The ABC's of Cooking: E Is for Eggs

Every head chef of every family needs as many go-to recipes that are quick and easy as possible, without sacrificing nutrition and flavor. At the top of my list I place eggs because HappyDayFarms has chickens and they are in full stride, providing eggs for both family and the farm stand. Even though the cost of eggs has gone up, all I can say is that eggs still stack up favorably as far as quick meals go. What eggs lose in terms of cost, they gain as far as ease of preparation.

Because I receive vast amounts of veggies each week from Casey, especially cooking greens to use for lunches, I am always trying to think of new ways to prepare them. If you are one who also gets beet tops, turnip greens, boy choy, spinach, kale, chard, cabbage or any other kind of cooking greens, and you sometimes feel at a loss as to how to use them, think about an egg stir.

Kid friendly? That depends on whether the kids have been raised on veggies from the garden/farmers’ market or McDonald’s and chili-mac. In any case, (no judgment) if the kids are traveling down a different culinary avenue, the adults still have to eat.

Almost identical to a frittata in terms of how an egg stir is prepared, one difference is that instead of eggs being the dominant ingredient, cooking greens are. The other difference is that a frittata is usually baked in the oven and an egg stir is cooked on top of the stove. I simply sauté the chopped greens in a skillet in farm-produced lard or olive oil until they are cooked (The time will vary for different greens), and then pour whisked eggs over the veggies, and cook them as I would scrambled eggs. 

In cooking eggs in this manner, I use a medium fire and stay attentive to the cooking eggs, because it only takes three-four minutes with a medium fire. I stir/flip them every thirty seconds or so to prevent the eggs from burning. With the liquid from the cooking greens, it is almost impossible to burn the eggs.

Once the eggs have cooked, I can turn off the burner, add cheese, put a lid on the skillet to allow the cheese to melt, and then serve. 

When I was teaching, I perfected cooking the seven-minute breakfast for myself, using a can of already cut-up potatoes, two or three eggs, grated cheese, salt/pepper and tortillas. Getting out a medium-sized skillet with lid, I opened up the can of potatoes, drained them and put them into the skillet over a medium fire, with enough oil to barely cove the bottom of the pan. At the same time I put the griddle on a different burner, to get it heated up for warming tortillas. 

I whisked the eggs together and as soon as the potatoes were hot, I poured the eggs over them and stayed on top of them so the eggs didn’t burn. I grated enough cheese to cover the eggs and potatoes, and when the eggs had cooked, I turned off the burner, put the cheese on, covered it with a lid and waited long enough to melt the cheese. I then filled heated tortillas with the mixture and added hot sauce or salsa as desired. 

Egg stirs can contain any variety of different ingredients, from veggies to macaroni and cheese, zucchini casserole, sausages, leftover chopped up enchiladas, chunks of rancho steak, chili con carne and whatever other leftovers you have in the icebox.

No discussion about eggs would be complete without a recipe for deviled eggs. I usually cook a dozen hard-boiled eggs to make two dozen servings for a gathering. If you have a special trick for peeling [fresh] hard-boiled eggs, then trot that baby out and dust it off.

Otherwise, place the eggs in a large saucepan in a single layer and cover them with at least two inches of water. Bring the water to a boil over a medium fire, reduce the heat and cook for twelve minutes. Take the eggs off the stove and run cold water over them until you can handle an egg under running water. I take the flat side of a knife and tap it firmly over every centimeter of the egg, breaking the shell into a spider web of tiny pieces. I then roll the egg on a wooden cutting board until small pieces of shell start to fall off.

Under running water I then find that the shell peels off pretty efficiently. And yes, there will almost always be a weisenheimer in there that will end up being your taste test.

By running the water over the eggs as I peel them, they naturally cool off, allowing me to cut them in half, lengthwise. I put the half-yokes in a separate dish, mash them up and add one-half cup of mayonnaise, two teaspoons of vinegar, two teaspoons of yellow mustard, black pepper to taste and smoked paprika as a garnish. 

I do not add salt as this is one dish where a little goes way too far. After mixing the yokes and the rest of the ingredients, I then spoon the mixture back into the empty half eggs and add the paprika, before chilling the deviled eggs for serving.

Growing up, the boys loved a breakfast of hash browns and chili omelet, with the omelet being formed by simply spreading a can of heated chili across six or eight already-scrambled eggs, with cheese on the top. It takes ten minutes to make a chili omelet.

Fried, easy-over, scrambled, poached or mixed with just about anything, eggs are one way to go.