All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2021
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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Click the image below to watch my attempt Tabitha Brown’s Vegan Deviled Eggs.
Tag Archives: eggs
DDD #130 – Just Egg Review & Personal Loss
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2019
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Click the video above to watch the video.
Once again, for the 4th time in ten years, my home is plunged into grief by the sudden loss of a family member. Yesterday, I lost one of the best friends I have ever had in my life – my sweetest, sweet boy, Levi Dexter Gordon. My Dexter. He came into my life a little under 13 years ago – to help me recover from the devastating loss of my pug, Dempsey. Dexter started & ended his life very frail. He was a very sick puppy but, together, we got him right & robust & as muscular as you would expect a Frenchie to be. He cuddled my then senior pit mix, the very cantankerous Girl Friday, from behind so she could not bite him & he was there to comfort me when we lost her. In his prime, he was an only dog, and he was a huge personality – uber-protective of me, playfully tearing the pants at the ankle of many of my guests, unapologetically trying to bite anyone who dared approach me if he was in my lap & terrorizing veterinarians. Together, we drove to Michigan in the winter of 2007/8. He was my companion & comfort during my brutal month there & then spent 3 cold, winter months in Boston with me. He crossed country with me in a car twice. When Sarah MacLaughlin ads guilted me into adopting another dog – I took in twin pugs, Ella & Grisbi. I was afraid he would be jealous & unaccepting but he adored them both immediately. He was there for me when 11-month-old Ella died of a bee sting. When I adopted TEENY Moxie – he was wise & gentle enough to let Grisbi cuddle her until she was resilient enough to handle his enormous energy & enthusiasm. He was there for me when Grisbi died suddenly at the age of three. He welcomed Memphis as family immediately and gave him long & loving ear & face baths. He was there for me when we lost Memphis, suddenly. He graciously welcomed competing Frenchie, Hayden, into our home & even seemed to grow younger in the presence of her youthful enthusiasm. As important as his generosity was to the dogs I adopted into the family without consulting him – the generosity of his soul in accepting & nurturing about 15 foster dogs I have taken in and adopted out over the years was of equal impact. I could never have been a part of Road Dogs & saving doggy lives – if Dexter had not been so totally on board.
Just over 5 years ago, Dexter was diagnosed with an untreatable pinched nerve in his back which left him increasingly lame and, eventually, incontinent. My home became a labyrinth of yoga mats & rugs for traction for him & my bed was a patchwork of waterproof blankets – so he could still sleep with us each night. He handled his failing health with dignity & courage & forgave me every time I got frustrated with what felt like a life of endlessly cleaning pee & poo. I am so incredibly ashamed of ever letting him experience my sometimes frustration with something so out of his control. I am sure he was far more frustrated than I. But – he was a king among dogs & I know he understood.
Dexter was the man in my life for the last 13 years. He was my friend, my confidant, and my protector. I feel anchorless in his absence. Truly. Despite his frailty, he was all heart & bravado until his last days.
Dexter – I love you even more than you loved me. I still see you everywhere and it will take a long time for me to forget the routines that were ours. I miss your love of fashion & your pride in wearing any outfit. I miss you barking in impatience if I left you downstairs & the steps were too much for you. I miss carrying you around and looking at your face as I did so – seeing the total trust there & the blind acceptance of whatever it was I was carrying you toward. I miss your wonky, wobbly run toward me whenever I knelt on the floor & called you to me. I miss the slow & deliberate placement of your stinky kisses on my face. I miss your snoring. I miss how it feels to see you looking back at me. I miss all that trust & faith & love – directed at me. I thought we had more time. I knew it would not be enough time – but I thought we had more – measured in years – if we were lucky.
That is not what happened. You decided it was time & all I can do is accept that. You went in your sleep, on a freshly cleaned bed in a new outfit from your grandmother, Gail. And you decided to go while I was not here. I am torn about that but this was your choice.
Know I loved you completely – from the moment I saw you. I went to the breeder (first & last breeder visit of my life) meaning to choose a cream boy Frenchie from a litter of 5 cream pups & one brindle. I went home with the brindle – the boy with the biggest ears I had ever seen & the giant tummy. I was nervous because I understood the responsibility you represented – but it is a responsibility I am forever grateful to have taken on.
I loved you then & I love you more now. You are one of the very best things that ever happened to me. I am honored to have been your friend. So are all the dogs here and elsewhere who had the great opportunity to know you. None of us here could possibly have loved you more than we do. You were our patriarch.
