Eggs Archives – Karyn's Kitchen

My Awesome Carbonara Is a Bargain

Stocking basic ingredients means cooking dinner tonight is easy.

Bacon and eggs for dinner? Yes, please! Although Michael would never order pasta carbonara in a restaurant, he enjoys eating mine. Why? He’s not a fan of cream based sauces, so I don’t make it that way. Here’s your answer for what to cook for dinner tonight. Easy!

While I wait for the water to boil, I begin making the sauce by browning some bacon in a skillet. I cut off about an inch from the bacon I keep in the freezer and chopped it up. While I was in there, I looked for some peas because I think they add a nice pop of color and texture, but the only peas I had were the ones I used as an ice pack last time I bumped my head, so no peas this time…Instead, I decided to use some chopped leeks that were starting to get a little frosty. Why not? Onions are the other essential ingredient here, so I figured a combination of leeks and red onion would work well while adding texture and color.

Are you getting the idea here? This dish can be made quickly and easily with things you probably already have on hand. A well stocked freezer of flavor gems helps immensely and who doesn’t usually have a box of pasta and a few eggs sitting around? That means you already know what to cook for dinner tonight and it’s so easy!

I spooned off most of the bacon fat that had been rendered before adding the onions and leeks to the skillet. Cooked until tender and added a splash of white wine while I waited for the pasta water to boil. That’s the thing that takes the longest here…

Preparing the Eggs

After putting the pasta into the boiling water, I whisked 3 eggs in my favorite big round bottomed pot and then placed it over the boiling pot of pasta and continued to whisk for a couple of minutes. Why? Because I wanted to begin cooking the eggs without turning them into scrambled. The eggs will finish cooking when you combine them with the hot pasta, but I like to give them a head start. Whisk quickly while heating them double boiler style and remove from the heat if you start to see any little bits that start to look like cooked scrambled eggs. Remember you’re making a sauce, not scrambled eggs. Whisk, whisk, whisk!

Season eggs with salt. Once the pasta is cooked, toss it together with the eggs, bacon, onions and some grated parmesan and serve. You can add a little pasta water if you need a touch more sauciness. Top with ground pepper and grated parmesan. The hardest thing here is deciding whether to drink a red or white wine with this dinner. I could go either way.

Here’s what we decided.

A bottle of Novellum Chardonnay beside a wine glass filled with it in front of a painted Italian platter

Okay, Michael makes one exception to the no-cream rule. To make that delicious sauce, read Make Your Pasta Pretty In Pink .

Gotta Love a Frittata

Simple meals like this one are for any time of day.

Eggs are so versatile and can be eaten any time of day. In the U.S., we typically think of them as breakfast food, but not so in other places. I could eat a frittata for lunch or dinner with a salad. It’s easier and more figure friendly than quiche because you don’t have to worry about crust and cream. You can add any vegetables that you like and you don’t have to fuss with flipping an omelette. You gotta love simple meals like that.

Frittata with onions, swiss chard and cheese

How To

First, preheat the oven to 325. Then decide which vegetables you want to put in there and start sautéing them in a nonstick ovenproof skillet. I usually start with some diced onion and then some greens of some sort. Mushrooms or peppers are great too. Pictured above I used swiss chard. Kale in the picture below. Any dark leafy green pairs well with eggs, I think. You can use up all kinds of leftover bits and bobs in here too. Herbs and spices are welcome.

Whisk some eggs together in a mixing bowl and once the vegetables are tender, pour the eggs into the skillet. Stir so that everything gets incorporated and lower the heat. You don’t have to cook it for long on the stovetop because it’s going to finish in the oven. Top with cheese or tomatoes anything else you think would be good. Simple meals like this are so versatile.

Frittata with onions, kale, and tomatoes

Then pop into the oven and cook just until the eggs are set, meaning they don’t jiggle when you shake the pan. How long this takes depends on how many eggs you’re cooking. You can make a huge batch for a crowd or to keep for later. Leftovers are great at room temperature.

My frittata is a bit thin here because of how few eggs I used compared to the size of my skillet, but more eggs make a thicker one that’s even better. Simple and elegant, healthy and economical. Let me know what you put in yours as you start cooking without a recipe!

For another simply elegant egg dish, please read Effortless Benedict? next.

Easy Protein Salads With Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

Cook eggs perfectly and make a satisfying spinach salad with healthy homemade salad dressing.

