I first discovered Elote when I was living in Chicago. There were all these Mexican street vendors in my neighborhood pushing carts and selling, what I discovered, was corn on the cob. But this wasn’t ordinary corn on the cob has I had known it. Instead of slathering it with butter, salt and pepper they slathered it in mayonnaise, dipped it in grated cheese and sprinkled it with ground chile and a squeeze of fresh lime. I have to admit, at first I was kind of disgusted. Mayo on corn on the cob?! But being a chef and a rather adventurous sort I had to give it a try. Besides how bad could it be? Ultimately it was just corn on the cob. Well, I tried it and fell in love. And let’s face it, what’s not to love; creamy, rich mayo, salty, nutty cheese, a bit of spicy heat, and the freshing tang of lime juice, all backing up that wonderful sweetness of fresh corn.

This week, our CSA share contained 5 ears of freshly picked corn on the cob. I racked my brain, coming up with all sorts of wild and crazy things to do with this corn (and hopefully I’ll get to do one or 2 of those things in the near future) but ultimately decided the best way to showcase such wonderfully sweet, freshly picked corn was to serve up in the ultimate summertime fashion; on the cob. But that wouldn’t be much of a post, which got me to thinking and wondering how many other people had never had corn on the cob done the Mexican way. See how I selflessly put my readers first. Trust me it has nothing to do with the fact that I’ll use any excuse to add as much fat and dairy as I can to just about any recipe…really.

Just a few notes before I get to the recipe. First off, I often talk about how produce is so much better the fresher it is. While this is true of most all produce, it is especially true of corn. Corn is the sweetest the moment it is pulled off of the stalk. Once picked those sugars begin to get converted into starch, losing much of its sweetness at an alarming rate. While supermarket corn, in the middle of summer, may taste pretty darn good, I challenge you to stop by your local farmer’s market, pick up a couple of ears of corn that were picked early that morning and have them cooked off by noon. If you have never indulged in this summertime luxury you’ll be amazed at the sweetness and depth of flavor that you never knew you were missing.

Traditionally, the cheese used in making elotes is Cotija Anejo (Queso Anejo). Outside of cities or in area without larger hispanic populations, this cheese may be difficult to find. Not a problem. Just use parmesan cheese instead. As always I will state that doesn’t mean that nasty stuff that comes in a green container and has a shelf life of a million years. Use the real stuff!! Cotija Anejo is not exactly like Parmesan, but close enough that the vast majority of people couldn’t tell the difference.

Finally, when I make elotes, I use ground cayenne pepper as my choice of chile. You could use ground ancho, chile de arbol or even ground chipotle if you want a bit of that smokiness that comes from chipotle, but please stay away from “chili powder.” While chili powder has its uses for this dish it doesn’t work so well, in my opinion. Of course there are plenty of recipes, gracing the web, for elotes that use chili powder, but I disagree with its use here. Chili powder is a spice mix containing, not only, ground chile, but usually ground cumin, ground oregano, and other various herbs and spices. To me this muddles up the flavor a little too much, taking away from the bright freshness of the food.

Elotes

fresh corn on the cob, still in the husks
mayonnaise
finely grated Parmesan cheese (see my rant above about the stuff in the green container)
ground cayenne pepper (or your choice of chile, not chili, powder)
lime wedge (cut limes into 1/6ths)

One and half hours before you are ready to eat prepare the corn. Rip off the exposed part of the corn silks but leave the husks intact. No need to remove them completely as they are easy to remove after being cooked. Submerge the corn in cold water. After the corn has been soaking for 45 minutes to 1 hour, fire up your grill and set it up for direct grilling over medium high heat. Place the corn on the grill and cover, checking every few minutes and turning every 4-5 minutes. Don’t worry, you will have the occasional flame as loose bits of husk or stray bits of corn silk catch fire. Unless your fire is too hot that initial soaking should prevent the entire ear from catching fire. If this is your first time cooking corn on the grill you might want to keep a spray bottle with water, just in case. The corn will take approximately 20 minutes, depending on the size of the corn, how hot your grill is, how often you remove the lid, yada, yada, yada. You can tell the corn is done by gently peeling a bit of the husk back to expose the kernals. Raw corn will have a dullish look to it. Cooked corn will have a slight sheen to it and the colors will be a bit more vibrant.