RIP, Dexter – my baby, my boy, my man. I will forever love you as much as you loved me – times infinity. xoxoxoxox
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Bacon, Eggs (or Tofu) & Spinach Breakfast Pasta (Vegan or Not)
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2016
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or just print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
Breakfast pasta is something I discovered in the 80’s at Hugo’s. It is best made with homemade pasta or the fresh pasta you can buy at the supermarket (though that pasta is not typically vegan). I had leftover dry pasta – so I used that but fresh pasta is really key to the magic of this dish – as is Parmesan & parsley.
The important revelation here is – I made this version VEGAN – using my most exciting new find – homemade VEGAN BACON made from rice paper! Check it out!
I made that this morning & it was easy, fast & delicious! You simply must try it!
I also used tofu & vegan Parmesan in this dish.
This dish could be made using Follow Your Heart’s vegan egg – but I think it takes bizarrely long to congeal & it kinda freaks me out but, if you like it, knock yourself out.
If you are vegetarian – you could use real eggs & real Parmesan.
I added turmeric to my tofu to give it that yellow color of real scrambled eggs – but I don’t think I will in the future. I only used a bit but the flavor was very present in this dish & not perfectly suited to it. Scrambled tofu is exactly like scrambled egg whites & that is good enough here – unless you are trying to fool someone into thinking they are eating real, whole eggs.
Breakfast pasta is like an omelet – in that – you can add anything you want to it. So – if you like tomatoes, American cheese (or vegan cheese) & garlic in your omelet – add them to the pasta dish…and so on & so on. Anything goes. Any meat (vegan or otherwise), any veggies & any cheeses (vegan or otherwise) that you love.
Bacon, Eggs (or Tofu) & Spinach Breakfast Pasta (Vegan or Not)
Serves as any as you care to feed
INGREDIENTS
Fresh pasta, cooked pasta or leftover pasta – cooked
Bacon (this homemade vegan one or your favorite kind) – cooked
Parmesan cheese to taste
1/4 to 1/2 block tofu per person or as many eggs per person (2 eggs per would be plenty) as you like
1 tsp turmeric (very optional & really only here for color) – or just enough to get that light yellow color (curry powder would work, too)
Spinach (a big handful per person) – chopped
S&P to taste
Chopped parsley (not just a garnish but a delightful flavor so I go heavy-handed with it)
Sliced avocado – optional
DIRECTIONS
Make the bacon, if you are using the recipe I posted.
Make the pasta & drain.
In a saute pan, add some cooking spray or a bit of olive oil & add the tofu (and turmeric, if you are using it). Combine & then add the spinach & pasta & Parmesan. I added a bit of water because my pasta was cold (leftovers) and needed some steaming. Your pasta might not need that (if you just cooked it). Season with cheese and S&P. Crumble some bacon on it & combine.
Once it is heated through, serve on plates with more crumbled bacon, lots of parsley & some avocado slices – and maybe more cheese.
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Miracle Cure for Burns
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2015
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
On Thursday evening, I came home to my boyfriend cooking us dinner. A lovely thing, indeed! A rose, a glass of wine & dinner are nice things to come home to. Alas, Miles is not an experienced cook & thought the way to let boiling water simmer would be to put the pan of water in a 500 degree oven. When I discovered this – I promptly took the pan from the oven & put it back on the stove with a stern warning to the badass, Miles Miller, that he not forget how hot the handle of the pan was (500 degrees – lest you forget) and that he be sure to use a pot holder when touching that handle.
Thirty seconds later, I went to move that pan to a different burner & just reached right out there & wrapped my bare palm nearly all the way around the handle. Both Miles & I heard – yes, HEARD – the burn before my brain registered what it was. I ripped my hand back & the searing pain kicked in immediately. I looked at my hand and a bright red Nike swoosh looked back at me. The handle of the pan looks like this (not my photo) and the imprint of it was clear – across the entire width of my right palm.
The pain was unimaginable and ice was the only thing that dulled it in the slightest. I had several blocks of plastic-wrapped ice in my freezer that I had saved from my Blue Apron meal delivery last week and they were a Godsend because they are big & take a long time to melt & then the melted ice is contained in plastic – so there was no drippy mess. But if I let go of the ice block for even ten seconds – hideous pain kicked in again. I was dreading the days ahead as this burn went through its various stages & the huge bubble appeared and, placed in the palm of my hand as it was, the burn would be constantly irritated as I attempted daily tasks – and re-injured it over & over.
