March 2015 – And What I Ate

How To: Poach an Egg

(I look really pretty in the screenshot above. I know.)

I don’t know about you guys, but poaching an egg always seemed really intimidating to me, until I actually tried it. There are a couple little tricks:

1. Make sure the water is at the perfect temperature – not boiling, just gently bubbling

2. Add a tiny bit of white vinegar to the pot while the water is warming

3. Once the egg is in the eye of the tornado, leave it alone. After 2 minutes remove it with a slotted spatula and gently touch the yolk to make sure it’s set but still pretty wiggly.

Enjoy on just about anything, but one of my favorites is eggs benedict in all forms. The recipe in this video is a fantastic smoked salmon and polenta eggs benedict with a lemon-dill hollandaise sauce. Thanks for your video editing, JBG!

Homemade Chicken Stock

This is so easy to make that it actually makes you feel guilty about buying chicken stock from the store. You basically have to force yourself to be lazy enough not to make this, especially when you make roasted chickens as much as we do. It’s basically a collection of what’s left in your fridge, some simmering, then freezing for fresh chicken stock all day, all the time.

HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK (makes about 3 quarts)

1 chicken carcass (from a roasted chicken – I use this after we’ve used the bulk of it for recipes)
2 carrots, chopped
handful parsley
1 onion, cut into quarters
Kosher salt & pepper, approx. 1 tsp of each

1. Get a big stockpot, the biggest you have.

2. Throw in the chicken carcass, parsley, carrots, onion, salt & pepper.

3. Fill to the top with water – for me, this was about 12 cups.

4. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about 3 hours over very low heat, stirring every once in a while.

5. Taste, season, then remove all the chicken, veggies & parsley.

6. Store stock in large mason jars in the freezer (I stuck them in the fridge for a couple hours so they didn’t break while going from boiling to freezing) and thaw to use when needed. Enjoy.

Lasagna with Kale and Bechamel

Lasagnas are a labor of love, especially when you do them right. When I take the time to make one of these, especially when it’s entirely from scratch, I double the recipe and freeze another one, just because they take so much time and effort. And then, on days when NEPA misses breaking the record for coldest day ever by one degree, and I’ve spent the day before with a wicked stomach bug that made me feel like I was dying, barely slept because of it, woke up at 2.45am for a 4am taping of morning show (with Ryan Leckey, who, admittedly, I love) at the hospital, then coordinated five more interviews – one of which includes scrubbing up (?? in? what’s it called when you just observe) with a reporter and photographer for a VERY graphic, and incredibly advanced, knee replacement surgery – and am now waiting to connect the final interview of the day so I can just take a freaking nap already, do you know what I do? I take that second lasagna out of the freezer and start letting that beautiful thing defrost. This is homemade with love right here – my Mom’s meatsauce, noodles from scratch, a nutmeg-y bechamel, some kale and fresh parm…dinner’s going to be the best part of this day.

LASAGNA WITH KALE AND BECHAMEL (Makes one 9.5 x 11 inch delicious pan of lasagna) Continue reading “Lasagna with Kale and Bechamel”