recipe: tony mcmuffin

Tony and I grew up an hour and 10 minutes from each other in Ohio, and in a lot of ways, we had very similar upbringings. Especially when it comes to food - our moms made a lot of the same dinners for us.  Everything from roast beef to spaghetti. So it's always funny to me when we discover some cuisine differences from our childhoods. Like the other week, we had cottage cheese in the fridge, and Tony suggested we eat cottage cheese and noodles for dinner, which was a favorite of his growing up. Um, ew - no way. And he was equally repulsed when I was dipping Fritos in the cottage cheese, a tasty combination I picked up as a child from my dad.

But Tony is always very, very impressed when I microwave an egg for a breakfast sandwich. My mom made these all the time growing up, so they never struck me as particularly special, but Tony had never had one. When I make them, I get compliments that include the phrase "best wife ever." The last time I made the sandwiches, Tony requested mustard on his, so I'm naming this sandwich the "Tony McMuffin."

Tony McMuffin

• 2 eggs
• 1 English muffin
• Butter
• 1 slice American cheese
• Mustard

Grease the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of an oversized coffee mug with butter or margarine. Crack 2 eggs into the mug. Stir with a fork to break the yolks.

Cover mug with a napkin, which will prevent a mess in your microwave if the egg pops. Microwave for 45 seconds. Use a fork to flip the egg. Re-cover mug with napkin. Microwave for 45 seconds more. (Check that the egg is no longer runny; microwave cooking times vary.)

Meanwhile, toast and butter an English muffin.

Assemble the sandwich with a slice of cheese and squirt of mustard.

Note: If you want to use just one egg, reduce cooking time to 30 seconds per side.

recipe: english muffins

Saturday morning, Tony and I had brunch at our house with Ben and Mandy. Tony suggested we have breakfast sandwiches, which I thought was a great idea. I wanted to make the sandwiches on some sort of homemade bread, and after a little Googling, I learned that homemade English muffins are pretty easy to make.

(That's a photo of one of the leftover muffins, which Tony ate with butter. During brunch, I got so caught up in trying my sandwich that I forgot to take a photo until it was half gone. Oops. They were delicious.)

I like this recipe, which I adapted from this blog, because you make the dough the night before. Then in the morning, all you have to do is cook the muffins.

English Muffins

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon (1 packet) yeast
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• cornmeal

Heat the milk to almost boiling. Remove from heat and stir in butter and sugar. Add yeast and let sit 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix flour and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.

When yeast mixture is bubbly, add to the flour and mix. I used the dough hook on my stand mixer.

Let sit for 15 minutes and then stir in salt.

Transfer dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning, use your hands to form six muffin-shaped patties. Drop muffins into a small bowl of cornmeal, then place in an ungreased skillet. I cooked two of the muffins in my small cast iron skillet and the rest in a teflon pan, and they all turned out great.

Cook muffins on the stovetop in the skillet over low heat for 10-20 minutes per side until browned.

Let muffins cool completely on a cooling rack. Split the muffins with a fork, not a knife. Toast before serving.

Makes 6 muffins.

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The breakfast sandwiches were very easy to put together in the morning. Each sandwich got two eggs, and on the table I put out white cheddar, lettuce, tomato and mayo. (By the way, this was Dec. 1, and the lettuce and tomato are from my garden ... how awesome is that to be eating garden tomatoes so late in the year?)

Oh, and I also put out French's onions for the sandwiches ... to keep it classy. 

On the side: roasted rosemary mini potatoes. And to drink: Bloody Marys. Yum all around.

recipe: individual baked huevos rancheros

A few years ago, Tony and I were visiting our friends Andrew and Erin in New York, and I ordered huevos rancheros at brunch. And since then, I've been kind of obsessed with huevos rancheros for brunch. I order them at restaurants, and I make them at home regularly.

A few Fridays ago, I was talking to my friend Avery about what to serve at brunch the next day with my friend Jen and her boyfriend Andrew. Avery didn't hesitate when she suggested individual huevos rancheros. Clearly I was intrigued.

Oh my gosh, these things were a hit. First of all, they look impressive. They're a unique dish to serve. And they also taste so good.

Individual Baked Huevos Rancheros

Adapted from Simple Cooking in a Complex City

• 8 small flour tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups pico de gallo
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups eggs (about 10 eggs), beaten
• 1/2 cup colby jack or cheese of choice
• guacamole for serving
• sour cream for serving

Butter 8 cups in a muffin tin. I used jumbo muffin tins. (If using a regular muffin tin, cooking time may be shortened.)

Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds to soften. Mold the 8 tortillas into the buttered muffin tins.

Divide the pico de gallo and black beans into each of the tortilla cups. (Note: I made my own pico de gallo with enough chopped tomatoes, hot banana peppers and onion to measure 1 1/2 cups, then added a splash of lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.)

Top each tortilla cup with 1/4 cup egg. (Make sure not to spill the egg between the tortilla cup and the muffin tin, or it makes a mess. Speaking from experience -- Tony ate that one.)

