FTR EGGstravaganza

Here is what this month's FTR Foodie, Jacob W. Seitz-Sampson, had to say about his experience and why he chose the incredible edible egg for his featured ingredient! Thank you for you amazing knowledge and passion, Jacob! And of course, the Eggscellent dishes and recipes!

Thank you Tessa and Team FTR for welcoming me into your kitchen again!  I love this community and what it has helped me accomplish.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for providing this amazing space to grow and improve my life!

I chose the incredible egg for this guest workshop.  I’m pretty sure most folks don’t think of eggs much outside of breakfast.  I certainly didn’t 5 years ago when we started raising chickens.  Chickens seemed like a good compromise between my desire for a goat and Leigh’s desire to keep a lawn.  It started eggcitingly (ha, see what I did there) enough when our first hen laid an oddly soft and misshapen egg.  A few weeks later, all 4 hens were laying, and somebody was working overtime….we had 5 eggs each day.  At first we hoarded our eggs, but 35 eggs a week is just a bit too much to handle.  A few months later, neighbors and friends were full up with eggs and I decided to get creative.

I’ve wrestled with how to present these recipes.  In the interest of fostering community effort, I decided to present them as we did them in the workshop.  If you tackle these, I hope you’ll share the time in the kitchen with friends and/or loved ones making an eggcellent dish!

First up, my personal favorite, Eggs Fu Yung, serves 6-8:

Ingredients for patties:

¾  cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup finely diced celery

1 cup drained canned or 2 cups fresh bean sprouts

6 eggs

2 teaspoons salt

Ingredients for sauce:

½ cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

4 teaspoons sugar

4 teaspoons vinegar

1 ½ cups water or chicken broth

1 cup rice

2 cups water

Bring water to a boil, add rice, stir.  Return to boil, reduce heat to low/simmer, and cover.  Cook 25 minutes.

Together:

For the sauce: Mix all ingredients together in small bowl, or use a jar for vigorous shaking. Heat stirring constantly until boiling and sauce clears. Reduce heat to keep warm.

For the patties: Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix together.  After initial mixing, stir occasionally to keep vegetables coated with egg.

Set up 2 or 3 griddles or frying pans with ~⅛ inch oil.  Fry the egg mixture ¼ cupful at a time, shaping the patties as they cook.  You may need to add additional oil as you fry.  A deeper level of oil will result in fluffier patties.

Place patties on rice and drizzle with sauce.

That was great 2 times a week for the first few weeks, but variety is the spice of life.

Up next, I started making quiches and fritattas for breakfasts and dinners and the leftovers make a great lunch.  This mushroom and spinach quiche (adapted from Betty Crocker with a pat in pan crust) is super easy and is perfect for a make ahead dinner or served with a green salad for brunch:

Ingredients for the crust:

1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons cold milk

Ingredients for the filling:

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 small onion, chopped (⅓ cup)

1 ½ cups fresh sliced mushrooms

¾ cup coarsely chopped spinach

Sautee onion in butter until just translucent.  

4 Eggs

1 cup milk

⅛ tsp cayenne or pepper flakes

Mix together.

Directions:

For the crust: Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a plate or tin.  Pour over vegetable oil.  Add milk.  Work with fingers or a fork until pastry consistency.  Press dough onto sides to resemble a pie crust.

For the filling:

Place sauteed onions, sliced mushrooms, and chopped spinach into pie crust. Pour over egg mixture making sure to coat any protruding vegetables or push them into the custard. Bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes, just until set.

Top with cheese and bake another 15-20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow quiche to set 10 minutes before serving.

I was recently asked if I made Hollandaise, because “dates love Hollandaise.”  I’m ashamed to admit, I’ve never done it.  But quiche and salad after a great night together is a delightful treat!  Whether at midnight or in the morning, I think you’ll agree.

In the winter months, the chickens slow down and only lay every other day.  It is also a great time to make chili.  Much to my delight, Huevos Rancheros is basically eggs poached in chili.  This is another simple one that impresses:

Ingredients:

3 15 oz. cans chili

6 eggs

Shredded cheese

Pour chili into a large skillet. Gently heat just until simmering.

Make 6 wells in the chili, if the chili fills the wells, reduce the heat.

Crack an egg into each well.

Top with cheese, cover, and simmer until eggs are poached and cheese is melted, 5-6 minutes.

(Optional) Serve with tortilla chips or tortillas.

Its no secret I love Asian cuisine, especially dim sum.  I’ve recently taken to dim sum brunches on the weekends.  One of the hardest dim sum items to find in the freezer section are the delicious sweets.  In my quest for a full dim sum brunch, I came across Hong Kong Style Egg Tarts:

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups + 3 tablespoons Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons cold milk

For the filling: 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

⅓ cup white sugar

¾ cup water

4 eggs

1 cup evaporated milk (or double strength reconstituted dry milk)

Directions:

For the crust:Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Pour vegetable oil over flour mixture. Add milk. Work with fingers or a fork until pastry consistency. Divide into 12 equally sized pieces.

For the filling: Heat sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Cool to room temperature. Whisk together eggs and evaporated milk. Add the sugar syrup and mix will. If mixture has clumps, pour through a sieve.

Press pastry into muffin tins, to create miniature pies. Pour in egg filling. Bake at 425F for 20 minutes. If custard is not set, allow to cook 5 more minutes.

Allow to cool, loosen edges with a knife or spatula if stuck. Ease tarts out of muffin tin and serve. These are delicious warm or chilled.

In the Spring, I always think of Easter and all those hard boiled eggs.  In my adult years, I don’t dye dozen after dozen anymore, but that craving for an Egg Salad always hits.  Leigh has never been a fan of egg salad.  Luckily, in 2015, my friend Bridgett turned me on to this amazing egg toast idea.  A few weeks ago, I made it, knowing full well I may get to enjoy my egg salad while Leigh had donuts.  Much to my surprise, he ate his portion and then some more!  SUCCESS!  While looking for recipes for this workshop, finding 600 million, and having to pare down, he encouraged me to let this one stay.  I’m happy to present Egg Spinach Toast:

4 Eggs

Dressing:

2 Tablespoons minced onion

2 pickle spears diced

2 teaspoons pickle juice

4 Tablespoons Mayo

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

½ bunch spinach, coarsely chopped

2 Tablespoons Oil or fat (bacon grease adds extra flavor, and its just a bit so not too bad for you)

Additions:

Wilt spinach in heated oil or fat.

6 cheese slices cut in half

Directions:

Place 4 eggs into saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 12 minutes.  Shock eggs by placing under running cold water.  Peal and dice eggs.

Slice bread into 12 crostini thickness pieces and lay out on baking sheet.

Mix the chopped eggs and dressing mixture from persons 1 and 2. Place some of the wilted spinach on each crostini. Place some of the egg mixture on each spinach topped crostini. If egg salad is runny, use a slotted spoon to allow excess dressing to drip off. Place a half cheese slice on top of the eggs. Melt the cheese in a hot oven or under the boiler.

In the interest of not writing and entire cookbook, here are links for dishes that didn’t make the workshop:

This Raviolo al Uovo comes from Food Network Chef Anne Burrell.  This is a personal favorite when the hens just start laying again the Spring.  That oozy gooey egg running over the ravioli is simply magnificent.  I’m not much for making pasta, so I will use wonton wrappers if using just the yolk or egg roll wrappers if using the whole egg.  If you use the whole egg, these will be HUGE! but so delicious.

Magic cake is one that didn’t make the final cut, but is fun to make.  There are many different varieties including Chocolate, Vanilla, Butterscotch, and Lemon.

In keeping with my love for Asian food, how about some Egg Drop Soup.

When I set out a plan for this workshop, I had a grand idea to do 4 3-course menus, all centered around eggs.  While this was ambitious, and I’m glad we scaled back, I spotted this recipe for 3-ingredient Mexican Cheese Bites.

Also for that menu, I found a recipe for Aracely's Flan.  This is a no-oven recipe for flan.  If you’ve never tried flan, it is a delicious egg custard and caramel treat.

Lastly was a French menu that included Potato Salad with Egg, Dill Pickle, and Tarragon.  Tarragon is just coming on in gardens now and adds a delightful flavor to spring salads.

Also, included in the French menu was a Simple Vanilla Custard.  This was a hard recipe to cut, since bruleeing can easily be done with a well chilled custard.  To brulee, chill the custard well, maybe even putting it in the freezer just until it starts to freeze, dust the top with white sugar and hit it with a blow torch.  I’m not kidding, that’s how you brulee….pretty simple and super impressive!

For those that came to the class, THANK YOU!  I had a wonderful time sharing these recipes with you.  Whether you came to class, or read this article, I hope you’ll never look at eggs quite the same way again.