Once done, remove from the grill and serve. I usually make this a serve yourself affair. Everyone grabs an ear of corn. I peel the husk down to the stem, which I have left on to serve as handle for eating the corn. Most of the corn silk should come with the husks, but it is easy to remove any strays that still cling to the corn. I then liberally slather the entire ear with mayo, just like you would with butter. I probably use between 1 and 2 tablespoons per ear. Next sprinkle with the grated cheese. Don’t be shy…load it on. Next sprinkle with the chile powder. This is a personal preference on how hot you like it. I like medium hot. Just enough to get a bit of burn but not enough to interfer with the taste of the corn. Finally grab a lime wedge and squeeze the juice all over the ear and enjoy. Since the cheese is usually pretty salty no need for any added salt unless you are a complete addict!

It’s that time of year, and the tomatoes have started popping up in our CSA share. I always look forward to these additions to our weekly boxes. For most of the year I’m not much of a tomato fan, mainly due to the fact that most supermarket tomatoes (those wrongly named vine-ripened included) are tasteless and have the texture of cardboard and water. But come the end of July and the beginning of August that all changes as local, truly vine ripened tomatoes start showing up at the farmer’s markets, roadside stands, and, especially in our CSA boxes.

The Caprese salad, that mixture of fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil, has become a cliche in recent years, but it comes by that title honestly. Sure the combination seems rather tired nowadays, but let’s face it, it’s popular because it works. Those items seem made for each other. Now slap those ingredients between 2 slices of bread, grill it off, and you have the ultimate in summertime grilled cheeses.

I’m usually happy with that, but today I was in the mood to add another dimension. I often like to drizzle my Caprese salads with balsamic syrup, a mixture of balsamic vinegar and sugar reduced to a syrup consistency, but that wasn’t taking it far enough for me today. So I starting thinking what else works with those components and I came up with strawberries. Now, at first this might sound rather odd, but think about it a bit. Strawberries drizzled with balsamic has become a classic light dessert, and basil and strawberries go together well, so now it was just a matter of how to add them to the mix. Slicing and placing them on the sandwich just didn’t seem right so I decided to make a quick balsamic strawberry jelly. This worked perfectly, adding a bit of sweetness and a hint of acidity to the sandwich and perfuming it with the most subtle of strawberry aromas. It also left me with a good bit of leftover jelly to experiment with further.

Quick Balsamic Strawberry Jelly
makes 3/4 cup

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup stawberry jelly, preferably homemade (I used the freezer jam my wife made earlier this summer)

Combine both ingredients in a nonreactive sauce pan and cook until reduced by 1/2. Stir on a regular basis as this mixture has a tendency to stick and burn. Once reduced remove from heat and chill until it sets up. Will keep for 2-3 months in the fridge.

Caprese Panini
makes 1 sandwich

1 small tomato, as fresh and as ripe as possible
fresh basil leaves
fresh mozzarella, sliced 1/4″ thick
ciabatta bread or any crusty rustic white loaf, cut to this size you want
about 1 tablespoon of the Balsamic Strawberry Jelly

Pre heat a panini press. If you don’t have a panini press heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Core and slice the tomato in 1/4″ slices. Slice open the ciabatta and spread both cut sides with the jelly. On the bottom half layer the tomato, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves. Cover with the top slice of ciabatta and grill on the panini press until heated through and the cheese is just starting to melt. This sandwich is best if the cheese and tomato are not overly heated. You just want them heated through with the cheese just on the verge of melting into a stringy mess. If using a skillet press the sandwich, with a spatula, while the sandwich is cooking, flipping it halfway through the cooking process (after approximately 4-5 minutes).

Unfortunately, this will probably be my last post on ramps for the year. Work is going to be very busy as I have to cover some of my staff’s vacation. That means no weekends off for the next few weeks. In fact, I’ll be lucky to get a day or 2 off in the upcoming 2-3 weeks, which means that all of my free time will be devoted to chores around the house. No time to go wandering through the woods, looking for ramps. By the time I surface again, most of the other plants will have overtaken the ramps, making them much more difficult to find. And while you can gather ramps well into the summer, I prefer the more tender, more subtle flavor of early season ramps. If you can’t get enough, then I suggest you check out the article I wrote, for Chef Talk. It contains a wonderful recipe for a Grilled Ramp Salad that is a must try for anyone who loves ramps like I do. You can find the article here.

