Baked Eggs with Garlic Mushrooms

November 17, 2016 at 10:23 AM

What do you folks do for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning? I’ve been thinking about this one for quite some time. Breakfast is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the focus of a Thanksgiving day menu–I think we can all agree on that. However, it’s essential for proper stomach expansion and intake later in the day, to eat breakfast. That, by the way, is not a scientifically based fact but simply a fact-sounding statement inspired by my stomach and its vast experience.

For me, the strategy of “saving room up for later” always backfires and you’re simply too starving to eat a lot by the time the turkey and bevy of sides are out of the oven and on the table. There is also the reality and challenge that from sunrise on Thanksgiving Day, most every orifice in the kitchen is occupied with a dish in progress. 

This simple version of baked eggs (ouefs en cocotte in French, if you’re feeling fancy, which I’m not) takes less than 20 minutes of oven time and makes perfectly cooked eggs for everyone, all at the same time. If you’ve read my blog before, you know that my biggest abhorrence about eggs for guests is a recipe that causes you to basically be the omelet chef at the all-you-can-eat resort buffet with that enormous paper chef’s hat–cooking each egg pile to order, one at a time, for guests as they wait. Oh, and by the time each guest sits down, the person who just received their eggs previously is just about done eating–like playing a game of falling, eggy dominos.

This single-serve beauteous cast iron square pan was a gift but I highly recommend investing in a few for this dish and many other individual serving applications (*mind flashes with lasagna imagery*) This little guy is very similar to the one I used for this recipe.

Alternatively, in the notes of the recipe card, I have written an adjustment for folks who would rather use a large muffin tin that they have on hand or want to buy. It is a great alternative cooking vessel for baked eggs at a fraction of the cost of the cast iron pans.

This recipe is written for an individual portion and I find this to be the easiest way for you to make as many as you want for your guest pack, rather than trying to divide and multiply an arbitrary yield that I have decided on.

Baked Eggs with Garlic Mushrooms
Serves 1
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Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
20 min
Cook Time
12 min
Total Time
20 min
For the eggs
  1. 3 pasture-raised eggs
  2. 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  3. 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  4. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  5. 1 teaspoon italian parsley, chopped, for garnish
  6. Kosher salt and ground black pepper, for finishing, to taste
  7. Single-serve cast iron pan, approximately 7" x 4"
For the mushrooms
  1. 3 white button mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp towel and sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
  2. 1 clove fresh garlic, crushed or very finely minced
  3. 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
  4. 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
  5. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the eggs
  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. While the oven is pre-heating, place cast iron pan so that it heats up simultaneously.
  3. Once oven and pan are pre-heated (This should take approximately 5-8 minutes, depending on your oven), leaving the pan in the oven and pulling the oven rack out, put cream, butter, and kosher salt into the pan. Allow cream and butter to heat for 1-2 minutes or until melted.
  4. Use a fork to quickly combine hot cream and melted butter in pan before pouring three cracked eggs into the pan. I recommend cracking the three eggs into a cup and then pouring the eggs into the pan from your cup or glass.
  5. Bake for 10 minutes or until eggs are just set.
For the garlic mushrooms
  1. While the eggs are cooking, heat olive oil and butter in a non-stick skillet for 1 minute over medium heat.
  2. Add the sliced mushrooms to the skillet and sauté for 5 minutes, on both sides, until golden brown.
  3. Adjust the heat to low and add the kosher salt and the crushed/finely minced garlic to the mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes, letting the garlic soften and absorb into the mushrooms, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
To finish dish
  1. Top baked eggs with garlicky mushrooms and chopped, fresh parsley.
  2. Sprinkle, to taste, with kosher salt and black pepper
Notes
  1. In order to make this recipe using a large muffin tin, simply adjust recipe to even distribute cream, butter, and kosher salt into three different wells. Then, place only one egg per muffin tin well. Adjust cooking time up to 5 minutes more, checking doneness every minute, since eggs will be in a smaller, higher space.
One Happy Place https://www.onehappyplace.com/
Feel free, also, to eat these eggs with copious amounts of toasted baguette. However, it would not be wise to get TOO full on Thanksgiving morning, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Eggs, Gathering, Recipes

Homemade Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches

September 3, 2016 at 2:05 PM

Sausage, egg, and cheese on an english muffin has been done. Isn’t that what most of the world pictures in their mind when someone says “breakfast sandwich”? Thanks, McDonalds. Well, the version I am showing you guys today isn’t a far stretch from the original concept but it sure improves it.

The sausage is homemade with spices you likely have on hand (anyone have 6 canisters of poultry seasoning from Thanksgivings past? and uses from ground chicken that is of course, much leaner than using pork. Instead of a simple slice of melted cheese, this sandwich arms itself with a cheddar cheese crisp. It adds a really great texture to what otherwise would be a whole bunch of soft sandwich. Feel free to switch up the egg cooking style on this one–it’s totally up to you. I personally was in the mood for a sunny-side up egg but go scrambled if you want–less messy and just as amazing.

Little changes and small improvements to the original really make all the difference in the kitchen. Speaking of which, my fridge has been broken for the last couple of weeks and has been freezing everything in it. I got an almost new hand-me-down today and I can’t tell you how happy I am. Imagine that–a fridge that doesn’t freeze. The little things, I’m telling you!

