Fresh Tart

As you might have noticed, I'll eat eggs with pretty much anything.  Polenta, potatoes, bread, bread crumbs, salad, tomatoes, soup, on and on.  Take it from a former egg hater - eggs elevate all of these dishes from something ordinary to sublime.

For pennies.

For around 75 calories.

So lovely.

This dish is a sort-of take on spaghetti carbonara, the classic bacon-n-egg pasta.  Instead of tossing the pasta with raw eggs, cream, and lots of bacon, this version is instead tossed with a little bacon, garlic, herbs, and Parmesan cheese, then topped with a poached egg.  Yeah.  Gorgeous and delicious.  Salty, chewy, creamy. (Without cream.)

In other words, completely party worthy.  Or quick weeknight dinner worthy.  You decide.

Sort-Of Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2

2 slices bacon, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
8 oz. dried spaghetti
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Set a large pot of salted water on to boil.  Set a small saucepan of salted water on to boil. 

Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  Add bacon, saute until just crisp, then stir in garlic and fresh herbs.  Remove from heat and set aside.

When the large pot of water boils, add pasta and cook according to package directions until al dente.  Before draining, reserve 1/3 c. of the pasta cooking water.  Drain pasta and return to the pot.  Add the bacon, herbs, pan drippings, cheese, and pasta cooking water to the pasta.  Add a generous sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper, and toss to coat.  Divide between two plates.

Turn heat down on the small saucepan of boiling water so that the water is barely simmering - small bubbles should barely break the surface.  Crack one egg into a small dish and slide into the water.  Quickly do the same with the second egg.  Set the timer for 3 minutes.  The eggs whites will look shredded, but that's OK.  When the timer goes off, use a slotted spoon to scoop one egg out of the water.  Tilt the spoon so the water drains completely off, then place the egg on top of one of the plates of pasta.  Repeat with the second egg and second plate of pasta.  Top eggs with a sprinkle of salt and a few grinds of black pepper each.  Serve immediately.

I'll keep this simple.  I made this version of Salad Lyonnaise for dinner tonight, for John, for Father's Day, and it was sublime.  If you want to go to the recipe after the video, click on the "article" link.  If you take nothing else away from this demonstration, let it be how incredibly easy it is to poach eggs.  A breeze.  And oh my, so delicious, especially atop crispy bacon, pleasantly bitter greens, all cloaked in a warm, tart vinaigrette.  Thank you Mark Bittman.  Enjoy!

Oh look, I missed both holidays.  I usually relish cooking Kosher for Passover treats for my stepdaughter, as well as coloring Easter eggs and making brunch for my son.  A trip to Seattle and illness (see below) wiped out both opportunities this year.

Instead, on Sunday, I made a potato-pepper hash with baked eggs for John and me.  I couldn't much taste it, but I thought it was very pretty. And John loved it, so that's a good sign.  (Plus, I make some version of this on a regular basis - it's one of my favorites.)

I'm not even posting a formal recipe, dear readers, since this was all about cooking with what I had on hand, the day after returning from a trip.  Roughly do this: saute diced mushrooms, peppers (I used red bell pepper, wished I'd had a jalapeno), leeks or onions, and potatoes together, in some butter or oil, slowly, partially covered, stirring frequently, until everything is nicely browned, about 30 minutes.  A generous sprinkling of salt and pepper at some point is key.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, then make four little wells in the hash (or one or two little wells, depending on how much hash you've made).  Crack eggs into the wells, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little cheese (cheddar, Parmesan, whatever you have), and transfer to the oven.  Bake until the eggs are to your liking (about 6 minutes for cooked whites/soft yolks).  I finished with a sprinkle of chopped scallions, although any fresh herb would be lovely.  A pile of hot, buttered toast is a pretty killer accompaniment (unless you're keeping Kosher for Passover; matzo would be delicious too).

I'll admit, this is a bit similar to the post below (grilled cheese with baby artichokes), as in, "How to Make a Meal from a Baguette," but hey, a baguette makes a lovely meal, as do artichokes and eggs, so stay with me.  Just like in Caesar salad, the anchovy adds a punch of salty-savory, without being overwhelmingly fishy.  A squeeze of lemon brightens the whole, and a swipe of garlic across the crostini ties it all together.  Finish with a shower of minced chives and freshly ground pepper, alongside a simple salad, and I promise, a light, lovely dinner.  Or appetizer (minus the salad), definitely a great appetizer - pair with a tart Sauvignon Blanc.

Funny thing about that chive garnish - it's from a pot on my deck!  In March, in Minnesota!  How is that possible?  One, my supreme laziness in not clearing out my herb pots at the end of the fall.  (Chives are perennial, apparently even in tiny pots.  The other pic reveals the evergreen tree tops that I never put in the not-cleared-out herb pots before they were buried in snow.  Proof of my laziness everywhere, sigh.)  Two, it's been a crazy-hot March, no snow for the first time in more than 100 years - likely foreboding, but for now I'll take it.