A few hours later, I remembered that my friend, Heather, had suffered an enormous 3rd degree burn in her lap from spilled boiling water. She was in the hospital for a week & got cadaver grafts & the whole thing but her legs healed incredibly well. I texted her in the hopes that she might have learned something about burns that I did not know – something more than icing it & using aloe. Her answer was to put raw egg yolk on the burn & let it dry there. Desperate for relief – I did just that. Pardon the very bad photos but I was in agony & using my left hand to shot them.
In the lower photo – you can kinda see the end of the Nike swoosh on the left. The pain reduced by about 75 percent IMMEDIATELY!!! It was incredible! I let the egg dry & did not wash it off. And here is how my hand looked in the morning – before I washed it – with dry yolk still evident on my hand.
As you might be able to see – there is no water blister anywhere in my hand. Absolutely zero pain. See the shape of the pan handle there? This photo was taken about 12 hours after I committed to gripping that 500 degree metal handle. And the photo at the top of this post in not my hand pre-burn. It is my hand today. Look at this shit:
If you know where to look – you can still see the vague swoosh there but you really gotta look hard for it. That is my hand 36 hours after very severely burning it. It should be red & have a huge water blister & it should still be throbbing & screaming its outrage at me but nothing. No pain at all & almost no visual evidence of the burn. I mean – there is a ghost sensation – almost like a mild sunburn – in my hand that reminds me which hand I hurt but it is hardly worth mentioning.
So – there you have it! Got yourself a nasty kitchen burn? EGG YOLKS!!!! Absolutely a miracle cure! Thank you, Heather!!! xo
PS – THIS ARTICLE lists egg WHITES as the miracle cure but the yolk worked wonders for me.
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Breakfast Tacos
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Like lots of my “recipes” – this is more just a suggestion. You can fill your breakfast tacos with any combination of ingredients you prefer. I know this recipe will bum out the vegans out there but the eggs I used here were given to me by a person who raises chickens for eggs. Locally sourced & cruelty-free as it can get for eggs. You vegans can scramble some tofu instead.
Here is what I used for two tacos:
2 corn tortillas – warmed on the burners of my stove until they charred just a bit
2 eggs
Olive oil
Red bell pepper – diced
Red onion – diced
Purple cabbage – diced
Cilantro
Avocado – sliced
Here is what I did:
I scrambled the eggs with some S&P.
I heated some olive oil in a pan & sauteed the onion & red pepper with a pinch of ground cumin until the vegetables were soft. I added the eggs & cooked to the point I like eggs cooked & simply built the tacos by adding the eggs & then garnishing with more chopped red pepper, purple cabbage, cilantro & avocado. Ole!
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Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyere Pizza with Egg & Arugula
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Well – I got some very cool news today! Book Soup – one of the most important independent book stores in the US – read my book & agreed to stock it!!! Yay! They are a very discriminating bunch so I am going to let myself feel flattered. Check it out HERE.
Now on to pizza! Some people think the idea of egg on pizza is nasty and I must confess I used to think that way. Until I tried it. It is kind of spectacular. Despite knowing it tastes yummy, I am still psyching myself out about using eggs at all – because of how the hens are treated. And, when you think about it, eating an egg is really fucking gross. But – I still do it now & then. I try to only buy pastured eggs – which means the hens really ARE living cage-free – like this:
Not this legal version of cage free:
Which is only 1% better than this:
So – please try to support the PASTURED (and grass-fed) meats & eggs etc to show that industry that you are willing to pay a little more for some humane treatment. Here are the eggs I bought. The word pastured is between “vegetarian” and “fertile” – hard to read – but there. PS – they list vegetarian because factory farms feed their chickens ground up chickens. How fucked is that? You don’t want to eat that pain & fear & disease. Do you?
OK – now I feel like a nutjob posting a non-vegan pizza – but I am going to plod ahead. If I have totally ruined eggs for you forever – blow them off. The pizza is yummy without them. You can also use vegan cheese if I have completely converted you.
I use this Naples-style pizza dough recipe from Saveur. I do not store it 48 hours. I use it as needed from immediately to several days later. I notice little difference. Also, I make it in my bread machine on the dough cycle. Easy peasy!
PIZZA DOUGH
MAKES FOUR 12-OZ. BALLS
INGREDIENTS
2 tbsp. sugar (⅞ oz.)
1 tbsp. olive oil, plus more (½ oz.)
½ tsp. active dry yeast
5½ cups “00” flour, preferably Caputo Pizzeria Flour (1 lb. 12 oz.) (or just use regular, organic flour – like me.)
