Oeufs and Champagne

Leave it to Paris to inspire Captain Kitchen to climb out from the murky depths of silence.

Last Sunday's brunch was at Café Temple on Rue de Bretagne in the Marais... IN PARIS. The meal was simple and perfect: a soft boiled egg, served with strips of toast, butter and strawberry jam, along with a basket of croissants and toast for two, café americain [brought as a cup of espresso and a carafe of hot water] and a glass of orange juice.

For lunch today - back in New York City - I will be making soft boiled eggs with lots of fresh cracked pepper, dijon mustard on the side [Amora, from Paris], with strips of sourdough for dipping, and a green leafy salad with a mustardy-lemony-peppery vinaigrette.

But there's just one problem: I don't own egg holders. ...major crisis!

And then... it came to me.

The wire caps to champagne bottles - which I save along with any other used corks in a wooden bowl that adorns my kitchen table - hold an egg beautifully:

Just another reason to drink more champagne.

xoxo
Captain Kitchen

Business Brunch Baked Eggs

My dear friend, client and oft partner-in-crime Genevieve came by yesterday morning for a business brunch. We had much to discuss (gossip about) and celebrate. I made individual baked eggs. There was champagne.

This recipe is easy, versatile and absolutely delicious. I find it the most enjoyable and creative way to cook eggs, and you'll be sure to impress with its beautiful presentation and incredible taste.

Business Brunch Baked Eggs

serves 2

INGREDIENTS

(open to interpretation)

1/2 medium red onion, sliced

6-7 small mushrooms, sliced

a handful of fresh spinach, ripped into smaller bits

1 small roasted red pepper, cut into strips

2 slices of a large tomato

4 eggs

a splash of milk

feta cheese, crumbled

a bit of butter

herbes de Provence

dried tarragon

salt to taste

PREP:

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

- Lightly butter the sides of two 6" Corning Ware meneutte skillets (Cornflower Blue pattern preferred).

THE FILLING:

- In a cast iron skillet, sauté the onions and mushrooms on medium heat, adding the spinach at the end until wilted. Season with herbes de Provence, add a little butter if the mixture seems dry and salt to taste.

- Whisk two eggs each in two separate bowls, and whisk in a splash of milk.

- How to roast a red (or any color) pepper: Place your pepper directly on the burner and turn the flame up as high as it can go. Completely blacken the outside of the pepper, turning it as necessary. Seal the pepper in a paper bag for 20 minutes. Remove the pepper from the bag. The blackened skin should come off quite easily. Remove the seeds and stem and cut into strips. Voilá! Never buy them in a jar ever again.

ASSEMBLY:

- Spoon the onion/mushroom/spinach mixture into the bottom of the skillet.

- Pour in the egg and milk mixture.

- Lay the slices of tomato on top.

- Drape the strips of roast red pepper atop the tomato.

- Sprinkle feta cheese over the whole thing.

- Finish with a sprinkle of dried tarragon.

COOK:

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until there is no visible raw egg on top.

SERVICE:

Put the Corning skillet directly on a plate; warn your guest that it is very hot.

SERVE WITH:

Cranberry orange muffins you baked early that morning, not too sweet

Raspberry jam and butter for the muffins

Coffee

Champagne

Slices of the orange you used for zest for the muffins

DISCUSS:

Love, plans for being inspirational in Sweden, secrets, how to avert trench-coat-wearing gallerists who are trying to ride your coattails of success, gushers.

TOAST:

Success, opportunity, gushers.

Pass the peas, please

Thanks to a certain smooth criminal, I recently acquired a new tablecloth and napkins. This inspired me to set the table. The table is set for four, even though tonight's dinner plans are for a party of three. I've requested that the third party bring a guest, so that we might use my table settings as there are.

Growing up, my brother and I would fight to the death over the honor of setting the dinner table. I usually won because I was older. Also, I was better at it. This set-up is a little ornate for me, but it's autumn, and the world is densely colored and cluttered.

And yes, those are Little Black Dress water glasses.

Tonight's menu: salad and french fries.

(Health-wise, these two dishes cancel each other out. It's true!!!)

I played with making oven fries a couple weeks ago and they were superb. I got about 2 pounds of mixed finger-sized potatoes from the potato guy at the Union Square Green Market. They were all different colors, and when cut into strips and roasted with just a little olive oil and salt, they were not only amazingly tasty but quite beautiful. I set the oven at around 400 degrees, but think I'll turn it down a bit this time. Put out ketchup and dijon mustard for dipping.

And for the salad? We'll just have to see what hits us when we're at the market. Pears will be involved. For sure.

We'll grab a baguette from Bread Alone, maybe splurge on some nice cheese, stop by the Trader Joe's Wine Shop on our way home...

Et voilá! Dinner.

