Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

I've never been a fan of cold cereal for breakfast; I'm an eggs-for-breakfast kind of girl. Add potatoes to that and I'm in heaven. Eggs and hash, potato-filled omelette, peasant breakfast, scrambled eggs with a thin German potato pancake, I can't think of an egg-and-potato preparation that I wouldn't love.

I love the presentation of oeufs en cocotte, and I've done my own take on that by baking beaten eggs and cream in leftover mashed potato. Yesterday I was pondering the pile of roasted potatoes I had leftover from making my roasted beet, potato and goat cheese pizza (recipe forthcoming), and I decided to try baking an egg in a hollowed-out potato shell.

Tasty, plus it had that satisfying comfort food feel to it.

Egg Baked in a Potato Shell with Salsa, Cheese and Chives

Ingredients:

• 1  medium potato, baked and cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 T salsa
• 2 T shredded cheddar
• chives
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice off the top of the potato - about 1/4 of the way down.
3. Place the potato in a ramekin.
4. Scoop out the insides of the potato, leaving a shell with about 1/8 in. layer of potato - I like to use a grapefruit spoon.
5. Season the insides with salt and pepper
6. Put 1 T of salsa on the bottom, followed by 1 T cheese.
7. Carefully crack the egg into the potato and top with the remaining 1 T of cheddar.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes, then top with chives and a few more shreds of cheddar if you like and serve immediately.

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Omelette

One of my favorite quick, I-have-no-idea-what-to-cook-for-dinner meals is a simple omelette. It's quick, it's versatile, and you can tart it up any way you like. I'm sure the French would scoff at my omelettes and my omelette-technique - though they'd probably approve of my spelling - but eggs are one area where I don't really care about what others think is "the only correct way" to do them.

For example, I will not, ever, eat eggs that are sunny-side-up, and rarely will I eat them over-easy. I like my fried eggs over hard, yolk cracked and cooked all the way through. Bonus points for a little browning on the egg and the crispy edges on the egg whites. Likewise, the scrambled eggs I saw Jacques and Julia doing on one of their shows once were way too moist and loose for my taste. I like them scrambled a bit more on the dry side, still fluffy, but drier.

They'd probably shudder at the fact that I usually use an EggBeaters-type of liquid egg product, though if I have an omelette on the weekends, I usually make a 3-egg omelette and go crazy. The whole eggs and touch of heavy cream make it fluffy and monstrous and delicious.

Omelettes are great because they are such a versatile vehicle for so many different ingredients: smoked salmon, caviar and dill; taco-seasoned ground beef, cheese and vegetables; pesto, tomatoes and mozzarella; hey I've even put leftover potatoes in an omelette. Vegetables? Yes. A smidge of seafood in a cream sauce? Why not? Go CRAZY.

Of course, they are just as delicious on their own with just a bit of cheese and topped with some salsa.

Omelette with Cheese and Salsa

Ingredients:

• butter
• 1/3 cup EggBeaters
• cheese
• salsa

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, melt butter in 9 in. skillet.
2. Pour in your liquid eggs (or 3 eggs beaten with a bit of milk), tilt the pan so it's spread out evenly.
3. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and cover with a lid to let cook for 2 minutes or so until the edges are set. Then fold in half and sprinkle a little more cheese on top.
4. Cover again and let cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and let it finish cooking for another minute or so.
5. Plate and top with salsa.

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Peasant Breakfast

Crisis Brownies and other comfort foods is the title of the blog. Yesterday I brought you the crisis brownies - so named because sometimes when you have a crisis, the only solution is chocolate - today I'll bring you one of my favorite comfort foods; but first, a comment.

Sometimes, I derive comfort from making something elegant or fancy, like crèmes brûlées:

Other times, I'll be comforted by taking something simple and homey and presenting it attractively, like kimchi bokeum bap:

But then there are those dishes which are neither fancy nor plated professionally. I have been known to eat Stovetop Mac and Cheese straight off a wooden spoon from the saucepan as I stand in the kitchen.

This next dish is never plated attractively, does not use an elaborate recipe or expensive ingredients. There is no real name for it, and I've called it many things: Potatoes, Eggs and Vegetables, Mess-in-a-Bowl, but most often, I call it Peasant Breakfast.

It is just chunks of potato cooked in butter with vegetables, usually onion, bell pepper and mushroom, and once they've cooked down and browned nicely, I crack some eggs over it, let them set, and then mix it all together. Top it with a little grated cheese and serve. Presto. Yum. Really, for pure comfort bang for your buck, you just can't beat it.

When I was in Korea, I used to make this dish for my friends after a long night of partying in I-Tae-Won. We'd go back to my place, usually at 3 in the morning, and I'd make a huge mess of this in the name of hangover remedies, then we'd crash, sleep late and go out for kong namul guk (spicy bean sprout soup) or budae jjigae ("troop" stew) as additional help with staving off the hangover.

I also craved this dish throughout all of my pregnancies, and still crave it at times when I am cold and need something deeply warming. I made it last night as a mini-celebratory meal. I like to adjust with slightly different ingredients and spicing it differently.

Yesterday, I found hedgehog mushrooms:

They were almost too cute to eat. But I ate them, and yes, I washed them first. :)

Peasant Breakfast

Ingredients

• butter
• potatoes
• onion
• green bell pepper
• mushroom
• Creole seasoning
• Old Bay seasoning
• eggs
• grated romano
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Brown potatoes in butter. You can use leftover boiled potatoes if you have them, though I usually just use fresh. If you use uncooked mushrooms, you'll want to cover it and let them steam. Season with Creole seasoning.
   
2. Add the chopped onions, bell pepper and mushrooms and stir well. Add Old Bay or more Creole seasoning to suit your taste.
   