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Top with cheese and place back in the oven for 15 more minutes, or until eggs are firm.

Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

Makes 8 individual huevos rancheros and serves 4.

life: how to crack eggs

I've never been very good about keeping the yolks in tact when I crack eggs. Recipes that call for separated eggs? That's always been a disaster for me. Same goes with over-easy eggs. But a couple of months ago, I changed techniques, and I haven't broken a yolk since.

I read that when eggs are stored in the carton, the yolk settles to the bottom of the egg. So if the pointy end of the egg is pointed down in the carton, that's where the yolk is.

So I started cracking the shells on the wide end of the shell, avoiding any disruption to the yolk. And it works!

Happy egging.

<3

From the archives: 

recipe: hard boiled eggs

recipe: scrambled eggs

things to do: hill east farmers market

Last Wednesday after work, Tony and I stopped at a new farmers market in Hill East -- 13th Street and E Street Southeast. For anyone who works or lives on the Hill, it's a nice spot to grab fresh mid-week produce, and it runs until 7 p.m.

For the novelty of it, I bought some golden beets.

Here's what I did: I scrubbed them, wrapped them in foil with a little bit of olive oil, roasted them in the oven at 400 for an hour, let them cool, and rubbed the skins off. I sliced them for Tony's salad last night. He says the taste is indiscernible from red beets. They're pretty to look at, though. (I'm an admittedly picky eater and didn't try them. Can't bring myself to eat beets.)

I also bought some farm eggs, and this label cracked me up. "From hens running free indoors and out." At first I thought these people let their chickens into their house. Tony set me straight -- "indoors" clearly refers to their coop.

And some nice corn.

Which was pesticide-free corn. Which means a few of the ears I picked up had little worms munching away.

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In other farmers market news, I got a cool white eggplant at the H Street market Saturday morning. Again, for the novelty of it. I made eggplant parmesan, and Tony and I really couldn't tell the difference between the taste of white eggplant and purple.

recipe: hard boiled eggs

I have perfected the hard boiled egg. The yolks turn out perfectly yellow without that green ring that forms when they're boiled for too long. And the yolks are just firm enough. 

I usually boil up a bunch of eggs on Sunday evening, and Tony and I eat them throughout the week. I'll eat an egg for a quick breakfast, or I'll dice one in a salad with dinner, or I'll have one for an evening snack. 

I give my mom 95 percent of the credit for this recipe, although I adjusted her original cooking time to 14 minutes from 15 minutes. (It seems the yolks start to turn green at 15 minutes, and they're not firm enough for my liking at 13 minutes.) 

Hard Boiled Eggs

• Desired number of eggs
• Salt 
• Water

Place eggs in an empty pot or saucepan. (Tip from my grandma, who grew up on a farm: Don't use fresh eggs. They're harder to peel.)

Sprinkle salt over the eggs. (This also helps make the eggs easier to peel.)

Add water to the pot and fill until the water line is about 1 inch above the top of the eggs.

Place pot over high heat until water comes to a rolling boil.

Take pot off of the heat, and cover. Let sit for 14 minutes. 

Drain and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking. The eggs will keep in the fridge for a week.

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From the archives: 

recipe: scrambled eggs

entertaining: berries and brunch

The beauty of Sunday's brunch was its simplicity. Granola with Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries and strawberries. Hard boiled eggs. Raspberry lemonade. Tony and I woke up Sunday morning, put everything in serving bowls, and, voila, instant brunch with Camille and Matt. 

The raspberry lemonade was the only homemade part of the brunch. It's pink, which is fun. And it's a nice summer drink, a good combo of sweet and tart. 

Raspberry Lemonade

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 ounces raspberries
• 8 lemons
• 4 cups water

Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan, and heat on low until sugar dissolves, making a simple syrup. Cool. 

Puree raspberries in a food processor. Strain the berries to separate out the seeds. Discard the seeds. 

Juice the lemons.

Combine simple syrup, raspberry puree, and lemon juice in a large pitcher. Add 4 cups water. Chill and serve over ice. 

recipe: scrambled eggs

I scored some farm eggs at the farmers' market yesterday afternoon, and I decided that was the perfect reason to have breakfast for dinner. These eggs are from Haskins Family Farm in Middletown, Va., which is west of Washington. The lady who sold me the eggs said they were all laid in the past three days. In addition to be quite tasty, they come in various sizes and colors (including blue!) -- how fun is that.

Tony grew up with chickens, and he just informed me that in the late 1990s he earned first place in the Lorain County Fair for chicken showmanship. He said these eggs took him back to the days when he'd start his mornings checking the nesting boxes for eggs.

I learned to make scrambled eggs from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This quite possibly is the easiest recipe in this cookbook. And these are, hands down, the best scrambled eggs I've ever had. (Sorry, Mom!) Julia figured out the precise amount of liquid you must add to scrambled eggs to make them fluffy.

Scrambled Eggs 

Beat the eggs in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon water or milk per egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Smear the bottom of a nonstick frying pan with butter or margarine, and heat to medium-low. Pour in the eggs, and stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the eggs set.