Tonight for Dinner: Burgandy Salad with Poached Egg!

Tonight for dinner I made a (rather) impromptu dish that I thought I would share. It was easy, new (to me in method and in taste), and really healthy and fun.

I wanted to learn to poach eggs so I thought I would incorporate this into a salad with some of the ingredients we had lying around the house. I googled "poached egg salads" and one of the results rendered was the Burgandy Salad with Poached Egg. I also made a sweet potato mash as a side dish. As seen here:

First I boiled water with a little white vinegar and then brought it down to a simmer. Then I cracked an egg in a ramekin (a small bowl would work). I gently poured the egg into the simmering water where I left it for just about two minutes. Then a fished out the egg gently with one of those wire strainers that are on a handle. I then gently put my poached egg in ice water (since I was making 6 of them and since dinner wouldn't be served for another hour).

Here are the rest of the ingredients for this yummy (and did I mention healthy?) salad:

Mustard Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

7 ounces smoked bacon

Diced 10 to 12 ounces mushrooms, washed, dried, and sliced

10 ounces of mixed greens

1 small finely chopped red onion

4 medium-size tomatoes, sliced

Okay, well I realize now I didn't use onion. I'll have to try that next time. Also I just used Romaine lettuce since that's what we had. We also had some leftover cooked bacon so I just put it on a cookie sheet so it crisped up a bit more and crumbled it after that.

The dressing was SUPER easy and really makes the salad. It wouldn't have been the same with bottled vinaigrette:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

A little hot water

Coarse salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves

Just put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

I also did a sweet potato mash. A lot of people think you have to add brown sugar or a ton of butter to sweet potatoes, NOT TRUE! I just baked four sweet potatoes on a rack in the oven at 450 degrees for about 40 minutes. I pulled them out of the oven, let them sit for a couple of minutes and then slit them open. They just fell out of their skins when I opened them up into a bowl. After mashing them all together in a casserole dish I added a little over 1 tablespoon of butter and about 1/4 cup of skim milk. Since I was waiting for the rest of the family to show up I just threw the casserole dish back in the oven (now turned off) to keep warm.

I had plated everything else except for the mushrooms and the poached egg. This is because I wasn't sure when everyone would arrive and also because cold mushrooms and cold eggs are GROSS.

Once my party was together I just pulled the mushrooms off the very light heat I had had them over and then gently put the poached eggs back in simmering water.

I let the eggs warm up in the simmering water for about a minute and a half. I picked them up with my strainer on a handle thingy (what DO you call those?) and placed them on top of a paper towel. I then plated the poached eggs and drizzled on a little dressing.

I pulled the sweet potatoes out of the oven, plated those as well and voila! It was a beautiful dinner that didn't really take much effort and was fun to make since it involved a new method and a new recipe.

Has anyone else tried any new cooking styles recently? I would LOVE to hear about it :)

Á la votre!
amanda

Healthy Banana Nut Muffins

I, too, love food. I am always trying new recipes and looking for new ones. I am not a vegetarian but I do love to eat as healthy as I can. I fail, often, at passing over the pizza and regular coke but I try and love to eat fresh vegetables and fruits. I also like to stay away from sugar and processed foods. I came across this banana-nut muffin recipe and was very excited because of the health aspect. They are whole grain muffins and are light but still sweet. And the best part, they contain no sugar. Proof that health food can still taste good.

3 medium ripe bananas
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup barley flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts
2 tsp. fine sea salt
6 tbsp oil (canola or sunflower)
1 cup whole spelt flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 cup white spelt flour (or all purpose flour)
Makes 1 dozen muffins

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Sift the flours and baking soda into a medium sized bowl, add the salt
-Puree the bananas in a food processor and add the remaining liquid ingredients, mix well.
-Make a well in the flour and pour in the wet mixture (scraping the food processor bowl well) and fold together until the flour mixture is moistened. Add the walnuts and raisins and fold just a few more times to incorporate. Don't overmix or you will have tough muffins!
-Line the muffin tins with paper or brush with oil. Use an ice cream scoop to distribute the batter evenly among the cups.
-Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for a few minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

All I Want is Food and Creative Love

I'm not ashamed to admit it: I love to eat! I've always been pretty passionate about food. But what I am ashamed of is how lazy I've become in the kitchen. I'm no food snob, but when frozen veggie burgers have become a staple in your diet, you know there's room for improvement. And sometimes I truly think that we might order pizza more than anyone else in the world. My boyfriend, Jason is actually a pretty fantastic cook, but he's in law school, so he has an excuse. I, on the other hand, have plenty of free time and therefore no excuse. And there are several year-round farmers markets in the DC area with really great quality, locally produced food. That being said, I would like to endeavor to become more creative in the kitchen. While we are vegetarians, neither of us is a picky eater, so besides meat, the sky is the limit! I picked up this 1970 African cookbook at a local used bookstore the other day: I actually picked it more for the artwork on the front than for the recipes inside, but you never know, there might be some real gems in there. Anyway, I'd love a little help from the creative community on this one! So, if you have any suggestions or favorite recipes you'd like to share, please post them or email me at: lovelyyou@peacemail.com. Thanks!

P.S. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to post a trailer for an upcoming documentary that I'm really excited about. It's called Edible City, and it should be out in the fall.
Edible City Trailer 1 from East Bay Pictures on Vimeo.