Last weekend my parents came up from Indiana to celebrate my Mom’s 70th birthday. Neither of them were very familiar with ramps so I figured I could make a few things that showcased them. On the night of my Mom’s birthday I created the Grilled Ramp Salad that I wrote about for the Chef Talk article, while the following morning, Sunday, I baked off this wonderful Strata, aka, Egg Casserole. My Dad also expressed some interest in how to hunt for ramps so I took him to my favorite foraging spot and gave him a quick lesson in ramp gathering. It was nice as we also got to spend a little father-son time, something that doesn’t happen often as they live 5+ hours away and when they come up, love to spend time with their granddaughter. And who can blame them. She’s awfully cute!

Egg Casseroles, Stratas, do require a little preplanning as they do best when they are made the night before and allowed to soak overnight. The nice thing about that is then that morning there is very little that needs to be done and you can relax with a cup of coffee. They can also be assembled early in the morning, if you are planning on doing a late brunch as you can get away with a 4 hour soak, but I wouldn’t allow for any less time.

Spinach and Ramp Strata
serves 8-10

10 eggs
2 3/4 cups milk
2 cups ramps, chopped (use the everything but the roots)
2 Tbs. butter, plus more for greasing the pan
12 oz. frozen spinach, thawed
2 cups swiss cheese, shredded
1 pound loaf french bread, sliced 1/2-3/4″ thick
salt
pepper
freshly ground nutmeg

Heat a large saute pan over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the ramps and saute until tender but not colored. Add the spinach, salt and pepper and continue to cook until most of the water has evaporated.

Cool the spinach mixture. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat thoroughly. Add the milk and season with salt, pepper and a few gratings of fresh nutmeg. Butter a 9×13 baking pan. Place half of the bread slices in the bottom of the baking dish. Layer with the spinach mixture and top with 1 cup of the swiss cheese.

Top with the remaining bread.

Then pour the egg mixture of the everything, making sure to soak each piece of bread. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate, at least, 4 hours or preferably, overnight.

The next morning preheat the oven to 350°F. While the oven is heating uncover the strata and top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the strata no longer jiggles, in the center, when gently shaken. If it starts to get too brown cover with some aluminum foil. When done remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

It’s time to dirty a few dishes. Okay, more than a few, but making pastitsio is worth the pile of pots and pans it requires to make it. If you are not familiar with pastitsio, it is a layered pasta dish, kind of similar to Italian Lasagna, most often associated with Greek cuisine although a similar dish can be found thoughout the Mediterrian and Middle East. Often made with lamb, although beef is common also, the dish starts with a layer of pasta, then a layer of meat sauce, followed by another layer of pasta, and finally topped with with a rich bechemel, often enriched with egg and cheese. While the dish, and all of its components, seem quite familiar, there is just enough nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice to lend an exotic flair to it, which makes it a great starting point from which a novice can start to explore the world of Greek cuisine.

One of the great things about making pastitsio is that it doesn’t require a whole lot of special ingredients. In fact you will probably have almost all of the ingredients in your house already. Of course if you want to get really “authentic” about it, there are few ingredients you need. First is a special, hollow pasta noodle that is used to make pastitsio, but any hollow pasta, such as penne, ziti, or macaroni will do. In fact, we had cavatappi around so that is what we used. Secondly you will need Kefalotiri cheese. This Greek hard cheese is made from sheep’s and goat’s milk. It can be difficult to find, but Pecorino Romano makes a great substitute. Failing that, a good parmesan works well. Just stay away from the stuff in the green can. You know the stuff that I mean.

Lastly, the only other decision to be made is whether to use lamb or beef. Some people will say that lamb is more traditional, but many “authentic” recipes I’ve seen say you can use either. My wife is not a big fan of lamb so we usually go with beef. So, now, let’s dirty some pots and pans!!

Pastitsio
serves 8-10

The Filling
1 Tbs. butter
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
2 Tbs. parsley, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (or 1 15oz can diced tomato)
1 each egg white

Melt butter in a large saute pan, over high heat and add the ground beef, onion and garlic. Cook until brown then add all the remaining ingredients except the egg white. Cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature and then stir in the egg white. Set aside.

The Cream Sauce
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
4 cups milk
Salt
Pepper
Ground nutmeg
1 cup Kefalotiri cheese or substitute (see above)
2 eggs

Melt butter in a sauce pot and add the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute then add the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring to ensure that sauce is smooth. Once the sauce thickens add the seasonings, to taste and remove from heat. Meanwhile beat eggs and stir in the cheese. To this mixture add about 1 cup of hot sauce and mix to temper so that the eggs won’t curdle. Pour egg mixture back into the sauce,stirring to combine, then set aside.

