Kim is actually someone I credit with helping me learn to cook. Five years ago when I moved to New York I was sad to leave my friends, but one of the ways we kept in touch was through a food blog that Kim ran. You can check it out here. Five of us were contributors and in the about section it says “we can’t cook, but we are gonna damn well try.” All of us had talked about wanting to cook and learn more, and the blog was a way for us to do it together. Kim would choose a theme and we’d all cook to the theme, share some stories, the recipe, and photos. It pushed us to try new things in the kitchen, help each other learn, and for me stay involved with them even though I was states away. When that blog stopped, it pushed me to start Cooking is Messy. 

I like that good food can be a way to connect with people. This recipe in particular is really nice, but the first time I made it Ryan said, “smells good, tastes good, doesn’t look good.” I asked him why and it was because I made it with white rice. It was white chicken, on white rice, on a white place. He was right, it looked bland and not very inviting. Which brings me to something I’ve thought about a lot – what’s more important taste or appearance? I always want to say taste because if food doesn’t taste good then what is the point? However, if it looks bad you won’t even want to eat it so you won’t want to taste it. For example, one of the best things I’ve ever tasted is Jacques Pepin’s French onion soup but the photos I took of it are hideous. How will people know it’s amazing if it looks bad? What do you think – taste or appearance? Feel free to weigh in in the comments.

So to improve, the next time I made this I used red camargue and wild rice, which I had never tried before. The rice is chewier and nuttier than regular white rice. It also of course adds nice color and helps the green basil pop.

Overall this recipe is pretty easy to make, which just a few elements that might be unfamiliar. First, it includes oyster and fish sauces, which are ingredients I’ve never used before. However, if you like cooking Asian dishes it’s probably a worthwhile investment and they aren’t so expensive to buy. Also I really liked the flavors. Something I did final unusual is that this recipe asks you to blitz the chicken in a food processor. This is nice because it decreases cooking time, but it’s just not something I thought about doing before. If you could find ground chicken then you could probably skip this step. What’s best about this recipe is that the final dish ends up with all the flavors – sweet, bitter, spicy, umami. It’s really lovely and complex. Basically, the flavors are doing a ton but it doesn’t require a lot of work from you to get all that deliciousness.

Messy level: So much of the prep is done in the food processor that this makes the cooking part really easy and mess free. However, I hate cleaning all the parts of the food processor and since you’re pulsing raw chicken, you really are going to have to do some serious scrubbing in the end.

Basil Thai Chicken

 

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Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice (whatever kind you prefer)
• 2-3 cups water
• 1 cup fresh basil, divided
• 2 green or red Thai chiles, or 2 serrano chiles, or 1 jalapeno; stemmed and seeds removed
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1½ teaspoon oyster sauce
• 1½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon white vinegar
• 8oz boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inches chunks
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Read package instructions for rice and follow those guidelines. White rice usually needs twice as much water as rice. Red rice needs about three times as much water as rice. So, in a medium saucepan add rice and water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover and let simmer for 30-40 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
2. In a food processor, pulse ½ cup basil with chiles and garlic. Pulse until finely chopped, about 10-12 pulses.
3. Transfer 1½ teaspoons of the basil mix into a small bowl. Scrape the rest of the basil into a large skillet. Set the skillet aside. (Don't put the food processor in the sink, you'll need it again!)
4. Return to the small bowl with the 1½ teaspoons of basil mixture. Add the fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and vinegar. Mix until well combined. Set the sauce aside.
5. Add the chicken pieces to the food processor. Pulse until meat is chopped into small pieces, about 6-10 pulses.
6. Take the food processor bowl with the chicken in it and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, add the shallot and oil to the skillet with the basil mixture. Stir until everything is well mixed. Turn the heat to medium and stir occasionally. You want the mixture to be sizzling. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until the shallots are browning and soft.
8. Add the chicken to the skillet. Increase the heat if needed. Stir and break up the chicken with a wooden spoon. After 4-6 minutes, when there are only traces of pink, add the basil-fish sauce mixture.
9. Stir until all the chicken is coated with the sauce. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink, about 2 more minutes
10. Turn off the heat, then add the last ½ cup of basil. Stir until the basil is wilted.
11. Serve chicken on top of the rice. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

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My childhood memories of Easter holidays include fancy flower dresses that I was so excited to wear even though it was always still a bit cold, baskets filled with chocolates hidden among green plastic grass, and brunch with my family. When I was a little kid my family and I used to go to a hotel in downtown Baltimore to eat. In my memory, the place was huge with people and buffet lines on multiple floors. I remember it feeling like such a party and it was so exciting that I could eat all kinds of different foods at the same time.

