How to poach an egg, smitten kitchen-style. I am tortured by two opposing forces in my life: the fact that I love poached eggs–on anything and everything, from asparagus to slow-roasted slices of tomato, crisped cups of Canadian bacon, black bread, I could keep going… — and the fact that I’m terrible at making them. And this is why it is so ridiculous amusing that I am giving you–or at least the eleven of you that said you were afraid of poaching eggs–a poached egg tutorial today. And by “today” I mean two days because it took me two tries to even get one worth photographing (though in my defense, holding the camera in your right hand while lowering an egg into a pot with your left does have a certain inevitability of disaster).
Obviously, this makes me some sort of expert, so let’s get started! How to Poach an Egg First, heat a pot with a few inches of water in it. Put a splash of vinegar in the water. Now here is the first of the two Very Most Important Things I Will Tell You About Poaching Eggs: You don’t want boiling water. Tried and True Tender Cornbread. Remember that slow cooked sweet potato chili? Goodness, I hope so. Well, bake this yellow number to go alongside it. Salty winking at sweet. Nooked, crannied, and unabashedly crumbly. She’s buttery all on her own, but trust me, even lovelier glazed with honey. 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder½ teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt ¼ cup butter (½ stick), melted2 eggs 1 cup buttermilk Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Tagged as: baking, cornbread, cornmeal.
Dinner Recipe: Braised French Onion Chicken with Gruyère. There are four basic steps in this recipe: Caramelize the onions, then deglaze the pan with a bit of broth. Next, brown the chicken thighs and deglaze that pan as well, with a little more broth. Combine the onions and the chicken, with their respective sauces, and bake in a slow oven for half an hour. Then take off the lid, and broil with Gruyère. Eat with some good bread and a salad! The chicken turns out succulent and tender, and it's nestled into a bed of rich, aromatic onions, spiked with tangy mustard. There is more than enough sauce to smother the chicken, and you could even eat it separately as a very rich soup.
It pretty much goes without saying that this dish makes fantastic lunch leftovers, too. Braised French Onion Chicken with Gruyère serves 4 to 6 Melt the butter in a deep 10-inch sauté pan over medium heat. Take the onions off the heat and pour them into a 3-quart oven-safe dish with a lid. Heat the oven to 325°F. While the onions are cooking, brown the chicken. Cheese & Burger Society. Manly recipe!
Potatoes. Better Grilled Cheese. Funky versions of America's simplest sandwich have been popping up at national restaurants and quick-service chains more and more in recent years. Problem is, when restaurants start to get creative, it usually spells trouble for your waistline. Au Bon Pain's Prosciutto Mozzarella Sandwich is a perfect example of this "more is more" mantra, where a few thin slices of cured ham and a mozzarella blanket turn a lunchtime bite into a sandwich that packs as much saturated fat as 5 scoops of Breyers vanilla ice cream.
We're all for innovating, but if you're going to do it, do it right. The curious combination of sweet apples, smoky bacon, and sharp cheese isn't just delicious, it contains less than half the calories of most other grilled cheese sandwiches out there. You'll Need: 1 Tbsp butter 8 slices whole-grain bread (we love Martin's Whole Wheat) 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 6 oz shredded sharp Cheddar cheese 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced 8 strips cooked bacon.