The Pasta and Assembly
1 pound of hollow pasta (see above for details)
1 cup Kefalotiri cheese, grated (or substitute)

While making the sauce, bring to a boil, in a large pot, 1 gallon of salted water. Cook pasta per directions on the package. Drain and rinse. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish. Place half the pasta in the bottom of the dish, topped with 1/3 of the grated cheese.

Over this layer spread the meat filling.

Then the other half of the pasta, followed by another 1/3 of the grated cheese.

Finally, pour on the cream sauce and top with the remaining 1/3 of grated cheese.

Bake in a 350°F oven for about 45 minutes or until bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

For the last couple of weeks I’ve had a craving for Indian food. Unfortunately for me, the closest Indian restaurant is about 45-60 minutes away. Luckily, during my last trip to Penzey’s Spices, I stocked up on a lot of Indian spices so I was ready to do what was necessary to saitate that craving. The first dish I made was Saag Paneer, a wonderfully spicy, yet subtle dish of cooked spinach with chunks of fresh, homemade cheese. This is a great dish that is perfect for introducing people to the joys of Indian cuisine. I find the end product to be very similar to that standard steakhouse favorite, Creamed Spinach, but its seasoning is a bit more exotic. Nor does it have the fiery heat that many people associate with Indian foods.

The first, and most difficult step in learning to prepare Indian foods is gathering up all the spices needed. You’ll be surprised you probably already have many of the spices you will need, such as cinnamon, clove, cumin, peppercorn, coriander and fennel, though it is best to have these as whole, instead of the ground that Americans most often buy. Add to that list mustard seed, whole green cardamon, turmeric and possibly Ajwain seed or fennugreek and you will have most bases covered. Of course, there are many more spices that you could go out and purchase if you really want to get deep into the cuisines of India, but the ones I have listed will cover most dishes.

The next thing you need to do is make up a batch of garam masala. Garam masala is a spice blend that is the workhorse of many Indian cuisines. Like BBQ rubs here in the US, there is no one single recipe for garam masala and each region and each household has it’s own variations. What I would suggest is finding a couple of recipes for garam masala and trying each of them. Not only will this allow you to discover the blend that you enjoy the most, but you’ll get a chance to see how different blends work better with different dishes. The one thing that garam masala is not is curry powder. That particular spice blend was a creation of the British meant to imitate the garam masalas of India. Curry powder always contains a large portion of turmeric (its what makes curry powder yellow) while no garam masala recipes I have ever come across contains that spice. The recipe I offer here is heavy on the spices that most Americans are familiar with so it is a great starting point for exploring the world of Indian spices, but again I suggest you do a little research and come up with your own blend that suits your tastes.

Garam Masala

2 Tbsp. coriander seeds
2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
1 Tbsp. whole clove
2 Tbsp. black peppercorns
1/4 cup green cardamon, in the pod
1 1/2 sticks cinnamon

Place all the spices in a saute pan and set over medium high heat. Heat the spices, stirring and tossing often until the spices release their aromas and start to brown.

Immediately remove from the pan (so it doesn’t burn) and allow to cool completely. Grind the spices in either a mortar and pestle or in an electric coffee grinder that is used exclusively for grinding spices and not coffee. Sift through a fine mesh strainer, grind again and sift again. Placed in an airtight jar this spice mixture will stay good for 2-3 months, although I like to make sure I use it up within a month or so.

Now that the garam masala is made it’s time to make the cheese (paneer). Don’t worry. It’s not difficult. In fact making a fresh cheese like this can’t get much more simple. Basically all we have to do is boil some milk, add an acid and then collect and drain the curds that form. Sure it won’t be a beautiful aged cheddar or blue cheese, but its cheese none the less and tasty, if not a bit bland, in its own right.

Paneer
will yield between 6-9oz. depending on your milk

1/2 gallon whole milk (do not use anything other than whole milk-no 2%, 1% or skim)
3-4 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice (or you can even use white vinegar)

In a large pot bring the milk to a boil. Add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes, gently stirring every minute or so. The curds should separate, leaving behind a clearish, greenish liquid (the whey). Strain the curds through a triple layer of cheese cloth and allow to drain for about 5 minutes. Gently squeeze out more of the whey then wrap the cheese in the cheesecloth, place in a pie pan and press it with a plate on top weighed down about 1 or 2 cans of canned vegetables. The cheese will be ready to use in about 1 hour although I like to make it the day before and chill it overnight to firm it up before cutting it.