From one of those occasions there’s a picture of me and my brother Eric standing next to the Easter Bunny giving him the side eye. We’re looking at him with a mixture of fear (because he’s a stranger and a giant rabbit) and respect (because earlier he had brought us a basket of candy). It’s a hilarious picture and one day if I find it I’ll post it here to show you. Anyway, I liked going to brunch with my family. And I like that brunch is a part of my Easter celebration memories. Most holidays are all about big roasted dinners and I like that breakfast gets its chance to be fancy.

One of the brunch foods I love is Eggs Benedict. Well, not Eggs Benedict because I don’t eat ham, but Eggs Royale. Eggs Royale substitutes smoked salmon for the ham and it is delicious. But, regardless of the meat there is just something about the presentation of fluffy poached eggs smothered in hollandaise sauce that feels special. It’s one of those dishes that  gives me a thrill when I can see a server coming over with my order and it’s a dish that I can’t wait to eat.

My mind was set on making standard Eggs Royale for Easter brunch – that is, until inspiration struck. Last last week Ryan and I went to a new place in our neighborhood called the Barn and I had an awesome breakfast. I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with avocado and crushed red peppers. It was creamy with a little spice at the same time. It was an interesting combination of flavors, but using really familiar and easy to access ingredients. I decided I should turn this dish into our Easter Brunch. So here it is, a new twist on a recipe, Eggs Royale with avocado.

Part of what defines Eggs Royale (or Eggs Benedict) is the hollandaise sauce on top. Hollandaise is is an emulsion of butter and egg yolks. You can definitely buy hollandaise sauce from the super market, but it will be sweeter and tarter than if you make it on your own. Even so, I was feeling intimidated about making it by hand. And Julia Child even said I should learn to make it the traditional way. But, then I also found her recipe for making it quickly in a blender and I was less nervous. She literally says an 8 year-old could do it. Also, in a blind taste test Ryan preferred the homemade version over the store bought. So try making it for yourself because people will notice.

Messy level: This recipe is really all about the prep. There’s some amount of chopping, toasting, blending, and egg cracking – all of which leads to dishes or using some appliances. It’s not terrible and you shouldn’t have a horrible mess, but be warned you should be organized to keep your kitchen neat.

Inspiration from the Barn, hollandaise sauce recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1, and the poached egg method is from an earlier Cooking is Messy post.

Eggs Royale

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

A recipe for poached eggs, hollandaise, with avocado and an English muffin. This recipe is written to serve two people two eggs. However the recipe can easily be increased to serve more people. Additionally, the hollandaise recipewritten as is will serve more than two people.

Ingredients

Hollandaise Sauce

• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch of pepper
• 4 oz butter

Poached Eggs

• water
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon vinegar

Other Sandwich Materials

• 2 English Muffins
• 8 slices smoked salmon (or to taste)
• 16 slices of avocado (or to taste)
• red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Start with the hollandaise sauce. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, water, salt, and pepper into a blender.
2. Cut the butter into small pieces and place into a small saucepan. Heat on medium until the butter is hot and foaming. Remove from heat.
3. Turn the blender on high and blend for two seconds.
4. While the blender is still on, open the top (if you don't have a small opening on your blender, use a towel to cover the top a little bit) and pour the hot butter into the egg mixture drop by drop. [Note: I wasn't coordinated enough to pour drop by drop but I could pour a tiny stream at a time. This made the sauce a bit runnier, but it was still tasty.]
5. Taste the sauce and blend in more seasoning if needed. Set aside.
6. Put about 2 inches of water in a medium saucepan. Bring the water to a boil.
7. Add the salt and vinegar to the water, then lower the heat so the water is just simmering.
8. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl. Bring the edge of the bowl to the top of the water and gently slide the eggs in. Cook for 3-5 minutes. The longer you cook the more solid the yolk.
9. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon. Bring the water back to a low simmer then repeat the above step with the last two eggs.
10. While the eggs are cooking, cut the English muffins in half and toast them to your liking.
11. Take two plates and put both sides of one English muffin on each plate.
12. Put 2 slices of smoked salmon on top of each English muffin half.
13. Put 4 slices of avocado on top of the salmon.
14. Place one poached egg on top of the avocado.
15. Using a spoon, drizzle hollandaise sauce on top of the egg.
16. Sprinkle a generous pinch of red pepper flakes on top of the hollandaise.
17. Serve immediately so the eggs will still be warm.

