise Sauce with Tangerines and Lemon
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living


Ingredients
5 tbs tangerine juice (from fresh, ripe tangerines, if possible.)
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs water
5 large eggs
1/4 tsp white wine vinegar (or other white vinegar)
salt
1.5 cups butter (3 sticks, or 3/4 lb), just melted

Stuff you Need
A wisk
a small sauce pan
a blender



Method


Take your 5 teaspoons of tangerine juice




And your 2 tablespoons of lemon juice Combine 5 tablespoons tangerine juice with 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl.




Got your five eggs? Separate the yolks from the whites. I do this by straining them through my fingers. But do it however you like. And save those whites for an omelet or something. No need to be wasteful.




Combine five egg yolks in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk constantly over VERY LOW HEAT (the lowest your burners will go), until yolks are frothy, and just starting to thicken. Remove from heat, and add 1/2 of the tangerine-lemon juice mixture to stop the cooking. Continue to whisk constantly.




Put the mixture into your blender, and add remaining juice mixture, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Puree.




Reduce blender speed to low. In a slow stream, add three sticks of melted butter. If necessary, add butter in batches, pureeing on low between batches.




Drizzle over something yummy.




And look how well it stores! Still liquid and drizzleable, even when cold! See, I'm not really mean. I am so nice to you. You may now shower me with appreciation.


enjoy!

Nate's Favorite Bacon Egg Salad

I know. I go from blogging about cookies with a pound of chocolate in the batter, and I follow it up with... salad? Seriously? A Salad? Um, yeah. I do. There's no way I can top those cookies. I mean, anything I blog about after that is bound to be a disappointment. So instead of even trying, I bring you something completely different: Nate's bacon egg salad.

Have you noticed bacon as a theme here yet? Does it seem like I put bacon into everything? Well, I do. Nate loves bacon. No, wait. I don't think you understand. He LOVES bacon. He loves bacon with a passion I don't even pretend to understand. I honestly don't get it, because to me, bacon is just another ingredient, and it's not even one I like especially. But Nate just, you know, LIVES for bacon, and isn't happy if we don't have a pound of it in the house AT ALL TIMES.



And this salad? I have to admit, it's pretty awesome. I'm not much of a bacon lover myself, but this this salad really elevates bacon above the level of salty smoky meat into the realm of the beatific. There's something about the interplay between the crispy bacon, the soft eggs, and the tang of the dressing that is really something. It's definitely a favorite in our house, and makes a very filling lunch. I feed it to Nate all the time: it's man-pleasin'. So. Got a man who likes bacon? Give this one a whirl. Even if he's not much of a salad guy, he'll probably love this!




Nate's Favorite Bacon Egg Salad

This salad is SO EASY. It's very simple, but very good. Good ingredients really shine through here. What makes this salad (apart from the bacon, obviously) is the vinaigrette. I mean, without this vinaigrette, this salad is not "Nate's Favorite Bacon Egg Salad." Maybe it's somebody else's salad, but it's not this one. For this salad, a good balsamic vinegar is the key (and so is a decent virgin olive oil, but no need to be TOO fancy about it). This is my favorite balsamic vinegar. I can't even remember where it came from, but it's like nectar from the gods. When it runs out, I am totally going to cry because I've never seen it again.



Actually, this vinegar came from Modena, like many great vinegars (I know that much). And speaking of Medina, I just sent a renaissance doublet there! I fact, I sent this one:



I told you I was domestic. This is what I do for my day-job. It's fun.

Ok! recipe:

Ingredients
3 strips of bacon
2 hard boiled eggs
baby spinach (about 1 lb? I just use 3/4 of a bag. I am ashamed to admit, but I don't even know how much that is!)
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
kosher salt
cracked pepper
6 tbs olive oil
1 tbs Dijon mustard
thyme


Fry your bacon up in a heavy skillet, then drain on a paper towel. Transfer to a cutting board, and dice. Peel eggs and dice as well. Combine eggs, bacon, and spinach in a medium bowl.

In a small bowl, measure 2 tbs of vinegar. Add a pinch of salt, and some cracked pepper. Whisk to dissolve salt. Add olive oil 1 tbs at a time, whisking, until all is incorporated. Do a little taste test and add more oil or vinegar until it tastes divine and is well blended. Add mustard and thyme, and whisk to combine.



Pour dressing over bacon/egg/spinach mixture. NOTE! There may be more dressing than you like. Sometimes if I have a little extra I store it in the fridge for next time. Toss until the dressing has coated all the spinach.

enjoy!

Egg Salad Sandwich with Spinach

I've always liked sandwiches.

But I learned to LOVE them when I visited London during college.

We were studying abroad and Nate and I decided to get there a few days early and do the tourist thing. London wasn't ANYTHING like what we expected. I was thinking rain, fog, overcoats, cups of tea, boiled peas, suet. Instead we emerged from the "Tube," bleary-eyed with jet-lag, into blazing August sunshine. Obviously, it was time to shuck the overcoats. And take a nap. We hadn't slept in over 24 hours and even though it was the middle of the day in London, it was the middle of the night in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, our hostel wasn't ready for us. So we were left wandering around Southwark looking for something to do, but too tired to really do anything. We wandered into a sandwich shop and ordered two paninis, then ate them in a little park overlooking a kids' play yard. In the haze of that memory, sitting there in the sun eating those sandwiches, it was the BEST sandwich I had ever had. I can't even remember anymore what kind of sandwich it was, but I do remember that I didn't even know sandwiches could be that good.

In fact, British food was much better than its reputation makes out out to be. We loved British cheeses, back bacon, bangers and mash, tikka masala, kebab, bitter warm beer and the endless cups of tea. But we really loved the sandwiches. This is one sandwich we fell in love with while we were there (once we got over the jet lag and could remember flavors of food again). Some were not so great (like anything with Marmite or "brown sauce") but this one is delish.

Egg Mayonnaise Sandwich with Spinach

This recipe makes two sandwiches. Make one for a friend, or save the second one for later. It's a win-win situation, really.

Ok, first, you are going to need some eggs.



specifically, two. Go ahead and put them in a bowl.



Now take a fork and start to mash those babies up.



Keep going with that fork, breaking the white up into smaller and smaller bits.



When it's done, it should look like this:



Now we are going to need our good old friends, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. And for pete's sake, use the real stuff people. Life it too short for fake mayonnaise. Really.



You're also going to need these old friends: vinegar (you don't need to use this one, but use a tasty one), cracked pepper, and kosher salt.



Now add 2 tbs mayonnaise, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and a splash of vinegar. You should also add a pinch of salt and some pepper.



And mix all that good stuff up.



Now it's time for the really yummy stuff. Take a handful of spinach and chop it up.



And add it to that yummy egg mixture.



And mix it all up.



Now for the sandwich. When first stopped eating gluten, I thought my sandwich eating days were over. Mostly this was because I couldn't find any edible bread. But THEN I found this bread:



It's pretty good. That or I have forgotten what real bread tastes like and I just don't know any better these days. In any case, I get to eat sandwiches these days. Yay!

Now toast that bread and make yourself a sandwich!



I make Nate's sandwiches on "real" bread, like, you know, bread that is made out of wheat and costs less than $6 a loaf.

However, as you can see my sandwich is a little more petite than Nate's.



Now get yourself a tall glass of lemon-aid to go with that sandwich. Bon Appetit!