The final thing that you will want to have on hand is ghee. Ghee is nothing more than clarified butter. To make ghee, gently melt a pound of butter in a sauce pan. Leave the butter over medium low heat and slowly the the fat will clarify and rise to the surface, leaaving the milk solids behind. Be careful not to let the milk solids burn as they have a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove any foam from the surface and carefully pour off the butterfat, leaving the solids and any milky whey behind.

Now we are finally ready to make the Saag Paneer. It seems like its taken a lot of work to get to this point but the garam masala and the ghee you can use for many other dishes. So really the only thing we’ve had to do so far, for this dish alone, is make the paneer, which was pretty simple.

Doing research for this recipe, I had always expected that yogurt was used to give this dish its creamy texture, and while I found many recipes that used yogurt, I was surprised by the number of recipes I found that used 1/2 and 1/2 so that is what I have used here.

Saag Paneer
serves 4-6 as a side dish or 2 as a vegetarian main course

8oz. paneer, diced
2 packs (10oz each) frozen spinach,thawed
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced
2 Tbsp. ghee, or butter
1 Tbsp. garam masala
1/4 cup 1/2 and 1/2
Salt

Place the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor and process to a fine paste. You don’t have to puree it but it should be a very fine paste. Meanwhile melt the butter or ghee, in a large saute pan, over high heat. Add the onion mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes.

While that is cooking put the spinach in the processor and process until the spinach is finely chopped. Add the garam masala to the onion mixture and cook for 3 minutes longer. Add the spinach, lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the 1/2 and 1/2, allow to heat through and finally fold in the diced paneer. Heat 3-5 minutes longer to heat the paneer then serve. While this can be a main course, I like to serve it as side dish to accompany a spicy lamb dish such as Vindaloo.

Okay, it’s a little late in the season, but I just recently discovered the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market and I wish I had learned about it earlier! I came across it quite by accident as I was searching to see if there were any producers of hard cider here, in Wisconsin. I found one producer, Aeppel Treow Winery, which produces bothapple wine and hard cider. In their information I also discovered that they were at the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market on the first Saturday of every month. Bonus, not only had I come across a producer of hard cider, but I also “discovered” a new, off season farmers’ market.

The market is held every Saturday, through April 24th, at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park. You can access it through Gate 5, on 84th St. While not large, I was impressed by the variety of Wisconsin grown and raised products. Besides, the hard cider and apple wine, there was an apple orchard that still had apples for sale. These over wintered apples were starting to just show their age and were a bit on the mealy side, but they were still sweet and quite flavorful. A little mealiness is small price to pay for their taste which beats any store bought apples hands down. Also included in the days list of producers were a couple of honey producers, a couple of bakeries, numerous farmer’s selling pasture fed beef, pork, poultry and elk, and a few stands selling processed foods made from local, Wisconsin produce, from salsas and jams to pasta and granola.

Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill is there selling their sorghum syrup and locally produced maple syrup. Of the few cheese producers there, we stopped at Saxon Homstead Creamery and picked up a wedge of their “Saxony” cheese, a washed rind cow’s milk cheese, which they describe as nutty and supple, a description that may be rather vague, but one I agree with. I will definitely be checking out some of their other cheeses. We also picked up some mushrooms from River Valley Ranch, Wisconsin’s oldest mushroom producer.

There wasn’t much in the way of produce, but I didn’t expect to find much at this time of year, in Wisconsin. But a few farmers were displaying some fresh spinach and radishes grown, I’m sure in hoop houses or hot houses.

While I didn’t purchase any, it did get me excited for spring to arrive and the farmer’s markets throughout Wisconsin to get started up again.

Probably, the biggest coup for the market though this the inclusion of Bolzano Artisan Meats.  Bolzano is Wiscosin’s first and only company dedicated to the art of dry curing meat.  While still relatively unknown in throughout the rest of the country, Bolzano has, in a very short time made quite a name for themselves among upper Midwest foodies.  They currently offer guanciale, dried and cured pork cheek and panchetta, an Italian slow cured “bacon” that remains unsmoked.  Both of their products are some of the best I have tasted and I expect it won’t be long before they gain a reputation from coast to coast.