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Something I really enjoy about cooking is that fact that it opens me up to all kinds of new things. Whether it’s trying a new ingredient or learning a new method of cooking, I find that there is always something new to discover. And something I continually learn is that some foods you can make at home and they don’t only come from the store.That might sound like an idiotic thing to say, but hear me out. There are some foods like Oreos, Twix, or Cheez-Its that only seem to exist in the grocery store and I never consider that I could actually make them at home until I go on Pinterest and see how awesome and creative some people can be.

And that’s what brings me to ranch dressing. Last week when I made the Siracha roasted cauliflower, I thought about ranch dressing because it’s my favorite dressing to have with wings and other hot foods. And then I thought, “could I make that?” Because in my mind ranch dressing only comes in a Hidden Valley bottle from the store. When I told my friend Abi that I was making ranch dressing she said, “what’s even in ranch dressing?” My thoughts exactly. As far as I knew, ranch dressing is a delicious mystery.

So, I hit the internet and there are tons of recipes out there! It’s not so hard to make, but there is a lot going on in such a simple dressing. There are so many herbs and spices! To be quite honest, making ranch dressing is really personal because there are so many ways you can fiddle with it to make it exactly to your taste. You can make it sweeter, tangier, and if you wanted even a little bit spicy.

As I was making it, I kept trying to make mine like the bottle. This was especially tricky given that I was working from memory and not comparing it to actual bottle dressing. I came to a point where I liked it well enough, but it didn’t seem perfectly like the bottle. I asked Ryan to taste it and he said:

“It tastes like it at the beginning in the end, but in the middle it has more… pop.”

Then I asked him to compare it to the bottle. And he said…better! Well, that was good enough for me. Job done! My version tastes like ranch dressing but is less sweet, has a bit more complexity, and suits the tastes of my household – but most importantly isn’t the point of home cooking to be better than mass market stuff? I think so. So impress your guests the next time you put out a vegetable spread and show them it is possible to make delicious – and better – ranch dressing.

Recipe adapted from Ree Drummond. I’ve adapted it from her, please adapt it from me. Serioiusly. Start with the basics of mayo and sour cream. If you don’t like garlic, use just one clove. If you love chives, add a bunch. Start with a little and then work your way up to reach your desired consistency. If you find you’ve made it too tangy (maybe too much butter milk or sour cream) then add more sweetness with the Worcestershire sauce. If you find you’ve made it too sweet, add more salt, or spice like the paprika or mustard. You can make your perfect ranch dressing. Just trust yourself and you can do it.

Messy level: One spoon. The method for this is mixing all the ingredients, tasting, then adjusting. The only dishes you’ll make will come from when you have to chop the herbs – and a knife and a cutting board are hardly messy burdens.

Ranch Dressing

 

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Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh chives
• 1½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon white vinegar
• pinch paprika
• ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
• ¼ - ⅓ cup buttermilk (add until desired consistency is reached)

Instructions

1. Either, mince the garlic very finely or use a grater to grate the garlic.
2. Put the garlic in a medium bowl and mix in the salt. Mix the garlic and salt together until you have a garlic paste.
3. Add the mayonnaise and sour cream to the garlic paste. Mix thoroughly so the garlic is spread throughout.
4. Now stir in the parsley, dill, chives, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, vinegar, paprika, and mustard.
5. Pour in a little bit of buttermilk. Keep adding until you have your desired consistency. I did just ¼ cup because I wanted it to be thick, and just barely pourable.
6. Taste! Adjust as you see fit. See my notes above about taste. For more info on that you can also go here
7. Now serve either with raw veggies, hot wings, or over your favorite salad.

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My lovely friend Charlotte, who is so supportive and helpful with my blog, suggested I post my first-ever salad recipe. When I read her email, I thought, “ugh, salad.” I seriously dislike making salads and I prefer what I can buy at a restaurant. I don’t have all the diverse and exotic ingredients they have. And I’m just incapable of coating my salads in dressing like restaurants do. I always have a dressing puddle at the bottom of my plate. But if the purpose of my blog is to push myself to expand my cooking horizons, then I should get over my aversion to salad-making and just make a darn salad!

