Sunday Brunch Happiness: Bacon and Eggs Cups

There are blog posts about these little lovelies all over the Internet. Here is my own personal spin on a quick and easy weekend breakfast favorite chez FST.

Par cook bacon about 2 minutes, then line each muffin hole with one slice bacon. I use turkey bacon usually, but any bacon is good bacon in my opinion. Use a small coffee cup to cut out circles of bread to stuff down into the bottom of each hole. Here we have rye bread, we always have rye bread. But with bacon, egg and cheese any bread should be fine. Sometimes I make these with no bread.Plop in a little cheese. This particular Sunday I used tiny chunks of brie; I've also been known to use chevre, cheddar, whatever! Scramble eggs. Roughly one egg for each cup, or you can plop the egg unscrambled right into the pan. Scrambling gives you the opportunity to add more flavors, a little dairy, green onions, chipotle salt. It does use another bowl that you will later have to wash while wearing your pajamas. Just saying.

Once filled, put pan in 375˚ for about 20 minutes.

Ta da!

Egg Poaching: A Personal Specialty

I have seen and used a variety of egg poaching devices. Ultimately, the poached eggs I am happiest with are the ones that I cook the most simply. Using one small pan, a bath of very hot but not boiling water and splashes of aged balsamic vinegar. My simple step-by-step process follows.



Start with a small pan, about the size and shape of a crepe pan. Fill with water and bring to a rolling boil, preferably on gas. After it comes to a rolling boil, turn the heat down and wait til the water is barely without movement.



Add a couple splashes of aged balsamic. I use this because it both keeps the egg whites from feathering and adds a beautiful flavor, even without salt. Next, drop in your eggs gently. This morning I used two extra large organic free range brown eggs. I frivolously bought these at Whole Foods and they are beautiful specimens.



I like to let the white set before messing with the eggs. Then to get the top part cooked, you can either baste the top by tossing hot water over the top of the egg or you can gently flip the eggs using a wide slotted spoon.



Eggs cooked with balsamic do have a funny brown balsamic scuzz on them, but it is really delicious and goes nicely with any savory dish. These would be nice for eggs benedict, or for supper with a tossed green salad. I ate this egg on its own with a sprinkling of sea salt, as a remedy to my post Mother's Day eve hangover. They say simply cooked eggs are one of the best hangover remedies you can eat.

Eggs in Aspic, o Ouefs en Gelees

Audiobooks are a recent joy in my life. Right now I am listening to Julie on Julia, the journey of one woman experiencing a third life crisis who cooks her way through the classic American tome of French cooking, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The most recent chapter, which I listened to Thursday, describes Julie's adventures cooking oeufs en gelee, or poached eggs in aspic.

http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/11/29.html

Julie did not measure this a successful recipe. However I, for some reason, find my psyche obsessed with the idea of making aspic from bones. Next, softly poaching an egg and layering it with various herbs, al dente poached veg & maybe some salmon or lardon inside the confines of a transparent aspic encasement. Upon further research, I am pleased to find out that there are many renditions of ouefs en gelee.

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/02/egg_in_aspic.php

The author of Chocolate & Zucchini, Clotilde Dusoulier, writes about the both the joy of gently breaking apart the aspic to free the beauty of the ingredients inside and the omniprescence of this dish in the non-touristy outer arrondissements of Paris.



Below is the close up she posted. I like how this one is wrapped in what looks like a thin slice of ham or proscuitto:




I have not attempted to make this yet, but I can feel it coming. I made a horrific dinner the other night for John and David, as usual winging it completely. I will blog about the horror of that meal at another time. Now however, I will treat you, dear reader, to the joy of a variety of examples of oeufs en gelee from various places about the interwebs.

Here is a simple version, still in its ramikan.



This one, served on a bed of greens, illustrates the beauty of digging through the aspic and cracking the softly poached egg...I am imagining sopping up the yolk with a warm grilled hunk of kalamata olve bread.



And this version (apologies for the tiny pic) shows one housed with slices of salmon, my mouth is watering anticipating that those are slices of smoked salmon, the combination of the lightly flavored aspic, the egg and the soft fleshy salmon...




In the recesses of someone's dark and twisted mind, labeling this photo of a streaker at Wimbledon as "oeufs en gelee" must have seemed amusing.



I am officially amused.