2 tbsp. kosher salt (¾ oz.)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine sugar, oil, yeast, and 2 cups cold water in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook; let sit until foamy, 8-10 minutes. Mix flour and salt in a bowl. With motor running, slowly add flour mixture; mix until a smooth dough forms, 8-10 minutes. Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature 1 hour.
2. Divide dough into 4 balls; transfer to a greased 9″ x 13″ dish; brush tops with oil. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 48 hours (or get impatient like me & use it immediately).
Caramelized Red Onion & Gruyere Pizza with Egg & Arugula
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough at room temperature
1/2 large red onion – sliced
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS butter (or vegan alternative)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
Gruyere cheese – grated (quantity to taste)
Fresh Thyme – leaves pulled from stems (quantity to taste)
Grated mozzarella or other cheese (quantity to taste)
Eggs (optional)
Fresh arugula
Tomato – chopped (optional)
Lemon (to squeeze on the arugula) optional
S&P
Olive oil to drizzle (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 450. Make sure it reaches full temperature before cooking your pizza.
Make your dough or let your store-bought dough reach room temperature (so it is easier to roll out).
Caramelize the onion by heating the olive oil & butter over med-low (NOT HIGH) heat. Add the onion and salt & sugar and saute – stirring frequently – for about 20-30 minutes or until they are soft & brown & before they burn. Mine crisped a bit on the edges & I liked that! Set aside.
Now simply assemble the pizza. Roll out the dough & place it on a cooking sheet treated with olive oil or cooking spray. Drizzle some olive oil on it & brush it around & add the thyme & the cheeses & some caramelized onion.
Cook this for about 7-10 minutes or until you think it is a few minutes from being done. I overcooked mine just a bit – so – pull it out before the crust looks like this – all crispy & golden:
because you are gonna break a few eggs on there & cook it another 3-5 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking. I broke one of the yolks. Oh well! Err on the early side here, too, if you want a runny yolk. The eggs will keep cooking once you remove the pizza from the oven as the pizza heat will still be acting as a hot pan beneath them. So – if you want ooey-gooey yolks – pull this guy out JUST BEFORE you feel the whites are cooked all the way through. In fact, even if you pull it out a tad early, just spreading the egg a bit over the pizza will cook it quickly.
Now add S&P to taste & top with arugula & chopped tomato – if you are using tomato. You might even want to drizzle a teeny amount of olive oil on the arugula & squeeze a bit of lemon – or toss the arugula LIGHTLY with olive oil & lemon before putting it on the pizza. And there you go! Crack open that Trader Joe’s box of wine & kid yourself that you are having less wine than you really are because who the fuck can figure out what they have consumed out of an opaque cardboard box that holds like – what – three bottles? Then blame the hangover on the cheapness of wine – not the quantity you consumed!
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Baked Egg & Sausage & Cheese & Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Cupcakes
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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OK – I have tried these several times in different ways with different levels of success. These are still imperfect but I am going to post them because, if I don’t, I am gonna keep trying to perfect them & I just don’t want to be eating so many eggs & biscuits.
These could be made with any variety of these bready roll things. You can scramble the eggs before putting them into the cupcake pan or just carefully break an egg in there in tact. I used vegetarian sausage patties which look so tasty here all hard & freezer burned, don’t they?
I also used this Tillamook cheese but any cheese you like will do.
I also used these eggs here –
and while it is hard to make out – they are not just free range – they are PASTURED – which means they really are free range and not just in a huge hanger with a million other desperate chickens. Watch this video of some rescued free range chickens & see if you do not agree that – if you are gonna use eggs – it is worth finding & paying for pastured ones.
That said – these are really just omelettes in a cupcake pan with a little biscuit underneath. I would suggest – however – that if you have a cupcake pan that makes 12 or 18 cupcakes – use one like that and space these bad boys out in the pan so they do not bleed together like this:
Baked Egg & Sausage & Cheese & Buttermilk Biscuit Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
Buttermilk biscuit dough (or other variety)
Pastured eggs
Cheese
Sausage (I used veggie ones) – cooked
S&P
Parsley – as garnish
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 350.
Cook the sausage & chop it up.
Grease a cupcake pan. Press some biscuit dough into each – spacing them apart from each other, if you can. Press the dough in so it reached up the sides of the cupcake pan. I haven’t tried this with cupcake liners but I cannot imagine they would be a bad idea.
Add crumbled sausage & grated or chopped cheese & then either carefully crack an egg in each or scramble some eggs & pour a bit in each. Cook for about 25 minutes (which should cook the scrambled egg & cook a whole egg while still leaving the yolk runny) – or cook it until the eggs are done to your satisfaction.
