Jun 8

Jun 8 Make me a Sandwich!...Brunch Part 2

In part 2 of this two part post, we make brunch.

Now that you are completely and 100% accurately informed about the history of brunch let’s get into making some brunch. Rizzo and I invited some friends over for a lovely Memorial Day brunch to help me out with this blog. I cooked and they ate. The centerpiece of this meal was a recipe from bon appetit magazine for Company Eggs.

This egg dish is designed for, you guessed it, company and it is easy and delicious for serving breakfast for a couple of people. As I’ve been trying to do in my previous blogs about cooking to show how easy creative and tasty cooking can be, I’m going to give you the ingredients and cooking instructions from memory. Of course, if you don’t believe me, you can always click on the link above to get the real directions.

Here is what you will need:

· 1 small onion, chopped

· 4 cloves of garlic, minced

· 2 tablespoons of olive oil

· Salt

· Pepper

· ½ cup of heavy cream

· 2 massive bunches of Swiss Chard, pull the leaves from the stalks and just keep the leafy part

· 12 eggs

· 2 ounces (about ½ cup) of cheddar cheese

Here is how you make it:

As the actual instructions allow, I decided to make the base for the dish the night before because I knew that I would be cooking up some other food in the morning. For starters you will need to chop up your onions. If you are like me, chopping onions is one of the most painful experiences on this earth. Okay, that may not be true, but you would think that it is based upon the salt water pouring from my eye sockets every time I slice into an onion. Rizzo found the solution. Apparently you can purchase glasses specifically designed for chopping onions. I don’t deny that you look like an idiot but it is definitely effective in stopping the crying so invest the $15 and get yourself a pair.

In case you don't know what chopped onions look like.

Now that your onion is chopped heat the olive oil in the largest pan you have in the house. Believe me when I say you are going to need as much pan as you can get. Add the garlic and onions to the pan and sauté until the onions are clear. This should be about 8 to 10 minutes. Now is when you will be glad you have the massive pan because you will now start adding handfuls of Swiss chard, a little at a time, until the Swiss chard has wilted enough for you to fit it all in the pan. It will take another 8 to 10 minutes for all the chard to wilt enough to fit in the pan.

Nothing smells better than some well sauteed onions.

After the chard is ready add the ½ cup of heavy cream to the pan and mix up the entire concoction. Season with salt and pepper and cook the mixture until the cream is almost entirely evaporated which would be about 8 to 10 minutes (I should call this recipe trip 8s). This concludes the creation of the base of the dish. It is at this point that you can put the mixture in the fridge and save it for tomorrow mornings brunch or you can move on to the next step for today’s breakfast. If you do decide to save the mixture for later make sure to reheat the chard before moving on to the next step.

Either way you go, for the next step spread the chard mixture on the bottom of a 13x9x2 pan. If you don’t have one use a two or more baking dishes. Use the back of a spoon so make 12 small indentions into the mixture. Crack an egg into each of the indentions making sure not to break the yoke. If you break the yoke then you will have ruined the entire dish and will have to start from all over again (just kidding, it isn’t the end of the world). Shred the cheese across the top of the eggs. The recipe calls for 2 ounces of cheese but I say just shred the hell out of the cheese until the entire thing is covered.

Slide the baking dish into a 400 degree oven and cook for 15 to 18 minutes. The amount of time spent baking depends on how well done you want to cook the eggs. I went with 15 minutes to have a nice runny yoke but to make sure that the white of the eggs were completely cooked. After 15 minutes you will be all set (so will the eggs) and you will have a delicious and nutritious meal for brunch. The dish looks fancy and will impress your friends even though it was so easy to make.

To complete our brunch I also cooked up some gluten-free pancakes, breakfast sausage, and the Clark original recipe roasted potatoes. It was a delicious meal and everyone left satisfied. I hope you get a chance to cook up these eggs. Your guests will appreciate it.

Enjoy!