Yesterday, when the Hubs and I went to pick up our meat from the CSA they had eggs. Lovely, multicolored eggs; the kind that's nearly irresistible. I know that the color of the shell doesn't make a lick of difference when it comes to the nutritional content of the egg, but these eggs are so beautiful they seem infinitely better than regular eggs. I can now see why Martha Stewart designed an entire line of paint colors based on these eggs. The soft greens that range from turquoise to olive. Instead of painting my house with those eggs, I opted to put them to the use for which they were intended.
First came scrambled eggs with "stuff" in them (i.e. Lazy Woman's Omelet). They had crimini mushrooms, part-skim ricotta, low-fat cheddar cheese and fresh basil. Mike rounded out the meal by cooking up some bacon from the farm to go along with the eggs. They were divine. Later in the day I turned my attention to an egg challenge I'd signed myself up for.
The egg challenge came from Magpie Musing's search for a pickled egg recipe. In the process of finding an appropriate recipe she came across a recipe entitled "Eggs in Hiding" from an old Culinary Arts Institute cookbook. It was a horrid sounding recipe and so she challenged, well, dared really, those in the blogosphere to make the recipe and link to the evidence posted on their own blog. I decided to take up the challenge, but with a twist. I wondered if I could figure out a way to update this recipe, making it appealing and healthful (which the original definitely was not).
As usual, when I'm striking off the beaten culinary path, I like to find a guide post to tell me that I ideas make sense. Sometimes that guide post isn't available, but this time I went to the Good Cook: Eggs & Cheese (such a good combination) I meet with some success. While the Good Cook: Eggs & Cheese did not have a version of "Eggs in Hiding" it did have several baked hard-boiled egg recipes and a zillion other egg-based recipes. It also had a recipe for eggs poached in tomato sauce, which seemed close enough to both the original "Eggs in Hiding" and my ideas for updating it. And so the below recipe (with photographic evidence) was born. The Hubs pronounced the results "pretty good; he'd eat 'em again."
Eggs in Hiding: 21st Century
3 hard boiled eggs
1 large Mason jar canned tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 tbsp basil, cut into ribbons
1/2 ounce crumbled feta cheese
1 tsp butter
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the garlic and saute over medium heat until the garlic is golden brown. Add the tomatoes, using the back to a wooden spoon to crush, and saute until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce is starting to thicken. Then add the basil (reserving a little for garnish when it comes out of the over) and turn off the heat, letting the sauce cool slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste (if the sauce is too acidic add a smigde of sugar) and stir in the crumbled feta. While the sauce is cooling, melt the butter in a small pan and then add the bread crumbs, tossing to coat. Toast the bread crumbs until they are golden brown, watching them closely because they will burn quickly. Turn off the heat and set the bread crumbs aside. Peel the hard boiled eggs and slice in half length-wise. Evenly divide the egg halves between two large ramekins that have been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Pour the sauce over the hard boiled eggs until the eggs are completely covered. Then sprinkle the toasted bread crumbs on top and put both ramekins onto a cookie sheet. Bake the ramekins for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are warm through and the bread crumbs are nice and toasty. Let the eggs cool slightly and serve with a mixed salad and a quick salad dressing. Bon Appetit!
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