Today’s recipe I call, “Lisa’s Mom’s Strawberry Salad.” Now Lisa, is one of my oldest and best friends, and I’ve known her for literally over twenty years. Her mom’s name is Ellen, and Ellen calls this recipe “Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad,” and we’ll go with that since it sounds more elegant. This recipe is one of the three or four staples (along with veggie pizza and 7-layer dip) that I associate with parties at Lisa’s house, and it’s become one of the dishes I look forward to. And I’ll admit it, I’m nostalgic. I like this recipe because it reminds me of my friends and all the great parties we went to at Lisa’s house when I was growing up.

But, the real reason this is special to me because it is the first recipe I ever asked someone for. Today I’m always asking people how they make something, what ingredients they used, and how they cooked it. But, I asked for this recipe when I was in high school and never cooked anything. Seriously, never. I do recall I made this once or twice at home, but somewhere in the 10+ years since high school I lost the recipe.

When Ellen sent me the recipe this time, my eyes bugged out a little when I saw mayonnaise in the dressing ingredients. Sixteen-year-old Mariel was unbothered by this because she didn’t know what ingredients were in anything, and she could eat whatever she wanted. But twenty-eight-year-old Mariel has a slower metabolism, and is afraid of mayonnaise. And I don’t really know why I’m afraid of mayonnaise. Mayonnaise, when made from scratch is largely oil and if a salad dressing called for lots of oil I wouldn’t bat an eye! So I decide I would make the dressing as Ellen instructed, and I’d also try to make my own oil based vinaigrette. And the winner was the mayo-based dressing! I felt like the oil overpowered the tangy raspberry sweetness I wanted in the dressing. Also, the mayo dressing wasn’t heavy at all. I liked the light sweetness that it added to the salad.

I had the perfect opportunity to make this salad the other day when Ryan was going out with friends to watch a soccer game. Solo-girls-night at home is about the only time a reddish-pink, vegetarian salad is going to be dinner in my house. When Ryan came home a few hours later he found me on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory with our baby-polar-bear-soft blanket pulled up to my nose.

Ryan: How was your salad?

Me: Great!

Ryan: You didn’t watch the game?

Me: No

Because solo-girls night means no sports on TV and a vegetarian dinner. Might sound terrible to you, but it sounds awesome to me.

Anyway, back to the recipe. At the core this salad can be made using just romaine, red onions, and strawberries. I decided to jazz it up a bit and I added goat cheese and crushed almonds. The sharp tang of raw onions, with the creamy cheese, the crunch of the almonds, and bright juiciness of the strawberries makes for a vibrant combination of flavors. I also think it makes the salad more filling. And tastier.

It was so tasty and filling, in fact, that I had this salad for breakfast the next day. For real, I ate salad for breakfast. I guess I don’t hate making salad anymore.

Ingredients

These amounts are if you’re making the salad for 4+ people

Dressing:

1/2  cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp poppy seeds

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp raspberry vinegar

Salad:

1 large head of Romaine lettuce (I used a bag of mixed greens)

1 quart strawberries

1 small red onion

1/3 cup almonds (or to taste)

goat cheese (to taste)

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise and sugar thoroughly. Add the poppy seeds. Mix. Add the milk. Mix. Add the raspberry vinegar. Mix. Set aside.

2. Wash the lettuce and roughly chop. Put in a large bowl.

3. Wash the strawberries. Cut into thin slices. Put them on top of the lettuce.

4. Slice the onion in thin strips. Put them on top of the lettuce.

5. You can crush the almonds in a food processor. Or you can put them in a plastic bag and hit them with a rolling pin. The second way is fun, and you don’t dirty any dishes. Sprinkle crushed almonds on top of the lettuce.

6. Cut the goat cheese into small dime-sized blobs. Place them around on the salad.

7. Serve!

Messy level – 1 spoon! All you need for this is a knife, cutting board, two bowls, and a whisk to mix the dressing. So very easy.

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I feel like I should name my cooking guy. In part because, I feel guilty that I cut him in half. And I cut him in half because I think this recipe is mostly pretty good for beginner cooks – but not completely novice friendly. 2/3 of this recipe is super easy, it’s just the dressing that I think is the step up. It’s not hard to make the dressing, but it requires ingredients that a beginner cook might not want to buy (sherry vinegar). But, this recipe is really yummy and so if you don’t want to make the dressing, just do the quinoa and veggies and top it with some store bought dressing if you like.

Also, before we get to the instructions, I wanted to  let it be known that I think this recipe is for girls. I know that’s a huge blanket statement and probably a little bit unfair, but here’s my reasoning.  This recipe is all about the vegetables. And it has some frou-frou ingredients. Now, that’s not to say that boys don’t like vegetables but based on the men in my life (Ryan, my father, and my brother Eric) vegetables aren’t their first choice. I mean they’ll eat them, but their first choice is never going to be a salad.  Recently, my mom and I made a seafood stew heavy with vegetables.  At the end of the meal the seafood was gone, but the veggies were still lining Papa’s plate. And also, from what my friends tell me, the same is true of their respective husbands and boyfriends. And things like quinoa, shallots, and sherry are a little frou-frou. Now I’m sure some of you are saying, that you totally eat quinoa regularly and it’s completely a staple. I agree, quinoa can be a staple but the average single guy probably doesn’t make quinoa as part of their repertoire.

For that reason I was a little hesitant about posting this recipe. And also because Ryan wasn’t a huge fan, and that made me nervous. Ryan is usually 50% of my taste-testing base. So if Ryan doesn’t like it, and I do, how do I know if I should post it? But, my coworker Cara inadvertently helped convince me that I should post it. I was eating it for lunch in our tiny shared office and she walked in and told me it smelled good. I told her that it was good, and tasted even better two days later. I also told her what was in it and that Ryan didn’t really like it. And she said, unprompted from me, that it sounded good and “like a girly recipe.” Also a few weeks later she said I inspired her and that she had made her own beet-quinoa-salad.

Also, to clarify, it wasn’t that Ryan didn’t like it because the recipe was bad. I mean, we’ve had recipes that have gone awry, and we look at each other like, “let’s throw this away immediately and make a PB&J.” This wasn’t that time. Ryan wasn’t a fan because the flavors weren’t something that his palate enjoyed. So, that’s a whole different beast. I have friends who don’t like tomatoes, or cilantro, or onions and so a recipe isn’t inherently bad because it has those things, it’s just not to their liking. So read the recipe below, and see how you feel.

Anyway, I thought this recipe was delicious and was even more delicious as leftovers because the flavors mellowed and blended. And so I know it’s bad form to start with some weird negatives and then try to convince you that’s it good. But it’s too late I did it. This recipe is good, and easy, and you should try it.

Pretty little radishes and beets

And I was really excited when I found this recipe because I had never found anything interesting to do with radishes. Ryan and I went to the farmer’s market and saw the most beautiful bunch of magenta radishes, and so we just had to buy them. But all I’ve ever done with radishes is eat them raw with dip or chop them up for salads. Occasionally I’ve diced them really fine and mixed them into meatloaf, but that’s the most exotic thing. I did a little Google searching and really didn’t come up with a whole lot.

But then, I got an email from the library and Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook was available for pick up! I love her blog and she is my go-to for sweets and baked goods. I was really excited to get her book and there was so much I wanted to try. And then, when I found this recipe I knew it would be perfect for my lovely radishes. Perelman used radishes, beats, and turnips, but I just used the first two. You could probably improvise and use any root vegetables that are your favorite (carrots, parsnips, potatoes, etc). I really liked this dish because you can prepare it, heat it, and forget about it. You don’t really have to attend to it much throughout the cooking. It’s also a great stand-alone dish or it can be eaten as a side with some meat. I thought it was filling, but not too heavy, and with a great complex and yummy flavor. Hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

Salt

3 small shallots

1 – 1 1/2 pounds of beets and radishes

Lemon juice

Black Pepper

For the dressing:

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt, to taste

3 tbsp olive oil

Black Pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 400°

2. Rinse quinoa and cook it according to package instructions. Cooking quinoa usually means this: Use double the amount of water as quinoa, so in this case 1/2 cup quinoa and one cup water. Put both in a pot and bring to boil. Then turn down heat to low, cover, and simmer until the water is absorbed. This takes about 10-15 minutes. You’re not supposed to lift the lid while it’s cooking, but if you’re a new cook and curious, open the lid about 2 minutes before you think it should be one. Take a fork or spoon and push aside some quinoa to see how much water is under the grains. If it’s a lot of water you need more time. If it’s no water, it’s probably good to go.