Here’s a quick spinach salad with healthy homemade salad dressing for a nourishing lunch. Eggs are a natural with spinach. First I hard cooked them by putting them into a pot full of water and letting it come to a boil. Then took the pot off the heat and covered for 15 minutes. That’s why they’re called hard cooked, not hard boiled. I dislike an overcooked boiled egg.

Once the eggs are done, put them into cold water to stop the cooking process. If you’re not going to eat them immediately, change the water once it’s no longer cold and then refrigerate them once cool enough. You could do an ice bath instead if you have some ice.

spinach salad with hard cooked eggs on a china plate with black border — Spinach salad with eggs and salami

About Eggs

I had picked up these eggs on clearance because they were near their sell by date, which really doesn’t mean that much. Eggs are good in the fridge for some time and it’s actually preferable to use an older egg for hard cooked. They’re easier to peel because there is more air space between the white and the shell. I wasn’t paying strict attention to the timing, so it looks like I could have cooked them a tiny bit less for a creamier yolk. But as long as there is no gray sulfur ring around the yolk, which happens when they’re overcooked, I’m happy.

If I was cooking a larger batch of eggs, I would put them into a steamer basket instead of a pot full of water. They are easiest to peel after steaming. Again, plunge them into cold water or ice bath to stop the cooking process once finished.

Dressing

Dressing here was made using:

part of a shallot,
dijon mustard,
apple cider vinegar
honey
plain yogurt
olive oil
salt
thyme
fennel

I was thinking tarragon might be good, but I was out of it, so I used the herbs on hand. A mayonnaise based dressing would have also worked well. Use what you have to create something delicious. Taste as you go (using a clean spoon) and learn to develop your intuition in the kitchen and start cooking without a recipe.

I realized I had a little salami that needed to be consumed, so I chopped that up and threw it in along with some tomatoes. This salami is called finocchiona, being made with fennel (finocchio in Italian). So it was a good match with the fennel flavored dressing.

One word about dressing, in case you are used to just pouring it on top of the salad: Try tossing your salad with the dressing before serving. You use less and it tastes so much better having your vegetables evenly coated with flavor.

Here’s another way to get some protein in your salad: smoked herring from a can. It’s wonderful with sauerkraut, which is probiotic. A basic lemon vinaigrette is all that’s needed for this healthy homemade salad dressing.

salad with herring and sauerkraut on a white plate — Salad with smoked herring and sauerkraut

For more on making your own healthy homemade salad dressing, please read Undressing the Dressing next.

Can You Make an Effortless Benedict?

Simple meals for elegant breakfast at home.

What do you do with left over prosciutto? I decided to make the breakfast bites described below because I believe in zero waste cooking. Who says it can’t also become part of a celebratory meal? I think simple meals are the best. Here’s a brief video on that topic:

I have probably seen something like this somewhere before, so I am not claiming to reinvent the wheel. I just want to encourage you to use what you have and experiment with using it in a new way to create simple meals for your family and friends.

toast with strawberry jam beside prosciutto egg bites on a white plate — Scrambled or poached? You decide.

Michael prefers his eggs scrambled, while I like variety. So I lined the cups of a muffin tin with prosciutto and poured raw, scrambled eggs into some and raw whole eggs into the others. Baked them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes just until set, meaning the scrambled eggs shouldn’t move much when you jiggle the pan.

Certainly I could have cooked the whole eggs less and left yolks more creamy. But no one wants runny scrambled eggs, so I let them all cook for the same amount of time. If you were making a whole bunch of these, you could put the scrambled ones in one tin and whole eggs in another. Take the whole eggs out of the oven sooner. That would be just about the easiest way I could think of to make eggs benedict for a crowd. A lot simpler than poaching two dozen eggs in a pot!

The prosciutto is rather salty, so I didn’t add anything else to the eggs, although you absolutely could top them with cheese or herbs or any number of additions. I decided to serve toast with strawberry jam on the side because I thought the sweetness would offset the saltiness…kind of like a Monte Cristo sandwich.

Who says this must be served for breakfast? The saltiness of the prosciutto and the silkiness of the eggs would pair well with bitter greens too. How about a dandelion green salad with figs? Or sauteed kale or rapini?

Mmm…is it lunch time yet?

cappuccino in a white cup with heart design in foam

But first, cappuccino!

For another breakfast idea, please read Pancakes next.