Put An Egg On It!

Is seems like chefs are putting eggs on everything lately... Is this a New York thing, or are people just becoming comfortable with eggs again?

Dry salad? Put an egg on it!
Boring burger? Put an egg on it!
Sad soup? Put an egg on it!

It reminds me of this episode of Portlandia. It's a lot like "put a bird on it," except the baby version.

But I promise you, it's not that difficult and it really does make a big difference on a ho-hum salad, especially when it's cold outside and a chilly bowl of lettuce is the last thing that sounds good for dinner. This recipe was inspired by a fancy dinner at A Voce in New York City.
 
Peppery Fall Salad with Egg
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 T sherry vinegar
3 T olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 fresh pasteurized eggs
4 C fresh, peppery greens like frisee or arugula

Mix up the mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a cruet, or by whisking with a fork in a small bowl or using a tiny whisk - everyone has a tiny whisk at home, right?

Poach the eggs: Place a square of plastic wrap in a small bowl and spray it with just a tiny bit of cooking spray. Crack an egg into the wrap, so that it sinks down into the bowl. Then twist up the plastic wrap to make a little egg package, winding the closure as tight as you can. Repeat for each egg, then carefully place all the egg packages into a small pot of boiling water, being careful not to leave any portion of the plastic wrap hanging outside the pot. (Just trust me when I tell you that you don't want plastic melting down the side.) Boil for 4 minutes until the egg is just set, and carefully remove the egg packages from the boiling water with tongs.

Carefully unwrap one egg onto the center of each salad, but wait to break the yolk until just before serving. The uninitiated dinner guest may be a little hesitant about mixing in the egg, but the resulting warm yolk offsets the peppery bite of greens, mustard and vinegar creating something entirely new.

Oh yes, and you can certainly add bacon to this. We do. (To everything.)

Pasture Perfect: How You Can Benefit from Choosing Meat, Eggs, and Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Animals

We have met the salads, and they are ours

Rare is the dive bar that serves good food, which is why most people don't eat in bars unless they're very drunk or not very discerning eaters. (It should be noted that the latter often follows the former.) But there's one special bar in Brooklyn with a vague nautical theme where I make an exception. The food there is delicious, far better than it has any right to be considering the whole bar looks like someone's basement in the Midwest. I'd tell you where this wonderful place is, but then I'd have to fight you for a seat.*

Now think: what's the sketchiest thing you could order in a bar? A salad, hands down. But I promise you, this bar's green salad with cheddar, onions and pickles is one of the best salads I've ever tasted. And I wasn't even drunk.

We recreated it at home recently and added bacon - because, why not? And so I give you...

Green Salad with Onion, Pickles and Cheddar

Serves 2 as a first course

4 C chopped green lettuce
2 oz. white cheddar, sliced wafer-thin
2 green onions, sliced thin (or 1/4 small red onion)
4-6 T sliced cornichons or dill pickles
6 T olive oil
3 T sherry vinegar
Pinch of salt
Fresh ground black pepper
3 slices of thick-cut bacon (optional)

To make the dressing, whisk the olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. If you're substituting red onion like we did, I'd recommend mixing that in too so that it has a chance to soften a little while you assemble the rest of the ingredients. You could even pickle the onion if you're feeling fancy.

Cook and drain the bacon until it's crisp; set aside to cool and then crumble into bite-size pieces. (If you're vegetarian, feel free to skip this step.)

Place the lettuce in a large bowl and mix in the dressing. Add the pickles, bacon and onion and mix well. Add the cheddar once the salad is plated. This last method is a tip from Healthy Appetite chef Ellie Krieger: adding high-calorie toppings at the end makes it seem like you have more and you'll feel more satiated than if they're hidden in the dish.


*Oh FINE. There's a clue in the title of this post. Just keep it between us when you figure it out, okay?

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomate

A couple of years ago, my husband and I took a two-week trip to Spain, visiting Madrid, San Sebastian and Barcelona. One of the simplest dishes that stuck with me was something we ate often there, both at fancy restaurants and low-key tapas bars: Pan Con Tomate. It's super simple, and it's a great way to utilize the end-of-season tomatoes in the fall.

Pan Con Tomate

Serves 2

4 slices of thick cut crusty bread
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 ripe heirloom tomato, halved
2 T extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1-2 T sherry vinegar, to taste
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt

Grate the tomatoes on a box grater, and mix in the olive oil, sherry vinegar and salt.

Slice up a good, crusty baguette into thick slices, and toast them in the oven briefly - or better yet, grill it until it's slightly charred. Remove from the oven or grill, and rub the toasted bread with the garlic cloves (the bread will act as a mini grater), then drizzle with the best-quality olive oil you can afford, and top with the tomato mixture.


For more tapas ideas, check out this cookbook by one of my favorite chefs:
Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, by Jose Andres

Brussels Sprouts for Haters

I've met many a sprout-hater in my life, and I promise you that this recipe - shamelessly passed off as my own for years even though it was ripped off from Blue Hill chef  Dan Barber - will make even the most anti-brussels-sprout person reconsider their feelings for the vegetable. It's plentiful this time of year at the farmers' market, but you'll do just as well with a fresh pint of whole sprouts at the grocery store while they're in season. It beats the pants off cooking them in butter, in my opinion, and it's easy enough for a weeknight meal but fancy enough (especially if you add some crisp cubes of pancetta) to serve at a holiday meal.

You'll be browning the sprouts face-down in the skillet on a stove top before roasting, so you'll need a large enough skillet to hold all the sprouts that's oven safe (such as cast iron) - or you can brown them in batches and roast together in the oven.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with White Balsamic

Serves 2-3 as a side dish

2 C brussels sprouts
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3-4 T white balsamic vinegar, for de-glazing
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper (white pepper, if you have it)
3 T cubed pancetta, crisped and drained (optional)


Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Clean the brussels sprouts by trimming the tough stems, removing any yellowed outer leaves and halving them length-wise. Heat the olive oil in a large oven-save skillet on medium-high heat on the stove, then add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. When the oil is hot, quickly place the brussels sprouts face down in the oil and cook until they begin to brown (about 4-6 minutes). Place in the oven and roast until the sprouts turn dark green and the bottoms are nice and dark brown. Return the pan to a medium flame on the stovetop and pour in the white balsamic vinegar, stirring the sprouts to coat evenly.

Two tips for that last step: 1) If you use a cast iron pan, it'll retain enough heat that you don't need to turn the stove back on to do this step. 2) Keep your face away from the pan. Just trust me when I say that you do not want a nose full of evaporating vinegar.


For more interesting takes on vegetable dishes, check out Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook