Spring supper (or breakfast)–with asparagus

IT WAS NEARLY DINNER TIME and I had just decided what to have. Asparagus with baked or fried eggs, a few roasted potatoes and some buttered toast. That sounded about perfect, as I had just bought some nice asparagus the day before.

My daughter taught me you could put asparagus in a glass or jar with cold water and it would keep really well. And in the meantime, it looks good too.

Asparagus and eggs seems like a natural combination. Nutritionists go back and forth about whether eggs are good for you or not. But in any case, one egg won’t kill you. I remembered that I once wrote a blog post about this dish, so I looked it up. Yes, it’s funny that I had to consult my own blog — but when you think about it, it’s just like consulting all those little recipe cards I’ve kept over the years.

The original inspiration for the dish came from something I’d read that had baked eggs on top of steamed asparagus. I never did find the recipe I was looking for, (though I later saw a similar recipe for asparagus with eggs that was called “Asparagus Milanese.”) — but I ended up making a variation with roasted potatoes and asparagus.

Here’s how it went: I cut up a few Yukon Gold potatoes and half an onion, tossed them in a tablespoon or two of olive oil and some salt and pepper and put them on a cookie sheet in the oven (400 degrees) to roast……

After about 15 minutes or so (20?) I tossed some asparagus on top of the potatoes (I also drizzled a little oil over them, and sprinkled on some salt) and then, after those were mostly done — the timing so far doesn’t need to be really precise–I cracked open an egg and carefully let it sink over the asparagus (if I’d had the asparagus a little flatter, the egg might have looked even better.) The original recipe called for one egg for each person, by the way.  I just kept checking to see if the egg was as done as I like it, the yolk still a little runny (but not so much. It’s hard to order an egg like this in a cafe, by the way. You have to say “over medium — plus a little more). A guideline for the eggs is somewhere between 8 and 12 minutes.

In the last minute or so, I sprinkled on just a tiny bit of  grated cheese. Parmeggiano, Romano, pecorino or sharp cheddar — any of these would do.  Or skip it.

In the original post,  I baked the eggs, but this time I didn’t feel like waiting and checking the oven so often, so I opted to simply fry them in the pan, while I melted a bit of Parmeggiano over the asparagus in the oven.

I had some nice bread to make toast with this tonight, but in my original post I was more ambitious and made biscuits. You might have noticed that I have a lot of posts about biscuits, but just in case you’d like that recipe again and don’t want to search for it, I’ll keep it here as well. Happy asparagus season to you all.

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Years ago I wrote about biscuits in an essay called “Still Living with a Biscuit State of Mind.”  (published in Christian Science Monitor). That essay still applies, except I now dispense with the two knives and just use my fingers to “cut,” or more precisely, rub the butter into the flour….

And here’s that biscuit recipe once again:

Biscuits

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut in four pieces
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in a bowl and cut or rub in the butter until it’s in little pieces. Stir in the buttermilk with a fork until the mixture comes together as a moist, but not sticky dough.

Turn onto a floured board and knead just a couple times (you never want to overwork a baking powder/soda dough). Roll out the dough about 3/4″ thick with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin), cut into biscuit shapes with a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass dipped in flour. You’ll have 10 to 12 biscuits or so. Any leftover dough can be just formed by hand into a little patty (or you can make them all this way).

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, or till they’re golden. The time will vary depending on the size of your biscuit cutter. Serve hot.

Tip: I like to roll out the dough, then fold it in half and roll again. This makes it so the biscuits break open neatly in the middle when you want to put on some butter, jam, honey, etc.

This is my favorite biscuit cutter, which I’ve had for about 100 years. Well, at least 25.

Lovin’ the oven…

Carolyn's kitchen window

It’s stormy outside today: rain pounding the window, leaves swirling through the breeze and sticking to the wet streets and sidewalks. This is just the sort of day it feels luxurious to stay home and bake something in the oven.

I’ve been thinking lately that I love my oven.

Well, not my oven so much (a standard GE electric model that doesn’t even have a light to tell you when the oven’s on or one of those handy windows that let you peek inside. Plus, it runs 25 to 50 degrees too hot*) — just any oven especially on a fall or winter day.

The oven is a wonder. A few recent examples:

Cinnamon-walnut rolls

Challah with poppy seeds

Aviva's Jonathan Apple Pie

Of course, the oven not only works miracles with baked goods. I use it all the time for roast potatoes and vegetables (roast potatoes are far easier, less time-consuming (and less caloric)and just as tasty as fried potatoes, in my opinion) as well as roast chicken, of course.

Last week, after I mailed off my manuscript to London (with some anxiety but greater relief), I decided the occasion called for something I love but rarely make: a potato-leek gratin. I was inspired by some beautiful organic leeks I’d bought at a self-serve farm stand — and I had already made leek-potato soup a few days before.