Oh, here's another funny thing about that chive garnish - the spreader to the right of the egg salad (above) says...chives!  How cool is that?  I picked up a couple of these old, smashed-n-stamped spoons from Hunt & Gather in Minneapolis.  They're meant to adorn herb pots, but I think they're awfully sweet as spreaders.  Right?

Egg Salad with Lemon, Anchovies, & Crostini

Serves 6 as an appetizer, 3-4 as a main course with a salad

6 large eggs

1/4 c. mayonnaise

2 anchovies (more for garnish, if you like)

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

coarse salt & freshly ground pepper

1/2 baguette, cut into 1/4-inch slices

olive oil

1 garlic clove, split in half

minced chives

Hard-cook the eggs - put the eggs in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water plus 1 inch, and set uncovered over high heat.  Bring to a rolling boil, turn off heat, cover, and let sit for 11 minutes.  Meanwhile, fill a medium bowl with ice and cold water.  When the timer goes off, transfer the eggs to the ice water and let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash the anchovies in a medium bowl.  Whisk in lemon juice, mayonnaise, mustard, and a few grinds of black pepper.  Crack and peel the eggs, dice them, then stir into the mayonnaise mixture.  (Discard two of the yolks if you'd like to lighten things up a bit.)  Cover and chill the egg salad until ready to use.

Toast the bread - drizzle olive oil all over a baking sheet.  Press the baguette slices into the oil, flip them, and press the other side into the oil.  Sprinkle the slices with coarse salt and either grill them or toast them in a hot oven until golden at the edges.  Rub them lightly with cut garlic and let cool.

To serve, mound egg salad on crostini, sprinkle with minced chives, lay anchovies over the tops (if desired), and serve.

Here's usually why I make quiche - I have no dinner plan, so I start a mildly panicked foraging in my refrigerator - a refrigerator that rarely lets me down, thank goodness - and discover a treasure of forgotten vegetables.  Yes!  If I score a half-eaten block of cheese in addition, I'm so jamming.  And if I'm really jazzed, I make a patee brisee shell (not difficult, but sometimes I don't have time to let it chill before rolling it out).  If I'm not, and I'm just rushed, I pull a whole-wheat crust from my freezer, courtesy of Whole Foods (it's surprisingly tasty), and fill 'er up.

But not tonight, this time I planned for quiche.  Craving a little taste of spring, but needing to make something that could sit for awhile until John gets home from a trip, I decided an asparagus & leek quiche would be perfect.

And it was.  Buttery and crisp, lightly cheesy, pleasantly full of tender asparagus and leeks.

It's a terrific recipe - a Martha Stewart classic.  It's so terrific, in fact, that I mess wildly with it, following the same basic egg, cream, cheese, and vegetable ratios, and cooking techniques, but innovating with my own vegetable and cheese combinations.

Broccoli and cheddar is a favorite.  So is cauliflower and Swiss.  Bacon and gruyere make for a lovely quiche Lorraine - I add mushrooms because I love mushrooms and bacon together.  If you don't, that's cool, go with what you like.  Although I should say that tomatoes and Parmesan are amazing together, especially with a handful of thinly sliced ham thrown in.  But whatever, make it your own, Martha won't care - meaty or meatless, cheesy or cheeseless, they're all delicious.

A note about the the crust - I prefer Julia Child's patee brisee.  It's rich and buttery, flaky and tender, and just about the best thing you've ever tasted.  Even if you don't make it every time, make it at least once.  Trust me - it's first-kiss good.  Bake it in a pie plate, or in a tart pan for something thinner and crispier.  Change is the spice of life, even with quiche.

Oh my goodness, I just realized this is yet another post about eggs.  Eggsellent should be the name of this blog, not Fresh Tart.  What can I say?  We eat a lot of eggs.  I'd like to say that it makes me clever and sort of French, but it really just makes me lazy.

Asparagus, Leek, and Gruyere Quiche

Recipe by Martha Stewart

Serves 6

1 Tbsp. butter

1 leek (white and light green parts only), halved and thinly sliced, then well washed

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 bunch (1 lb.) asparagus, tough ends removed, thinly sliced on the diagonal

4 large eggs

1 1/4 c. half-and-half

Freshly ground nutmeg

pie crust (see below), fitted into a 9-inch pie plate, well chilled

1 c. shredded Gruyere cheese (4 oz.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in lowest position.  In a large skillet, melt butter over medium.  Add leek and asparagus; season with salt & pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until asparagus is crisp tender, 6-8 minutes; let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, 1/2 tsp. salt, a tsp. pepper, and a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg.  Place pie crust on a rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle crust with half the cheese, top with asparagus mixture, then top with rest of cheese.  Pour egg mixture on top.