With only 7 more weeks left before the market closes for the year, I doubt I will make it back,but not for a lack of wanting. Milwaukee is about a 45-60 minute drive and our weekends are pretty full for the next 2 months. So while I might not make it back this year, I will look forward to it’s opening next October, but just because I can’t make it back doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you are in the area. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

French Onion Soup is one of those dishes I have pretty much stopped ordering at restaurants unless I am familiar with the place and know they make it properly. It’s not that most places have bad French Onion Soup, it’s just not that good. That’s too bad because good French Onion Soup is not difficult to make, it just takes a little time and patience. French Onion soup gets its extraordinary depth of flavor in the long, slow cooking process of caramelizing the onions. Rush this step and that is the difference between a good onion soup and an okay one. Onion soup should also be made with homemade beef stock, but not many people keep beef stock around like they do chicken stock. If you don’t have beef broth around then at least buy canned beef broth. Whatever you do stay away from the bouillon cubes or packets as they tend to be overly salty and taste way too artificial.

The first recipe is a standard recipe for French Onion Soup. The second recipe is for a Creamy Onion Soup with Blue Cheese. It starts just like the French Onion Soup, but then thickened and finished with half and half and blue cheese. It is one of my favorite variations on Onion soup

French Onion Soup

2 Tbsp. Butter
4 pounds Yellow Onions
1 cup Red Wine**
2 1/2 qts. Beef Broth
1 each Bay Leaf
3 sprigs Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Gruyere or Swiss Cheese
1/2 thick croutons cut from a Baguette, toasted

Peel and julienne the onions. In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and slowly caramelize the onions. Over medium heat this should take about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir regularly to keep the onions from burning. This is important in the later stages as the onions start to caramelize It is this long, slow caramelization process that really builds the deep flavor of this soup so don’t rush it. When the onions are dark brown raise heat to medium high and deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the bay leaf and thyme. Reduce the wine until almost dry then add the beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. To serve ladle into soup crocks top with a crouton then the cheese. Place under a broiler until the cheese is bubbly and slightly browned in spots. (continue reading…)

I had forgotten how much I like properly shirred (baked) eggs, until this past Sunday, when I was searching for a simple, yet elegant dish for my wife and I to enjoy for Sunday brunch. I wasn’t in the mood for an omelet and we always tend to do a variation on Benedicts when looking for something a little special so I went digging around in my cookbooks and was reminded of shirred eggs. I hadn’t done something like that in years, so it would be a novel dish for my wife, and better yet, Shirred Eggs is one of those dishes that is just ripe for variations.

At it’s most simple, Shirred Eggs, are eggs that have been placed into a shallow custard cup, seasoned with salt and pepper, and topped with a little butter to help keep the top from drying out, then baked just until the whites are set, but the yolk is still runny. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Not really. Like a good poached egg, shirred eggs are fine on their own, if not a little bland, but it is when they are part of a dish that they rise above their humble stature and become something almost sublime.

Virtually anything can be used as a base on which to make Shirred Eggs. Some of the more common bases are creamed spinach, various types of hashes, seafood, cooked grains, ham, bacon, other cooked meats and various other vegetables. Just like with omelets, the choice is really limited only by your imagination. Because I was looking for simply elegant this time I reigned the imagination in and created the recipe below, which serves 2. I accompanied the Shirred Eggs with toast and Maple Glazed Bacon, the recipe for which is below also.

Shirred Eggs with Ham & Manchego Cheese
4 each Eggs
1 tsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Yellow onion, finely minced
1/2 cup Ham, finely diced
1/2 cup Tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 tsp. Fresh Tarragon, finely minced
4 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
1/3 cup Manchego cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.Heat the butter, in a small saute pan, over medium high heat. As the butter finishes melting add the onions and cook without browning. Add the ham and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and tarragon. Heat just to warm the tomatoes then remove from heat. Divide the tomato-ham mixture between 4 small creme brulee cups or ramekins and spread evenly. Crack an egg into each cup or ramekin and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle each egg with 1 Tbsp. of cream. Sprinkle the cheese over top, dividing the cheese evenly among the 4 cups. Bake for 12-14 minutes, checking them after 10. Eggs are done when the whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve immediately as the eggs will continue to cook a little longer.

Maple Glazed Bacon

Take 4 slices of thick cut, smoky bacon and cut them in half. Cook over medium high heat until 3/4 of the way done. Drain on paper towel. Meanwhile remove rendered fat from pan and wipe pan clean. Lower heat to medium low and add the bacon back to the pan. Brush with real maple syrup, flip over and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. After about 1 minute brush other side with maple syrup. Flip over, when time and cook another 2-3 minutes. Remove to a cooking rack, set over a sheet tray, to crisp up. Make sure that bacon is not touching each other as it cools as it has a tendency to want to stick until it cools slightly.