Dying Eggs...Brown Eggs!

I tried something new this year!  My mom read about a tip - use brown eggs for a richer, deeper color.  First of all, I love brown eggs.  It isn't the taste; white eggs taste the same as brown eggs.  It isn't the nutritional component; brown eggs have the same nutritional value as white eggs.  It's simply the color.  Whenever I use brown eggs, it makes me happy.  I'm extremely bummed that they are more costly than white eggs, or else they would be my everyday egg.  So this was an exciting day for me - I bought a dozen brown eggs.

 

Some are lighter, some are darker, but whatever shade of tan they are, they definitely hold a special place in my heart.  Would they really result in richer colored Easter eggs, though?  I would soon find out.  I bought your basic kit, although it was Star Wars and came with stickers, and filled my mugs with 1/2 cup warm water and 3 tablespoons of vinegar - not in the pink, however!  Why is that?  The box has elaborate instructions to add vinegar to the mix for all colors except for pink.  If anyone knows the answer, please do share!  

 

So, is it better to use brown eggs for dying?  I tend to think yes!  Unlike white eggs, when the brown eggs dried, they actually looked like painted wooden eggs.  Stunningly rich, yet sub-dued colors, both at the same time.  I hate to clutter them up with Star Wars stickers, but when I see Ryan on Sunday, he may want to do just that...and I will totally let him.  

 

Yes, my sad attempt at an Easter bunny.  Thought you might all get a kick out of it.  I might be able to cook, but I'm definitely not an artist ;)  Have a great holiday.

Our St. Patrick's Day Celebration!

I thought it would be fitting to start out this St. Patty's post with a picture of alcohol.  This isn't just any ol' picture of alcohol, but actually what I used in the making of this meal.  Interestingly, no one drank any beer, but I did cook with it!

So what did we drink?  Some of us drank wine, but us hard-core Irish folk had a Wild Irish Rose. The Wild Irish Rose is a whiskey based drink, mixed with lime juice and grenadine and then topped off with ginger ale.  I realize grenadine isn't alcohol, but as an integral part of the drink, I felt it warranted a spot in the booze line up.  It was quite refreshing and not overly sweet.  I personally like the taste of whiskey and would rather taste my alcohol than have it overpowered by something sugary.  We did tweak the recipe slightly and added a bit more whiskey and about 1/2 the amount of grenadine.

For appetizers, my friend put out a lovely plate of french bread, Kerrygold cheese, and strawberries.   My contribution to the mix were Emerald Eggs, or as I called them (since I have a 6 year old), Green Eggs and Ham.  This recipe is a twist on deviled eggs.  Yolks are pureed with mayonnaise, scallions, tarragon, and watercress.  The flavors were light and the tarragon shown through.  They needed a little more punch, so when I made these a second time this week, I added a bit more salt and also 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard.  The recipe also calls for placing a piece of ham in the egg first and then topping with the yolk mixture.  It was a little awkward to eat.  This time around, my artistic director, Mark, came up with the brilliant idea of rolling a piece of ham and sticking it in the middle.  Worked like a charm!

Picked by my very own beer connoisseur, I used a full 22oz bottle of Chatoe Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager as simmering liquid for the corned beef.

I pretty much stuck to this recipe I found, Slow Cooked Corned Beef.  Six pounds of corned beef were braised in beer and water, with one spice packet, a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns, and a whole bulb of garlic. Not a pretty sight, but completely delicious.  The recipe called for 1/4 cup of peppercorns, which I did use, but next time will reduce the amount.  It was great the first day, but as leftovers, the pepper continued to permeate the meat as it sat.  I let it simmer for about 5 hours, took it out and kept it warm, and then added carrots, red potatoes, and cabbage to the liquid.  Once they were tender, dinner was ready! 

On the side, I made a horseradish sauce that consisted of equal parts of sour cream and horseradish, combined with about 1 cup of the braising liquid that I reduced down first. 

The other component of the meal was Irish Soda Bread.  The bread was amazing and comforting.  I was hooked when I saw the article in the recent issue of Bon Appetit for Mrs. O'Callaghan's Soda Bread.  Just the picture of her alone was so authentic and rustic, that I was drawn in and set on using that recipe.  I didn't adjust any ingredients, but added a few oats to the top and cooked it on a pizza stone.  Besides taking much longer than the 40 minutes it said to cook it, the flavor and density was perfect to soak up juices, spread with butter, and drizzle with honey the next morning for breakfast. 


So far, from the line up, we've checked off grenadine, whiskey, and black lager.  The remaining spirits are in the dessert!  I found this recipe on Cat's blog, Neo-Homesteading.  She came up with her own take on a traditional Scottish dessert called "Millionaires Shortbread". 

Cat's recipe for Homestead Shortbread includes a scrumptious shortbread on the bottom, layered with a mixture of dulce de leche, brandy, and chopped pecans, and then topped with melted chocolate combined with orange-flavored liquor.  More pecans adorned the top.   It was hard to eat just one of these multi-layered treats!  Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!

Sausage and Egg Flatbread

This has got to be one of my all-time favorite breakfasts, both to eat and prepare.  We enjoyed it first on Christmas morning, and it will definitely be a staple around our house from here on out.  When I have my son on Christmas morning, I normally prepare something like pull-apart cinnamon rolls the night before, to pop in the oven the next morning while we open presents bright and early.  This year, since we weren't seeing Ryan until the afternoon, I had some leisure time to cook.  I don't want to imply that this dish takes a long time to make, because it is actually very quick.  I found this recipe in an issue of Cooking Light Magazine - Sausage and Egg Flatbread - and knew Mark would love it since it has "runny eggs", as I call it.  When I fry my eggs, they are broken, over-hard, almost dead.  Mark likes them over-easy, a true gooey mess.  How can I be an adventurous foodie, though, if I don't try what I'm not comfortable with?! 

You start off by unrolling a container of refrigerated french bread dough, cutting it in half crosswise, and putting it on a jelly roll pan that has a light sprinkling of cornmeal.  On the stove, I cooked up some turkey sausage with chopped onion.  The recipe just says "turkey sausage" and I decided to use hot turkey sausage instead of sweet.  After spreading the sausage and onion mixture on the dough, you top with grated fontina cheese, of which I had none, so I substituted smoked Gouda.  I liked the smokey flavor, but next time will try it with the fontina cheese since it would allow the other flavors to come through more.  It then gets cooked in the oven for about 10 minutes, after which you bring it out for the tough part.

Carefully break 6 eggs, 3 on each strip of bread, and space them as evenly apart as you can.  This is where using a jelly roll pan comes in helpful.  I ended up breaking 2 of the yolks since as they started sliding around, I tried to correct the problem, only to expose their sunny goodness.  Oh well, those 2 could be for me!  The pan goes back into the oven until the eggs are set, so I thought if I put the pan in quickly, maybe it would cook instantly and stop running.  That wasn't completely the case, as you can see in the picture.

I didn't get any pictures before the eggs were set since I was acting quickly in the hopes of correcting my mistake.  The good news is that after you cut them in 6 equal portions, they get topped with a wonderful salad of peppery arugula tossed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  I really think it is the arugula salad that makes the dish.  It adds such as bright flavor to the more rich sausage, egg, and cheese taste.  It was refreshing, not heavy, and beautiful.  The arugula also covers any mistakes!  How great is that!?!