Let rest a few minutes & then carefully run a knife around each cupcake & remove them. Add S&P & some chopped parsley & eat’m up!
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Sauteed Kale & Mushroom Quesadillas with Horseradish Cream Cheese & Poached Eggs
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2014
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Sometimes I feel guilty posting something as a “recipe” when all I am really doing is suggesting a combination of ingredients. I had:
INGREDIENTS
Tortillas
Kale – chopped into small bits (stems removed first)
Mushrooms – sliced
Cream Cheese
Horseradish
Grated cheese blend (mozzarella & cheddar)
Eggs
Olive oil
I made the thing you see here.
Poaching eggs can be quite a thing. I have this handy little poacher:
I boiled the water beneath that the egg cuppy thing. A sprayed the cuppies with cooking spray. I added the egg & turned the heat off & covered the pan. I waited three minutes. I had poached eggs. HERE are some more professional suggestions about poaching eggs.
Sauteed Kale & Mushroom Quesadillas with Horseradish Cream Cheese
DIRECTIONS
Wait to poach your eggs until the quesadilla is nearly done.
Heat 1-2 TBS olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the kale & mushrooms & saute over med-high heat until the mushrooms & kale are tender. 5-10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile – with a fork, mix prepared horseradish – to taste – into a chunk of cream cheese. Set aside.
When you are ready to eat, heat a clean saute or grill pan over medium heat. Smear the cream cheese on a tortilla & place it the pan. Top with kale & mushrooms & grated cheese. Top with the another tortilla. Get the water for your poached eggs boiling.
Press this with the lid of a pan & heat a minute or two (or until it begins to brown), give it a good press with the lid & then carefully flip it. Press with the lid.
Now poach your eggs in the manner you selected.
When the quesadilla is ready, slice it up & stack it up & top it up with poached eggs.
Pour yourself a mimosa & get your feed on! Then go HERE on Amazon and buy my book!
HAPPY SUNDAY!
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Breakfast or Brunch Pizza with Egg, Provolone & Arugula
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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Every time I buy eggs that are not pastured (meaning the chickens really DO live outside & run around happy) I feel so evil & guilty. And sometimes, I really think about that runny yolk & I cannot believe we all generally agree (excepting vegans) that eating it as acceptable. It is really fucking gross if you think about what you are actually eating. Sometimes, back when I ate shrimp, I’d think similar thoughts & I’d wonder why most people would shudder at the idea of eating a huge, grilled grub – but salivate over grilled shrimp. Aren’t shrimp really just the giant grubs of the sea? They look similar & must have the same texture but we shove them in our face without a second thought.
Anyway, I guess it was all the photographing of this pizza that made me think about the egg on it. And I was really grossed out.
And then I ate it & it was glorious.
What a hideous hypocrite I am.
But, hey! I wrote a novel & all the early word on the street is that it is exactly as hilarious as I promised it would be & it is full of all kinds of indulgent & hypocritical behavior as I outlined above – but FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY! I promise! www.BathingBook.com
Goodreads Book Giveaway
Bathing and the Single Girl
by Christine Elise McCarthy
Giveaway ends February 25, 2014.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
So – this isn’t really a recipe. It is just a suggestion. You could add cooked bacon or sausage or scramble the egg first or use a different cheese. The only real secret to this pizza is that the egg needs about 5 minutes in the oven at the end of the cooking process to be cooked but runny. One cool thing is that the scallion I used was one I regrew myself from the throw away bit of another one. Check out how (and which other veggies & herbs can be reused like this) – HERE.
Breakfast or Brunch Pizza with Egg, Provolone & Arugula
Pizza dough – I used THIS
Slices of provolone
eggs
Arugula
Olive oil
Fresh basil – chopped
Fresh thyme
Scallions – chopped
Tomato – diced
S&P
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to a full 450.
Roll out the dough. Drizzle a little olive oil on it & sprinkle with thyme. Add the provolone. Cook about 5-18 minutes (depending on how thick your dough is etc) or until it seems ALMOST done. Then carefully drop an egg onto the hot crust & add some tomato bits.
Cook another five minutes – more if you like the egg cooked more thoroughly/
Garnish with S&P, basil, scallions & the arugula. Drizzle with olive oil, if you like. Crack open the champagne & don’t go fucking it up with orange juice.
