The Philosophy of Food, Issue #025: Baked Eggs 01

You know those moments when you discover a completely new genre of music that broadcasts on the same frequency as your soul, in stunning HD, filling you with an inexplicable and uncontrollable desire to dance, sing, or pick up an instrument?  Well, I just had that experience, but with breakfast food.

The name of the genre is baked eggs, and you have got to taste these beats.  Or not beats.  No, you definitely don't beat these eggs. . . but you get the point, right?

The basic formula follows.

1.  Butter a ramekin.
2.  Add 1 to 3 layers of meat and veggies.
3.  Crack an egg into that sucker.
4.  Sprinkle lightly with grated cheese and ground black pepper.
5.  Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes.
6.  Experience the Rapture.  In your mouth.

Seriously.  This formula is pretty much the Kama Sutra for your taste buds.

Okay, so here's the specific dish I made.

The Ingredients (and Supplies)
-1 ramekin per egg
-Butter or butter substitute
-1 slice of bacon per egg, crumbled
-1 smallish tomato per egg, sliced
-Grated sharp cheddar cheese
-Ground black pepper
-Eggs

The Process
In your buttered ramekin(s), layer in the sliced tomato and crumbled bacon.  Crack in the egg and dust lightly with the grated cheddar cheese and ground black pepper.

Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes.  Remove and enjoy.

It's important that you cook your bacon before loading it into the ramekin.

Well butter my ramekin and call me a toaster.  Actually, don't call me a toaster.  That's racist.

Juicy tomato!

Bacon is magic.

And just load these puppies into the oven. . .

The Results
I think I've already expressed my utter and complete glee at discovering this particular genre of egg dish. . . but it bears restating.  Baked eggs are frakking fantastic!  This dish has changed my entire perspective on breakfast.  Life altering.

The egg in this one wouldn't sit in the middle. . .

So I was sure the next one had a little bit of an indent.

BEHOLD!  BREAKFAST!

All of the praise aside, there are a couple things I'd do differently.  In the oven at my folk's house, 15 minutes was a little on the early side.  I think they could have used another 5 minutes or so, just so the whites don't stay so runny.  I might also substitute the black pepper for a very conservative amount of creole seasoning.

All that said, there are more variations to try.  You could make this with a layer of shrimp rather than bacon.  Or toss in some shredded lettuce to make it a BLT baked egg.  The combinations are limitless, and doubtless you will see more in the days to come.

That Which Should Not Be, Issue #001: Spaghetti and Cheese Sauce

Here's a new column folks.  That Which Should Not Be will be reserved for things I make that are just. . . weird. . . or incredibly bad for you. . . or both.  Also: delicious.  To start off we have an unorthodox variant on an old favorite. . .

Spaghetti and Cheese Sauce

We're not talking about white sauce.  We're talking about the cheddar cheese sauce I use in my macaroni and cheese.  Served over angel hair pasta.  See for yourself. . .

Noodles: check.

Cheese sauce: check.

Abomination against all that is holy: check.

A tiny dab of Creole seasoning.  Honestly, this wasn't enough to make a difference.

All hail His noodley appendage!

So. . . if you love cheese and despise all that is good and wholesome, this is the meal for you!  Seriously though, it's really good.  It has the feeling of being really thick and gloppy, but since when was that a bad thing for cheesy goodbadness?

P.S.: I used about 6 or 7 ounces of dry angel hair pasta.  The cheese sauce was 1 cup of milk and about 3/5 of a brick of smokey sharp cheddar cheese.

The Philosophy of Food, Issue #019: Baked Mac and Cheese

 "That which thy fathers have bequeathed to thee, earn it anew if thou wouldst possess it."

-Goethe: Faust (reprinted on the dedication page of the Joy of Cooking).

I'm going to apologize for the delay between posts.  I've been having trouble finding time to write, if not necessarily finding time to cook.

In other news, I may have found a maple bacon suitable to re create my Sweet Tooth Mexican Fried Rice.  I'll let ya'll know how that goes.

The dish I'm going to share today isn't my own recipe, so I'm just going to refer you to the cook book I pulled it from and comment a little on how my own process differed.

The Recipe

I made a double helping of the baked macaroni recipe from the Joy of Cooking (34th Printing, March 1984).  This is the first cook book I owned and, sad to say, the first time I've used it.

The Sauce

 

Off to a weird start.

And continuing in the fashion. . .

Doesn't exactly look appetizing at this point. . .

I'd never shredded an onion before.  Had plenty of leftovers. . . get ready to give your tear ducts a treat!

Behold!  Cheese!

Bow to your cheddar-y god!

The odd thing about this recipe, in my opinion, is that the sauce and the cheese are separate.  When I make un-baked mac and cheese, the two things are one and the same.  I might try this with a later baked mac and cheese by creating a cheese sauce and then mixing the other ingredients (egg, spices, herbs, onions, etc) into it.  Or by adding the spices and eggs into the sauce and layering the more solid components into the noodle when I put it in the pan.

Okay, so here's how my own take varied from the recipe.  First off, I didn't measure the cheese.  Instead of measuring out two cups of the stuff (what a double recipe would call for) I opted to use an entire half-pound brick of smokey sharp cheddar.  Remember this simple rule kids: when in doubt - MORE CHEESE!

The Noodles and Assembly

Well butter my noodle and call me a casserole.

The fully assembled dish ready to go in the oven.

Soon.  Soon my plan will be complete.  Muhahahahaha!

 I'm not going to lie.  I normally just eyeball the amount of noodle to use.  In this case, however, I stuck to the amount for a double batch of this recipe: 2 cups.

Actually preparing the noodle is no big issue.  Just follow the directions on the box.  The important details here are in the assembly.  When you add the noodles into the pan you use (I used a bread pan) you need to be careful to layer your shredded cheese in evenly.  I had some difficulties doing this as the cheese I use tends to like to stick to itself.

Once you've gotten all your macaroni into the pan with the cheese layers, pour your sauce in over it.  Try to be as even as possible here.  Once that's done, cover the top in your extra cheddar and top it with something crumbly.  The recipe calls for Au Gratin which is a dry bread crumb mix that can include cheese.  Instead of making this, I opted to just shake out some Parmesan cheese.

The Results

IT LIVES!

Om nom nom!

*CHOMP*

Either because of a natural flaw in the recipe or because of a failure to adequately distribute the cheese I was able to taste distinct zones of 'cheesiness' and 'egg-i-ness.'  I'm definitely making this with a straight up cheese sauce next time.

Another issue I had was that the parsley tended to cluster up together, so parts of the dish had none and in other parts it was overwhelming.  In future iterations of the dish I might leave it out altogether, opting for red pepper or some sort of meat instead.

The shredded onion was unobtrusive, so if oniony taste and texture isn't your thing, don't be afraid.

Altogether the dish was tasty, despite its flaws and my thoughts on improvements.  I finished off the leftovers in about two days.