3. Scrub and rinse veggies. Chop them in half or in quarters if the veggies are especially large

4. Peel shallots and separate cloves if there is more than one inside the skin. Place the shallots on aluminum foil, sprinkle them with olive oil, and then fold the aluminum foil into a little packet.

5. Coat a baking sheet or roasting pan with oil. Arrange the veggies in one layer. Sprinkle with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

6. Put the roasting pan and the aluminum foil shallot packet in the oven.

7. Roast the veggies for 30 minutes. Stir about halfway through cook time. Veggies are done when they are tender (which is when you can easily poke them with a fork).

For the dressing:

1. Remove the shallots from the oven when you remove the root veggies.

2. Take the shallots and put them in a food processor or blender.

3. Blend with the sherry, balsamic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Taste. Add more olive oil if it’s too tart and tangy from the vinegar. Add more vinegar if you like the flavor.

Assembly:

1. Put some quinoa on the plate.

2. Put the root vegetables on top of the quinoa.

3. Pour the dressing over the quinoa and vegetables. Leave it like that for presentation, but when you eat it I recommend mixing it all up because it tastes GREAT.

Messy Level:  Low. As I said before, it’s pretty much prep, cook, and serve. You don’t need too many utensils and there’s not a lot of opportunity for spilling. Although, beet juice does dye everything.

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Skillet egg with toast and shredded cheddar cheese

This post is going to seem like a lot of talk about brunch in New York City. It is. But really it’s about eggs so bear with me.

I don’t often make eggs. I like eggs when I bake or when I need hamburgers to stick together, but I don’t often have a hankering for eggs as a centerpiece for a meal. Seemingly simple, eggs take a bit of finesse. Flipping that omelette neatly? Unlikely. Making a hard-boiled egg without the ring between the yolk and white? Mostly, but not always. Basically, I’d rather have cereal. And if I’m going to make brunch at home, I’m going with chocolate chip pancakes.

However, although it’s rare I always really, really want eggs when I go out for brunch.

In New York, brunch is a big deal. It’s what people do on Sunday morning. When I lived in New York my favorite brunch was the basil and goat cheese egg dish from Good in the West Village. The eggs are fluffy, the basil is fragrant and fresh, and the cheese is gooey and delicious. The eggs are truly decadent and wonderful. Also, in case you’re interested, my favorite brunch Bloody Mary is at Home, also in the West Village. It is the right amount of spicy and it has a pickle in it!! Yum. Now all this rambling about New York brunch isn’t totally out of the blue. It’s brunch in New York that got me interested in poached eggs.

Years ago before I lived in New York, Ryan and I went to the city a few weeks before Christmas. The city was wonderful! There was snow on the streets, decorations in the shops, and although super crowded the people on the street had a festive and happy atmosphere. At the end of the weekend, we met up with my friend Inga, and her boyfriend – now husband, Jonathan for brunch at Jane (also in the Village, sorry I like that area). It was my very first New York City brunch. I know it sounds silly, but the streets of New York are relatively empty on Sunday mornings until 11am when people stream out for brunch. People wait up to an hour to eat at their favorite place. And brunch can be at a trendy spot, it can be outside in a cafe people watching, it can be in a dingy dive bar that still smells like last night’s beer and drinking mistakes. And so another recommendation, if you can stomach the stale beer smell, the Sunburnt Cow has great steak and eggs and a bottomless mimosa.  I’ve been to brunch to catch up with out of town friends, I’ve seen famous people (Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family), and I’ve done it to avoid writing my thesis. Brunch is an important social event and if you’re a tourist and you want a real New York feel, I think brunch is what you should do.

I think this picture nicely shows a plump, round finished product. Ryan said it looked a little sad like the egg was just plopped there. Either way, here’s what it looks like once cooked.

Anyway, back to Jane. It is a serious delicious place to eat! When I lived in New York, Ryan and I went there one year for Valentine’s Day. We treated ourselves to the works and when it came time to order dessert we ordered milk & cookies. All night we had seen these giant cookies with fat chunks of chocolate chips, cups of frothy vanilla ice cream, and tiny cups of icy milk pass by. So when the waitress asked for our order, we asked for TWO milk & cookies. Yes, it was Valentine’s Day, a day for love and sharing but that dessert looked too darn good to share. And I assert, that’s real love. We loved each other enough to be honest, to go for the indulgence, and to be comfortable enough to leave the restaurant waddling and explosively full.