So, the gratin– which is basically the same as scalloped potatoes. It’s not difficult to make, and an hour in the oven transforms potatoes, leeks, milk and a bit of cheese into the ultimate comfort-food dinner.

Just out of the oven: potato-leek gratin

As far as I’m concerned, forget about this as a side dish. Just call it supper.

Potato-leek gratin adapted from Russ Parsons.
Note: A lot of gratin recipes call for cream. Certainly, you could use some in this recipe, or half-and-half, but even low-fat milk will work just fine. You could also add sauteed mushrooms, as Parsons does, along with the leeks. If you don’t have leeks, substitute sauteed onions or garlic.

• 2 large leeks, white only, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds potatoes (any kind, peeled or not)
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup Gruyere cheese
• 1 2/3 cup milk
• salt, pepper and nutmeg

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a casserole, either a rectangular one or a square one for more layers.
2. Melt the tablespoon of butter or heat the oil in a skillet and gently saute the leeks for a few minutes; then cover the skillet, lower the heat and let the leeks cook until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Slice the potatoes as thinly as you can and pat them dry with a kitchen towel. Arrange them in a rough layer in the baking dish, and season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Then distribute the leeks over them along with half of the grated cheese. (If you are using the square pan, you can just use a third of the leeks and the cheese, and add another layer).
4. Top with the remaining layer of potatoes, as solidly as possible, and scatter the remaining cheese over the top.
5. Bring the milk to a simmer in a small saucepan and pour over the potatoes. You should be able to barely see the milk under the top layer. Bake for about 55 minutes to an hour, until the top is thoroughly browned and the gratin is a compact mass. Remove from the oven and serve.

I didn't have dessert, but I'm still thinking about Aviva's pie

* P.S. I recommend getting a cheap oven thermometer so you can check out your oven. A lot of my baked goods were over-baked until I realized that the oven was running hotter than the dial read, and figured out how to adjust it.

Spring supper (or breakfast)–with biscuits

My ratio of cooking/baking to blogging is about 20: 1. I’m not one of those people who has to take photos of every meal or blog about it.  And usually, Steve is not a big fan of the blogging impulse.

So, the other evening, when I more or less threw together a supper that looked a lot like  breakfast and put it on the table, I was really surprised to hear Steve say, “Aren’t you going to blog it?”

Okay, then. I took a couple quick photos before we dug in.

The inspiration came from having some asparagus around.  I remembered making something that had baked eggs on top of steamed asparagus. I never did find the recipe I was looking for, (though I later saw a similar recipe for asparagus with eggs that was called “Asparagus Milanese.”) — but I ended up making a variation with roasted potatoes and asparagus.

Here’s how it went: I cut up a few Yukon Gold potatoes and half an onion, tossed them in a tablespoon or two of olive oil and some salt and pepper and put them on a cookie sheet in the oven (400 degrees) to roast……

After about 15 minutes or so (20?) I tossed some asparagus on top of the potatoes (I also drizzled a little oil over them, and sprinkled on some salt) and then, after those were mostly done — the timing so far doesn’t need to be really precise–I cracked open an egg and carefully let it sink over the asparagus (if I’d had the aspagus a little flatter, the egg might have looked even better.) The original recipe calls for one egg for each person, by the way.

I just kept checking to see if the egg was as done as I like it, the yolk still a little runny (but not so much). A guideline for the eggs –between 8 and 12 minutes.

Oh, in the last minute or so, I sprinkled on just a tiny bit of  grated pecorino cheese. Parmeggiano, Romano, or sharp cheddar would do as well. Or skip it.

While that was in the works, I decided some biscuits would go really well with this supper. The timing to do both these dishes and serve them hot is a little tricky though, unless you have two ovens (I don’t!).

I won’t write much about biscuits here, because years ago I wrote about that subject as well as I could, in an essay called “Still Living with a Biscuit State of Mind.” (it was published in Christian Science Monitor).

All of the above essay still applies, except I now dispensed with the two knives and just use my fingers to “cut,” or more precisely, rub the butter into the flour….

Oh, do you want the recipe?

Biscuits

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cold butter, cut in four pieces
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and soda together in a bowl and cut or rub in the butter until it’s in little pieces. Stir in the buttermilk with a fork until the mixture comes together as a moist, but not sticky dough.

Turn onto a floured board and knead just a couple times (you never want to overwork a baking powder/soda dough). Roll out the dough about 3/4″ thick with a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin), cut into biscuit shapes with a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass dipped in flour. You’ll have 10 to 12 biscuits or so. Any leftover dough can be just formed by hand into a little patty (or you can make them all this way).

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, or till they’re golden. Serve hot.

Tip: I like to roll out the dough, then fold it in half and roll again. This makes it so the biscuits break open neatly in the middle when you want to put on some butter, jam, honey, etc.

This is my favorite biscuit cutter, which I've had for about 100 years. Well, at least 25.