Former Chef » eggs

Salad Lyonnaise with Crispy Poached Egg

formerchef — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:00:54 +0000

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 9th this year. If my own mother were not off on her fantastic Italian journey, I would be making her this salad, served on a warm patio with a chilled rose and a freshly baked crusty baguette. Paints a pretty picture, doesn’t it?

A traditional Salad Lyonnaise is a poached egg served atop frissee with bacon lardons, croutons, and a Dijon vinaigrette. I’ve taken some liberties here and adapted it to my preferences; don’t be afraid to do the same. For example, I like baby lettuces with a small amount of frisee in it because I don’t care for that much frisee by itself. I baked some fresh bread and served it on the side instead of putting croutons in the salad. And finally, I fried the poached egg.

Yes, you read that right; a crispy fried poached egg. The egg here is breaded and …

Beet, Leek and Goat Cheese Tart

formerchef — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:28:58 +0000

I was talking to a friend the other day and she was relating to me her single girl dating angst; she’s seeing two different guys. One was “hot, but a project”, and the other was “cute, but not self assured enough.” In other words, he was the dreaded “too nice” guy.
Considering she had just broken up with a long term project, I told her she should listen to her instincts and run as fast as possible in the other direction from Mr. Project. After all, how well had the last one worked out? As for “Mr. Too Nice Guy” she needs to listen to her instincts there as well; if she likes him, great, but if there’s no chemistry, you can’t force it.

Sometimes cooking is like that for me. I know better, but I’m doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. I need to learn to listen …

Frittata with Prosciutto, Potatoes & Thyme

formerchef — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:18:41 +0000

I’ve been following the beautiful food and photography blog, Lucillian Delights, for a couple of years now. Ilva’s photos are stunning and I’ve made a couple of her lovely recipes as well. A while back I noticed that she also runs a blog called Paper Chef. What is “Paper Chef” you ask? It’s an “online creativity challenge” where every month the winner from the previous month picks 4 ingredients at random and then people make a dish or a meal out of those ingredients (and others). I’d wanted to participate in the past, but I didn’t have a blog then (not that you need one to participate, but I didn’t realize that at the time).

This month’s random ingredients were “floury potatoes” (aka baking potatoes like russets), “prosciutto” and “thyme”. The fourth ingredient was the theme of “Mother’s Day”, instead of a food item. Last month’s ingredients were artichokes, salmon, blackberries …