In the Kitchen: Eggs Jeanette

I love eggs. 

There is so much you can do with them (cakes, mousses, cookies, soufflés, hard-boiled, poached, fried, in a sandwich, on toast, pancakes, eggs benedict, egg lorraine, eggs jeanette, need I go on?).

This recipe is from Jacques Pepin, a French chef who moved to America. After reading about him and some of his recipes, I really need to get one of his cookbooks! This particular recipe was made up by Pepin's mother during World War II. They were living in rural France and had very little money and Pepin's mother made this dish often for her family. It is delicious.

I found two recipes, but they were slightly different. I made this one, with some adaptions, but would like to try this one because it has red wine vinegar in it. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

1 tsp chopped/crushed garlic

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I think you could try all different sorts of fresh herbs, chives and dill come to mind)

2-3 tbsp. fresh milk

salt and pepper

2 tbsp oil for frying

Dressing:

2-3 tbsp leftover egg stuffing (from above)

4 tbsp olive oil (the other recipe calls for 2 tsp red wine vinegar, and the one I adapted this from called for 4 tbsp of olive oil and it was too much, so I had to add some cream to combat the strong olive oil flavor)

1 tbsp dijon mustard (when I make this again, I will put less mustard in so I won't need so much cream)

1 tbsp water

2-3 tbsp. heavy cream

salt and pepper

Boil the eggs (you can just boil them in a saucepan with water almost covering them to save dishes) for 10 minutes. Cool eggs in ice water and then peel. Cut eggs (like you would for deviled eggs) and remove yolks. Mash the yolks with a fork and add in the garlic, parsley, milk and salt and pepper. Stuff the eggs with the mixture, reserving 2-3 tablespoons for the dressing. Make sure the stuffing is flush with the eggs.

Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in the saucepan. Place eggs in the saucepan, yolk side down. Fry until golden, about 4-6 minutes. Place on a paper towel lined plate.

For the dressing: Mix all of the ingredients together and taste and correct seasoning as necessary. You might want to put in a little less olive oil or you could try using the red wine vinegar.

To assemble: Place on a plate and drizzle dressing over top. Sprinkle with parsley (or chives, etc. if using another herb). Serve with hot, buttered toast for breakfast or a salad for lunch.

 I am sharing this recipe because it is just so absolutely, wonderfully delicious. I think I may go and make this right now.

In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

So, this is not my recipe and my pictures are not even nearly as good as the blog this is from, but hey, my camera is old and not suited to indoor pictures. Whatever the case, you should make these pancakes tomorrow or if it is easier you can wait until Saturday, but oh my goodness, they are delicious!

Oh, and did I say something about Buttermilk Syrup? This stuff is delicious. I had never had it until we had a Primary breakfast before the Primary Program a few weeks ago. Is it a Utah/ mid-west thing? It is easy to make, delicious and tastes like Butterbeer. Seriously, it tastes like how I imagine Butterbeer to taste, it just needs to be diluted with some club soda. I now need to try that.

These pancakes are perfect. Elanor ate 2 1/2 pancakes--which is a lot for someone of her small size. We all loved them!

Get the recipe for the pancakes here. I recommend making your own pumpkin puree, instead of buying the canned stuff. It is a heck of a lot cheaper and it tastes better. All you need to do is buy yourself a pie pumpkin from the grocery store, roast it like you would a squash and then blend it with a little water in a blender. Done and done, plus is makes quite a lot of puree to use anytime!

As for the syrup, well I will provide the recipe, but it is not mine. I got the recipe here.

Buttermilk Syrup

This recipe makes a lot of syrup (we had an extra 3 medium size mason jars of syrup left over), especially if you are a small family like we are. You can bottle up the syrup and keep it in the fridge and it will last for quite a while (several weeks) or you can half the recipe (you will still have extras). Also, cook this in a pretty large pot since the syrup bubbles up a lot when you add the baking soda.

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tsp baking soda

Bring the butter, buttermilk and sugar to a boil, stirring pretty much the whole time. Once boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Serve hot!

*Since this syrup already has a ton of butter, you don't need any butter for your pancakes.

Enjoy, this syrup really is quite tasty.