Eat your damned pizza & drink that champagne! Oh – and READ MY BOOK! 🙂
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Egg and Cheese Stuffed Baked Potato Skins
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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This recipe is really just a guide. You could put any little combo of omelette ingredients you prefer in these. I made one with 2 whole eggs & one with scrambled eggs & Velveeta (These potatoes were huge. For smaller potatoes – just use one egg). I overcooked the whole egg one & it came out like this – basically in an “over hard” or hard boiled state.
Some people like their yolks cooked through. For that – these were in the oven for about 25 minutes. Reduce it to 15-18 minutes or so & you should get cooked whites & a runnier yolk.
Again – anything you might like in an omelette could be diced & added to these. Hollandaise might be nice, too!
Egg and Cheese Stuffed Baked Potato Skins
Ingredients I used
Potatoes
Olive oil
Eggs
Velveeta
Grated cheddar & mozzarella mix
Parsley
Tomato
S&P
DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wash the potatoes & rub them with olive oil. Pierce the deeply all over with a fork or knife. Coat all over with salt. Place them directly on the rack with a pan beneath to catch anything that might fall. Depending on how big they are – they should be done in 45-60 minutes.
Lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out the interior of the potato. Use the pan from the oven & create little support bowls out of foil to stabilize the potato boats.
Place the boats on the foil supports. Fill with whatever ingredients you are using.
Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes for a softer yolk or up to 25 minutes for the egg to be cooked through.
Garnish as you will & swill these guys down – holding them in your hand like a hot dog – with a lesser champagne made tastier with the slightest addition of OJ. Finish the champagne. Nap.
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Not Just For Breakfast Pizza with Kale, Hominy & Egg
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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I apologize up front for the sub par photography here. I assume that the bulk of the better food bloggers make dishes specifically for their blogs and spend some time lighting the food beautifully & taking their time to get it right. That isn’t what I do. I do not have the luxury of making food solely for this blog. The vast majority of what I post here are my actual meals. I make myself dinner, I try to photograph it really quickly before it gets cold and then I eat it. Sometimes this works beautifully. Other times, like last night, the dish doesn’t lend itself to sitting out for long & retaining anything resembling a pleasing aesthetic and some things – like runny yolks – are just plain gross to eat cold. So – I post this dish because it was delicious but, again, I apologize for the less than perfect imagery.
Also frustrating are my ongoing efforts & repeated failures in trying to get a gorgeous photo of food with gooey yolk. Some people out there really have this down. I do not. But I will keep trying!
Not Just For Breakfast Pizza with Kale, Hominy & Egg
INGREDIENTS
Pizza dough – mine is HERE
1 bunch kale
1 onion – diced
6 garlic cloves (or to taste) – chopped
Grated cheese of your choice
olive oil
Hominy – about 1/4 cup or so
1 TBS crushed red pepper
1 (or more) egg
DIRECTIONS
Heat your oven to 450-500 degrees.
Remove the ribs from the kale & throw them away & chop up the leaves.
Heat about 1 TBS olive oil on a saute pan. Saute the onion & crushed red pepper a minute or two. Then add the garlic & kale. Saute about 5 minutes or until the kale is wilted.
Roll out the dough. Place it on a greased pizza pan. Top with the kale & the hominy & grated cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes or until it looks just about done.
In the last two minutes – crack an egg in the center (or several – if you like) and bake a minute or two or until the egg whites look about cooked through. You can err on the side of under-cooking the egg because it will continue to cook when the pizza is being cut up. Fresh cracked pepper might be a nice finish! Slice it up & chow down!
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Roasted Salmon & Potato Hash with Hominy & Poached Egg
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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This is my kitchen – where I attempt to make the magic happen.
I am VERY lucky because it is huge & I designed it myself 16 years ago & it serves me extremely well. It is a very inspiring place to hang out & in the 16 years I have lived here – I have collected nearly every cooking thingamajiggy you can imagine. But the dish I present to you today requires only the basics. A working stove & oven, a roasting pan & a frying pan. If you are not a confident cook but you want to try one of my dishes, I would recommend this one highly – just maybe substituting fried eggs for poached.