Bake until center of quiche is just set, 50-60 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.  Let stand 15 minutes before serving.  (To store, let cool, then refrigerate, up to 1 day.  Reheat at 350 degrees until warm in center, about 30 minutes.)

Patee Brisee (Pie Crust)

Adapted from a recipe by Julia Child

Makes one crust

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3 oz. chilled butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 Tbsp. chilled shortening

a scant 1/4 c. iced water, plus droplets more if needed

Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor (equipped with the steel blade).  Add butter and shortening to the flour.  Flick the machine on and off 4-5 times, then add the iced water, all at once.  Immediately flick the machine on and off several times, and the dough should begin to mass on the blade.  If not, dribble in a little more water and repeat, repeating again if necessary.  Dough is done when it has begun to mass; do not overmix it.  Gather the dough into a fairly smooth round ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and either freeze for 1 hour or refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Because of its high butter content, roll out the dough as quickly as possible, so that it will not soften and become difficult to handle.

Place the dough on a lightly floured board or marble.  If the dough is hard, beat it with the rolling pin to soften it.  Then knead it briefly into a fairly flat circle.  It should be just malleable enough to roll out without cracking.

I hated eggs when I was a kid - absolutely, truly loathed them.

Boy have things changed.  The changeover was so gradual, it was invisible to me.  A little bite of quiche (wow!), a taste of deviled eggs (yum!), tiny bits of yolk on an over-medium egg (ooh!), and I was slowly wooed.  Learning to cook eggs myself took the scare factor out of the yolks (good lesson if you, like I, have a child who hates eggs).  Eventually, over many years, I've come to adore eggs, to crave them in fact, in iterations I could never have imagined eating, like my version of huevos rancheros, basically an over-easy egg atop a crispy corn tortilla with enchilada sauce.  Beyond good.

Or this Jean-George Vongerichten recipe, which caught my eye a couple of weeks back.  Mark Bittman wrote about it in the NYTimes, and did a nifty little accompanying video, and when I saw both I knew I would love this deceptively simple fried rice.  Topped with an egg, and garnished with crispy bits of ginger and garlic, as well as a drizzle each of soy sauce and sesame oil, it has it all - comfort, salty-crunch, and umami all over the place (soy sauce, sesame oil, crispy-at-the-edges egg).  It makes beautiful use of leftover rice, but is so addictively good, it's well worth making a fresh pot (let the rice cool uncovered and dry out a bit).

Glance at the recipe and you'll realize it's easy to adjust for just one or two servings (vs. four).  You could probably even use leftover already-fried rice (although the simple leek-rice combination is lovely, make sure to try it) - the key is the garnish of crispy ginger and garlic (above), as well as the drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil.  I plan to deliciously riff on this theme for years to come.  Recipe here.

Toasted breadcrumbs, duh!  (Slaps head...)  Why do I always forget about them?  So easy, so incredibly delicious, and quite light to boot, since one piece of bread and a couple of teaspoons of olive oil make enough garnish for three servings of eggs or vegetables or pasta or fish or potatoes.  In fact, there are few dishes that wouldn't be elevated by a spoonful of humble toasted breadcrumbs.  The toasty flavor, the crunch, the punch of garlic and salt (I add garlic and salt).  Sublime.

Like in the simple dish pictured up top, which I just consumed for lunch.  I know, I know, you're thinking, how many versions of eggs and greens can this woman consume?  What can I say?  Fast and easy.  Cheap and nutritious.  Light yet filling.  And most important, so gorgeously delicious, eggs and greens just belong together.

I should back up and say that I don't always eat eggs with greens.  I usually hard-cook a few eggs each week, to have on hand for a quick snack or meal, most often happily eaten straight up (well, with a sprinkle of salt and pepper).  But sometimes, as you might imagine, that's a bit boring.  Plus, this image of sauteed hard-cooked eggs nestled into a bed of greens kept popping into my head...  Did I dream it up myself?  Unlikely.  Did I see them in a magazine, a cookbook, online?  Couldn't recall.

After a bit of poking around on Google, I figured out I'd seen it the cookbook sitting right next to me, Lynne Rosetto Kasper's How to Eat Supper.  In it she reproduces a Jacques Pepin recipe for Pan-Crisped Deviled Eggs on French Lettuces.  A clever recipe, quite simple, so pretty (very Jacques Pepin).  Following the recipe is a suggested variation, Sardinian Hard-Cooked Eggs, where unstuffed halved eggs are sauteed in olive oil and vinegar and finished with toasted breadcrumbs - even simpler and equally delicious sounding.  As I may have mentioned before (ahem), I'm always looking for ways to eat my greens, so I innovated and served the egg on a bed of quickly sauteed spinach.  Topped with toasted breadcrumbs, yes.

Completely humble and tasty.

Recipe for Pan-Crisped Deviled Eggs here.  Recipe for Sardinian Hard-Cooked Eggs with Spinach here.