One-Mitt Wonder

I’m heartbroken!

So I finally got the nerve to post one of my favorite recipes on Tasty Kitchen, a website founded by my blog-idol, The Pioneer Woman. I prefaced the recipe with a short disclaimer apologizing for the bad photography, knowing full well that my photo pales in comparison to the other recipe snapshots on the website. It’s amazing how many “every day women” cooking in real kitchens at home also possess both a) amazing top-of-line cameras and lighting and b) beautiful dishware. There are so many white square plates on that website it’s madness!

Well, long story short, within a few hours of my recipe being available for viewing (it has to be approved first) I was given a dreaded one mitt rating. Out of a possible five mitts. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I know it’s not exactly a culinary masterpiece, but … one measly mitt?! How could someone have managed to cook my dish, eat it and decide they hate it so much they have to immediately rate it a mortifying one mitt?!

My boyfriend saw me staring dejectedly at my computer screen and asked what was wrong.

Embarrassed, I told him. “Someone rated my recipe on Tasty Kitchen.”

“Really? That’s great!” Having heard me talk about posting my recipe on this website for some time, he knew how important it was to me. “How much did they love it?”

His sweet earnest words almost made me cry. “More like, how much did they hate it! I got one mitt!”

He looked at me hopefully. “Out of … two?”

“Out of five!” I felt my cheeks heat up and wanted to delete the recipe immediately. I felt like an idiot.

My boyfriend was silent. He walked out of the room and I turned back to the computer. Within thirty seconds I’d decided for sure to delete the recipe.

Just then my boyfriend walked back in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Your recipe is delicious. Ignore whoever that jerk was that rated it one mitt. Who cares what they think? We know it’s good.”

I smiled, inhaling his smell and burying my face into his neck. “Thanks, honey.”

After he walked away I looked proudly at my recipe, handsomely posted on Tasty Kitchen.

Hmpf. He’s right. That person probably has terrible taste. They probably eat their filet mignon with ketchup. And they probably prefer margarine to butter. And they’re probably afraid of all that delicious cream the recipe calls for.

They probably eat low-fat mayonnaise. Yuuuuck.

One Mitt Reviewer: 0, Amy: 1.

Recipe to try: Dutch Baked Egg

I’m new to this. Obviously. And by this I mean blogging and posting recipes.

I don’t have Photoshop on the computer I’m currently using, and both my camera and lighting situations are less than ideal, so to say.

In short, please forgive the shoddy food photography. Please look past it and just try to take my word for it when I say this dish is positively delectable. The recipes calls for heavy whipping cream, so right off the bat you know it’s freakin’ delicious. And sinful, really, health-wise, so I try to make it only once or twice a month. What’s really great about this dish is that you can tweak it to suit your taste. There are a million possible combinations, possibly endless. Er, don’t do the math, please. Just take my word for it, again.

A quick back story: When I was a kid, I loved to make my own breakfast. I used a cookbook I found in the cupboard and proceeded to make every dish (ingredients and materials providing) in the breakfast section. Some were outright delicious; others were a total culinary disaster.

I remember when I found the Dutch Baked Egg recipe. I remember being particularly intrigued by the idea of an entire meal cooked and contained in a single little dish. It was a cold California morning during Christmas break and the combination of the warmth and the mouth-watering scent that poured from the oven was exceptionally pleasing; to this day this dish still serves as a real comfort food for me.

I have tweaked this recipe a bit from the original one I found in the cookbook, but I kept the name out of respect.

So, as Ree would say, please try this dish. Pretty please? Please?

Dutch Baked Eggs
Serves: Two
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

Four extra-large eggs
Heavy-whipping cream or whipping cream (Your preference)
Shredded cheese (Your preference)
Diced ham
Mushrooms (optional)
Chives (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly grease edges and bottom of two ramekins with butter, using a paper towel. This is just to prevent the edges form burning and sticking to the ramekins. (Which makes cleaning them a bit of a chore.)

This is the ham I had on hand. You can use any kind of ham you’d like, but the thicker, the better.

Dice into bite size pieces.

Fill bottom layer of ramekin with diced ham.

Top with layer of mushrooms, or tomatoes, or both. Feel free to get creative. However I do offer this one piece of advice: steer clear of onions, or bell peppers, any vegetable with a strong flavor. Also, bacon doesn’t cook well and usually becomes chewy and limp. I’ve tried several ways, with several different types of bacon, to no avail. Now, as for putting crumbled crispy bacon on top of the finished product … well, that’s a whole ‘nother delicious story.

Break the two eggs on top of the ham/mushroom/whatever layers.

Then, fill the remaining space with cream.

Make sure it’s a good, thick layer. Almost right to the top. Finish with a dash of salt and pepper.

Then, shred some cheese and sprinkle across the top. I used this yummy block of gruyere I bought at a local farmers market.

Apparently, it was aged in a cave, which makes me wonder just how they accomplish that. This will become a nice, crispy-baked crust, like on baked French Onion soup. Yum, onion soup!

And that’s it! Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the center rack for about 40 minutes. Start peeking at it around that point, and watch the cheese.

I pulled mine out a few minutes too late. Ignore the cheese that has burned slightly.

Eat immediately! It’s sooooo good when it’s right out of the oven. The cream has turned into a fluffy, dreamy pillow of goodness.  Dig in and enjoy!

*Note:  If you hate a cooked egg yolk, take it out sooner or try lowering the temperature. You can also add the cheese just before you take it out. Test the yoke with a toothpick before adding the cheese. It will take about ten minutes for the cheese to turn into a nice crust. Of course, ovens vary, so cooking times may also.