This dish is so delicious, I was astounded. I came up with it because I was hunting for new things to do with hominy – things that would not involve a ton of cheese. Hominy seems most often used for breakfast scramble kinds of things and pozole (a traditional Mexican soup – which I will also attempt soon). I am also still a tad fixated on the idea of poached eggs on things, probably because I haven’t yet mastered the art of poaching eggs nor have I gotten one of those glorious shots of dripping, oozing yolks bleeding yellow onto plates. Another reason this dish was a perfect choice last night is because I had roasted a hunk of salmon & dressed it with lemon & dill but I didn’t like how it looked – so I couldn’t use it for the blog. See? Here it is:
Not so impressive to look at. Salmon is cooked when the white fat in it bubbles to the surface. I tried to wipe it away to make a prettier presentation – but I still didn’t like how it looked enough to post it here as a stand-alone recipe. Monomaniacally obsessed with only making foods I can use for this blog, I didn’t want to eat that salmon as it was (though it was delicious) because it seemed like a waste of a great blog opportunity. So – I wrapped it up & left it in the fridge until I figured something out.
This dish could be made with any meat, leftover or otherwise, or without the poached egg. Lord knows, I ate half the friggin’ potatoes I’d made by simply grabbing a bit every time I passed the stove because they were delicious! Same with the cold salmon. But when I tasted it all together with that egg yolk blended in – I was blown away. The potatoes were savory & delicious & the hominy added the nicest little crunch. The salmon (which was just a bullshit piece of frozen fish from Trader Joe’s) was clean & fresh & the egg was rich & decadent. Oh! And some totally unnecessary $5 micro kale! This dish is one of my favorite inventions ever. And – except for the egg poaching – it is EASY! If poaching the egg intimidates you, maybe fry them instead, but definitely try this dish. I had it for dinner but it would make an amazing brunch option, too. You can roast both the salmon & potatoes up to a day ahead & just assemble it last minute. It is a genuinely easy dish with a few easy-to-find ingredients. Try it! Oh! And here is a great idea to serve with it! This is equal parts chardonnay & frozen berries – blended. YUM! The perfect pre-workout smoothie!
Roasted Salmon & Potato Hash with Hominy & Poached Egg
feeds between 2-4 depending on your appetites
INGREDIENTS
2 eggs per person being served
2 yellow potatoes – cubed
5-6 red potatoes (or any other potato combo you desire) – cubed
1 medium onion – diced
1/2 lb salmon
2 tsp dry thyme
olive oil
butter
2 jalapenos – seeded & diced (optional)
1 cup hominy – or the full can
1/2 lemon
S&P to taste
Dill or parsley – chopped – as garnish
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 450.
Blend a TBS or so of butter with a TBS or so of olive oil & smear some onto your salmon. Sprinkle with S&P. Cook the salmon about 10 minutes – maybe more, maybe less, depending on how thick yours is. Salmon is ready when the fat bubbles to the surface. Remove from heat, squeeze some lemon juice onto it, cut it up into cubes so it cools faster & doesn’t continue to cook & set aside.
Toss the cubed potatoes in about 2 TBS olive oil & season with thyme and S&P. Roast at 450, stirring every ten minutes, for 30 minutes or more or until golden. Remove from heat & set aside.
In a frying pan, heat 2 TBS olive oil & saute the onion & jalapeno until the onion softens & is translucent. Add the potatoes & hominy & heat through.
Add more S&P if you think it needs it. In the last minute before you serve the hash, add the salmon & cook it just until it is warmed. Do not overcook the salmon. Set aside on low heat while you poach or fry the eggs. HERE are some tutorials on poaching.
To serve, simply arrange some hash on each plate, top with your eggs & some dill or parsley & fresh ground pepper. Devour!
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Homemade Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Broccoli Rabe & Poached Eggs
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
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I like my men like my broccoli – bitter. Of course I jest. Bitter guys suck. But bitter broccoli (broccoli rabe) or bitter cocktails (Campari)? Bring it!
This dish was not a complete success last night. I got it into my head that I wanted to make a pasta dish with a runny poached egg atop it & I wanted to take glorious photos of it. But, who knew poaching eggs was so tricky? Even using an egg poacher I almost forgot I owned – this was still tricky.
The primary issue is timing. You want the egg yolk very runny so that it can blend into your hot pasta & fresh cheese & create a creamy sauce. That doesn’t happen if your yolk is cooked. But who likes runny WHITES? Nobody. So you gotta time it perfectly. I didn’t. See?
Too cooked. What I learned is, you must time it so that there is still a little give to your egg whites & then allow the hot pasta to cook them – the whites – through when you mix the egg into your bowl. Look again at the top picture. You can see that there is still the slightest gooeyness to the whites but that quickly disappeared as the warmth from the pasta finished the job. And – the yolk was perfect.
Another issue I had was that I burned the garlic. This image shows the garlic with a large quantity of crushed red pepper but I think you can still see that it is completely browned.