INGREDIENTS (makes 2 sandwiches)

For the chicken sausage:
8 ounces ground chicken (mixture of white and dark meat, if possible!)
1 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the cheese crisps:
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

Remaining sandwich ingredients:
2 eggs, cooked to your preference (shown sunny-side up but scrambled also works well!)
2 english muffins, toasted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a mixing bowl, combine ground chicken and sausage spices. Be very gentle and do not over-mix. I suggest using your hands for this task.
2. Divide the sausage mixture into two thin, rounded patties. In a non-stick skillet (if needed, you can use a touch of olive oil), cook the sausage patties until cooked through over medium heat. Set cooked patties on a paper towel and set aside.
3. Wipe out the non-stick skillet with a paper towel. Over low heat, take half the grated cheese and place into the skillet in a round shape. Cook until crispy and easily removed from skillet onto a paper towel to drain. Repeat for second crisp. [Side note, I make the cheese crisps one at a time because I use my favorite tiny skillet (here!) to make all the components of the sandwich. This is by no means necessary but I love how perfect round everything comes out.]

4. Cook eggs to liking.
5. Toast english muffins.
6. Assemble sandwiches with sausage patties, eggs, and cheese crisps onto toasted english muffins.

The printable recipe is below! Enjoy this one guys.

Homemade Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sandwiches
Serves 2
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
30 min
For the chicken sausage
  1. 8 ounces ground chicken (mixture of white and dark meat, if possible!)
  2. 1 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
  3. 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  4. 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  5. 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  6. 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  7. 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  8. 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the cheese crisps
  1. 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
Remaining sandwich ingredients
  1. 2 eggs, cooked to your preference (shown sunny-side up but scrambled also works well!)
  2. 2 english muffins, toasted
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl, combine ground chicken and sausage spices. Be very gentle and do not over-mix. I suggest using your hands for this task.
  2. Divide the sausage mixture into two thin, rounded patties. In a non-stick skillet (if needed, you can use a touch of olive oil), cook the sausage patties until cooked through over medium heat. Set cooked patties on a paper towel and set aside.
  3. Wipe out the non-stick skillet with a paper towel. Over low heat, take half the grated cheese and place into the skillet in a round shape. Cook until crispy and easily removed from skillet onto a paper towel to drain. Repeat for second crisp.
  4. Cook eggs to liking.
  5. Toast english muffins.
  6. Assemble sandwiches with sausage patties, eggs, and cheese crisps onto toasted english muffins.
One Happy Place https://www.onehappyplace.com/
Filed Under: Breakfast, Eggs, Recipes

Eggs in Cheesy Clouds

July 1, 2016 at 8:17 PM

For all of you that follow me on instagram, you probably get the distinct impression that eggs are my favorite food. Truth is, they really aren’t. I simply quite enjoy eggs for breakfast. Since I am inflicted with that wonderful responsibility of (kind of, completely, and desperately) needing my day job, an early morning breakfast is really my time to cook, photograph in non-crappy light, and share my creations.

Therefore, you’re going to see a whole lot of eggs and a whole lot of breakfast in general. Hey, I’m a believer in embracing what we are capable of and trying to be the best at it–so, I am a self-proclaimed egg expert. One of these days when I figure out how to have copious amounts of money drop into my bank account magically and consistently–I’ll post every freaking meal of the day.

I am a huge fan of breakfast/brunch egg dishes that you can easily cook for multiple people at the same time. Sometimes I feel like the only way to make a fresh egg breakfast for more than one other person is to put one of those super tall paper chef hats on and do the hotel make-your-own-omelette thing.

These eggs in cheesy clouds all cook at once and are all effortlessly and perfectly cooked at once. It’s a fancy looking dish accompanied by a truly not difficult recipe. I feel the need to point out that there are only two ingredients–four if you include the chives and black pepper for garnish. You whip the dickens out of the egg whites, fold them with nutty gruyere cheese, drop the yolks in, bake them for a bit, and finish them with showers of black pepper and fresh chives. They are like a cheesy, puffy miracle–whatever that is. Also, side note, they look absolutely magical. 

Ingredients
6 whole eggs, separated (the fresher the eggs, the better!)
1 cup grated gruyere cheese
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper and spraying with non-stick spray (I used coconut oil spray but please use whatever you have on hand!)
3. While oven pre-heats, set out one small prep bowl and one medium mixing bowl. Separate each egg and place the yolks in the small prep bowl and the whites in the medium mixing bowl. (I know this picture shows 7 yolks when the recipe calls for 6–I was afraid I would later pop one because I’m klutzy–so I separated an extra one. Don’t judge me)

4. Using a hand mixer, starting on low speed, whisk the egg whites while moving in a circular and even motion. Slowly increase speed to high over the next two minutes. We are looking for soft peaks–there is truly no set time on how long this whole process takes–it took me 4 minutes of mixing after reaching my high speed to get these soft peaks. Let these photos guide you on what you’re looking for. Soft peaks means that when you make a little dollop shape in the whites with a spoon and move away, it stays for a few seconds before slowly falling.

5. To bowl of whipped egg whites, using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the grated cheese.

6. Using a large metal spoon, divide the cheesy egg white mixture into 8 large dollops onto your lined, greased baking sheet. Using the spoon, create a deep well in each dollop.

7. Using your fingers, ever so gently, take the egg yolks that you’ve set aside, one at a time, and set it into each well.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until egg yolks have just set. This timing, for me in my climate and with my oven, resulted in a medium-done egg yolk. Trust your eyes and gut on this one! When the clouds are done, they will be golden brown and the egg yolks will me lightly cooked and still runny.

9. Generously sprinkle the finished clouds with the fresh chives and black pepper before serving.

I hope you all love this one as much as I do!

Filed Under: Breakfast, Eggs, Recipes