The Eggs Benedict at Jane are also memorable years later – and I didn’t even order them. Jonathan and Ryan ordered the Eggs Benedict. When they got their meals the two them were all “ooo’s,” “ahhh’s,” and eyes rolling back in to their heads. They made it seem like the kind of deliciousness where you have to put your utensils down, stop, and emphatically moan “MMMM!” I had never had a poached egg before and when I got to try it, I fell in love. It was fluffy, well cooked, but still liquidy on the inside. And it was pretty looking! It was round, bouncy, and bright white. I was obviously intimidated. But my life was changed. I loved poached eggs and I loved brunch.

It had to be difficult to make! How could it be so delicious, perfectly cooked, and nice looking without being difficult? Going forward, I ordered poached eggs when I was out, but never really looked into it how to make it own my own. And it wasn’t until the last two years that I really started cooking anyway. And of course, as I said, I prefer cereal so I don’t make eggs at home. But I thought about it a lot.

Not enough cereal!! GASP. I have to cook myself something.

Opportunity presented itself last week and I couldn’t put off trying any longer. I had a closing shift and didn’t have to be at work until 1:00pm, so I had plenty of time to cook and clean up after myself. Also, we were pretty much out of cereal. So no excuses, I was making eggs. And it came out well, wasn’t nearly as hard or scary as I thought it would be, and it was yummy.

I looked to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and Alice Waters’ In the Green Kitchen, for guidance on how to poach eggs. Sorry for another digression, but I strongly recommend How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It has basic recipes, add-on suggestions for how to spice up dishes, and easy to use language and pictures that explain how to do more difficult techniques. Also, it’s great when you have an ingredient you aren’t sure what to do with. I can always flip through the book and find something to do with that funny vegetable or a way to update chicken breasts.

And we’re back. One book called for using a skillet and the other called for “pan.” I tried both, using a deep skillet and a small sauce pan. I cooked the egg for the same time in both vessels (5 minutes). I found that in the skillet the egg came out lighter, fluffier, and the yolk was still runny, which I like. In the sauce pan, the egg came out a little prettier, but it was dense and the yolk wasn’t runny. Going forward I think I’d either use the skillet again, or I’d use the sauce pan but cook for fewer minutes. You just can’t get as much water in a skillet, so what you use really depends on what sort of tools you have at your disposal. But, at the core you need at least enough water so that the egg is completely submerged. I wouldn’t go beyond using 3 inches of water.

Before I get on with the directions, I wanted to share some posts I’m working on for the future. I’m working on a post on sushi. I’ve made it twice before, but want to do it once more so I can take step by step pictures. Ryan and I are also going to try to make mozzarella cheese. We also just got back from a long weekend in Montreal so I’m planning to share all my eating adventures.

Egg made in the pan with toast and mild salsa

Ingredients:

Water

Eggs

1 tsp salt (or less if you like)

1 tsp vinegar (optional – I used it)

Directions:

1. Fill a pan with 1-2 inches of water.2. Bring the water to a boil.

3. Add the salt and vinegar. Lower the heat so the water is barely simmer. Few to no bubbles should be coming the surface. If you see the bubbles on the bottom of the pan as if they are threatening to rise, that’s ok.

4. While you’re waiting for the water to cool a bit, crack the egg into a separate bowl.

5. Once the water is ready, tilt the bowl so it’s level to the water and slide the egg into the pan. I did it so that the edge of the bowl was a little bit in the water and then I slid the egg in.

6. Cook for 3-5 minutes. To tell if the egg is done, use a slotted spoon to lift out the egg. Use your finger to gently press on the yolk to see if it’s set to your liking and to test that the white is cooked.

7. When it is done use a slotted spoon to remove the egg. If necessary, drain the egg on a paper towel or clean dish towel.

Mark Bittman recommends only cooking one egg at a time. I think this is partially so there can be enough space for the egg. If you look at the picture of the egg in the water you can see the egg white is also swirly and slightly up to the top of the water. I think it’s also because the level of the heat is so important that two eggs wouldn’t get enough heat if they were in there together. In summation, it was delicious, easy, and I didn’t make any mess. Amazing right?!

Messy level: One spoon, just boil water, cook, and scoop out!

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