Burned garlic is bitter & when added to the bitter rabe & without the benefit of a properly poached egg to mellow it out – I must confess this dish was a tad too bitter for me. But that was due to errors in my execution – not the recipe itself. So – I will post the recipe & encourage you not to overcook either the garlic or the egg. And – as to the egg – Google “how to poach an egg.” I mean – unless you are already an expert.
And, just as an aside – look how handsome my boy Memphis is!
Homemade Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Broccoli Rabe & Poached Eggs
INGREDIENTS
1 lb pasta (or four servings homemade cracked pepper pasta)
1 head broccoli rabe – stems trimmed
1/2 cup water or stock
4 cloves garlic – minced
1 TBS crushed red pepper
2 TBS olive oil
4 eggs
Parmesan cheese – freshly grated
Parsley – chopped
S&P to taste
DIRECTIONS
Make your pasta – if you are making it fresh.
Chop the broccoli rabe into bite sized pieces. Heat the water/stock to a boil in a frying pan & add the broccoli rabe. Cook on high for about ten minutes or until the rabe is tender & the water mostly cooked off.
In another pan, heat the olive oil & saute the garlic & crushed red pepper over medium heat for a minute or two – being careful not to brown the garlic. Add the rabe to the olive oil & blend.
Cook the pasta. About 1-2 minutes before the pasta is done – poach the eggs. Drain the pasta, toss with the broccoli rabe, top each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan, a poached egg & some fresh parsley and maybe more crushed red pepper & freshly ground black pepper. Mmmmmmmm!
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Eggy-Weggy Breakfast Pizza Roll-Up or Wrap
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All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2012
I’m not a big breakfast food person but sometimes, especially during the holidays, I like an excuse to crack a bottle of champagne too early & swill it down with some brunch fare. I will not post a formal recipe with this one because it is endlessly customizable. The nice thing about this pizza wrap over other wraps is that the pizza crust gets crispy & holds its shape where tortillas and such would not. It sliced up easily & held together nicely & each slice could be eaten cookie-style. Fill this with whatever you might put in an omelette – vegetables, cheeses, meats – your call. I used a ball of PIZZA DOUGH about the size of a pool ball & rolled it out pretty thin.
I sauteed some veggie sausage in olive oil with garlic.
I scrambled two eggs & added some of the veggie sausage & grated mozzarella & cheddar.
I left it a tad undercooked because the eggs would cook further in the oven.
I put the eggs, more cheese & some pico de gallo onto the rolled out pizza dough.
I rolled that bad boy up (it tore a bit but that isn’t an issue) – and put it on a greased cooking sheet.
I baked this at about 450 for about 10 minutes.
The split in the back leaked only a tiny bit.
I sliced it up & ate it up. With champagne, of course! Try it! These are fun!
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Breakfast Burrito at The 101 Coffee Shop – Hollywood, California
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Photo © Christine Elise McCarthy 2012
I go to this place often enough that they know my name and what I order without my having to say anything. I might be a little OCD when it comes to food as I am discovering (as I write this blog) that I tend to stick to one dish and one dish only at each spot I frequent. My dish here is the breakfast burrito, which contains eggs, beans & cheese. I order it egg whites only & eschew the sour cream they top it with. It is served with a dollop of guacamole & two kinds of salsa. It is generally HUGE & very satisfying! I also order my regular coffee in the short fat coffee mugs they use for cappuccino because I hate the ones they like to use for regular coffee (http://www.webstaurantstore.com/7-5-oz-bell-shaped-brown-coffee-china-mug-12-box/999C68807.html) because they remind me of an awful place called Mug-n-Muffin on the east coast. Those mugs are too small & they depress me. Hey – we all have our traumas & quirks. The cup I prefer can be seen in the background of the image above. I recommend requesting one.
Anyway – the 101 always seems crowded – but not too crowded. The menu is varied (healthy food, comfort food, breakfast, lunch & dinner) & they even stay open until 2 AM and serve beer & wine! I have never heard anyone complain about anything they ordered here. Very good, friendly & very reliable! And you might even see hung over famous people! FYI – the mirror above the counter is good for surreptitious people watching.
If you go in the AM – say hi to Danny, the manager!
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THE LAUREL – Two Poached Eggs Over Greens Braised in Moroccan Spices & Harrisa at The Beachwood Cafe – Hollywood, California
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Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2012
THE LAUREL – Two Poached Eggs Over Greens Braised in Moroccan Spices & Harrisa
This is a $9 dish with under 300 calories. Light & delicious!
Delightful-Delicious-Delovely 