3. Cover and let cook through until the potatoes are tender and the vegetables browned. I like it when the onions get almost crispy.
   
4. Push the vegetables aside to make three holes, and crack an egg into each. Cover and let cook until the eggs are set, then stir the whole mess together and let cook. Dump into bowls and top with a bit of cheese and season with salt and pepper.
   

Notes:

• I change up the seasoning, sometimes using fresh thyme and rosemary, but I usually go for something spicy, and this does it for me. 
• I also will add in bits of leftover ham or sausage if I have them. I really like linguiça and chouriço in the spicy version or maple sausage in the rosemary and thyme version.

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Mushroom Onion Quiche with Bacon

Quiche is one of my favorite lighter meals, though it seems absurd to call something made with heavy cream, eggs, and cheese then folded into a rich, buttery pastry crust "light." A little of this dish goes a long way, however, especially when accompanied by a large green salad.

This quiche can be served warm or cold.

Mushroom Onion Quiche with Bacon

Ingredients:

• 1 pastry crust for 9-in pie*
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
  
• 1 pound assorted mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (½ oz.) packet of dried porcini mushrooms - reconstitutes to 2 oz.
• sherry
  
• 4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 ounces cheese, grated (1 ½ cups) - traditionally, this dish would call for Gruyère, but a nice sharp cheddar also works nicely in this dish
  

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms to reconstitute them. Let them sit for 30 minutes, then strain and chop them coarsely. Set aside.
   


2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle, or, press the pastry dough into a tart pan or 9-inch pie plate, pressing the dough into corners.
   


3. Transfer to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes if the crust seems to be oily or greasy. We want the fat in the crust to be cold when it goes into the oven.
   
   If you do put the pastry in the fridge to chill, be sure to take it out and let it sit on the counter so the dish can come to room temperature. Putting a cold dish into a hot oven spells disaster.
   


4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the pastry with a circle of parchment paper or aluminum foil, pressing into the corners and edges.
   


5. Fill at least two-thirds with baking weights - dried beans, rice, or ceramic pie weights. Bake first for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes.
   


6. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tines of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling.


7. Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and shallot and cook, stirring, until translucent but not brown, about 1 minute.
   


8. Add the chopped, fresh mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms first release their liquid.
   


9. Add the rehydrated porcini mushrooms and continue to cook over medium high heat until all the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are dark golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
   


10. Add a dash of sherry and cook until that evaporates as well.
    


11. Place tart pan on a baking sheet to catch any run-off there might be. Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread the mushroom and onion mixture over the cheese, crumble some bacon on top of that, top with remaining cheese and bacon.
    


12. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese.
    


13. Transfer to oven, and bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

* Pastry Crust for 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (½ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt and butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
   


2. While the blade is running, add only enough of the ice water until the dough begins to form a ball. You can test this by grabbing a small handful (when the food processor is turned OFF and unplugged) and squeezing it: If it doesn't hold together, then add more ice water, ½ tablespoon at a time, pulsing until it is just incorporated, then test again.
   
   Be sure not to overwork the dough, or pastry will be tough. We don't want to build up the gluten in this dough, we just want the fat evenly distributed and the dough to hold together when we roll it out.
   


3. Once the dough holds together well, take it out of the bowl of the food processor and shape it into a compact ball. Then, flatten it into a round disc. Wrap the disc of pastry in plastic wrap and put that into a plastic bag and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
   


4. When you are ready to roll out the dough, take it out of the refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll it with a floured rolling pin until it is approximately 1/8 inch and 12 inches in diameter.
   


5. Transfer it to your pie plate or tart pan.
   

Notes:

• This pastry crust recipe is a basic, all-purpose crust which can be used interchangeably between dessert pies like apple or pumpkin and quiches.
  


• Here is an easy way to transfer a pastry crust to the plate without it ripping:
  
  
  
  • Starting with one outside edge, roll the crust onto the rolling pin until it is all curled around it.
    
  
  
  • Unroll it into your tart pan or pie plate.
    
  
  
  • Trim off the edges and you're ready to blind-bake the pastry
  
  
  
  

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Baked Eggs in Potato

I had a craving for eggs the other day. I also had some leftover mashed potatoes and a bit of heavy cream which needed to be used up lest they go over to the dark side. I recalled making baked eggs in a nest of mashed potatoes a few years ago after Thanksgiving, and I thought, "Perfect."

This makes a really lovely little breakfast, and served in individual ramekins, it presents very well. My kids really love anything served in miniature form. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of these ramekins.

Baked Eggs In Potato Recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1 medium potato
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese - more or less to taste
• 3 eggs
• salt and pepper
• heavy cream

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the potato and cut it into chunks. Place the potato in a pot of water, bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 12 minutes.


2. Drain the potato, then put in a medium-sized bowl. Mash the potato, adding butter and a little bit of cream (about 1 T) until you get the right consistency. Season with salt and pepper and add a little bit of cheese (about a 1/4 cup).


3. Mix well.


4. Spray 3 10-oz. ramekins (standard size) with cooking spray and dive the potato mixture between them, pushing down with the back of the spoon so that you create a well in the bottom.


5. Next you can simply crack one egg into each well and top with cheese or you may beat each egg with a bit of cream and add the cheese to the beaten mixture, then pour it into the ramekins. My kids prefer the texture of the egg when it's beaten, although I like the traditional baked eggs.


6. Place the ramekins in a pan or on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.


7. BEWARE: If you beat the eggs, cream and cheese instead of just plopping in a whole egg, the mixture will puff up when it cooks. This is why setting the ramekins in a pan or on a sheet helps.

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