Bon Apétit!

And one final request:

In the words of my mother circa 1995

"Eat with the table manners you would use if you were having dinner with President Clinton."

Oatmeal and the Opera

It's good to be back. Since I made the pot of lentil soup in June, a lot has happened. Rather than bore you with the gory details, emotional rollercoasters, triumphs, failures and changes, I will instead share with you what I had for breakfast this morning: oatmeal.

Attention recessionistas and recess-hommes: just because you're broke doesn't mean you have to live cheap.

Apples and Cinnamon Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Quick oats

1/2 small apple

honey

cinnamon

a tiny piece of butter

salt (optional)

Boil 1 cup water with a dash of salt in a saucepan for the oatmeal. While the water comes to a boil, cut up half an apple (leaving skin on) into roughly 1-centimeter cubes. Heat up your tiny piece of butter in a tiny skillet and throw in the apples. By this point your water has probably come to a boil - stir in the oatmeal and turn the heat down to a simmer. Stir the apples and oatmeal occasionally. When the oatmeal is done to your liking, spoon it into your favorite breakfast cereal bowl, ladle on the apples, drizzle desired amount of honey, sprinkle cinnamon, dash salt. Serve with coffee.

I went to the opera last night.

After getting cut off for rush tickets twice last season to see stage director Robert Lepage's production of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust at the Metropolitan Opera (I cried outside the opera house the second time), I tried my luck again and managed to get a student ticket for $27.50 (think of it as being not only twice as long than, but twice more exciting than a movie).

A rear of the rear orchestra ticket in hand (nobody puts baby in a corner), I loitered in the aisle as the house lights dimmed and scurried way up to an empty premium seat. I gave a little nod to my $300-paying neighbor and proceeded to love every minute.

Going to the opera alone is so romantically melancholy. I suppose that is where you find me now, six months after lentil soup.

Lentil Soup

This soup is to be begun at a ridiculous hour to start making soup for dinner (eg: 9:30pm, Sunday night).

Recipe source: unknown/in my head.

Ingredients

1 16 oz. bag lentils

1 12 oz. can crushed tomatoes

36 oz. water (fill the tomato can three times!)

3 large carrots, diced

4 large stalks celery, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

a bunch of spinach, ripped up into smaller pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 heaping tsp. dried oregano

1 heaping tsp. dried basil

1 large fresh bay leaf (dried is ok if you don't have fresh)

1 tbs. olive oil

Balsamic vinegar to taste

kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

other random things "to taste", dependent upon mood

Serve with:

Crusty baguette

Swiss cheese

Sriracha sauce

Lots of fresh pepper

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat and combine carrots, celery and onions. Cook until the onions are soft, and add garlic, basil, oregano and bay leaf. Stir. Cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in lentils. Add can of crushed tomatoes (San Marzano is the best) and water. Stir. Turn heat to high and allow the soup to come to a rolling boil (keeps on bubbling even if you stir it). Turn heat to low, cover pot, and simmer for at least an hour.

After your soup has simmered to the desired consistency, add the spinach and stir until wilted. Add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste (I find this soup needs a decent amount of salt).

Get creative. Craving a little sweetness? Throw in some brown sugar or honey. Craving spice? Throw in fresh ground chili paste, or chopped chili peppers. I've dashed Worcestershire sauce, squirted sriracha (though I require this as a topping, as well), tossed parsley.

Set table for self or others who have been patiently waiting for dinner-cum-midnight snack. Cut slices of crusty bread (which you and guests have probably already started munching on), and arrange cheese on a small cutting board with appropriate cutlery. Put out a little vial of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, sriracha. Bring soup pot to table and place on a dish towel or pot holder. Ladle out soup to self and/or guests. Eat.

Put extra soup in tupperware and in the fridge (this soup is always ten times better the next day, and is even delicious cold). Soak the soup pot, leave the dishes for the morning, and proceed with evening/sleep.

Sour Cream Cookies

Mom: Did you channel Bessie energy?

Me: On the second to last batch, I did.

Mom: Good. Now I can die.

All in the Family

My Captain Kitchen training began early.  Pictured above is my great-grandmother Bessie and 2-and-a-half-year-old me, making her famous sour cream cookies.  I developed my kitchen energy, finesse and skills by simply watching my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother cook and bake. They are all fabulous cooks and entertainers, no doubt the Captains of their own kitchens. 

We all have the recipe for sour cream cookies - it is very precisely written down in Bessie's handwriting on an index card - yet only one person (my mother) has been able to make them to perfection. What the written recipe lacks is directions for the tone required in the kitchen while making them, something my mother obviously picked up on as a kid, watching her Grandma Bessie at the helm. The recent acquisition of the above photo has inspired me to try my hand at them, flying solo for the first time. I've asked my mother for a copy of the original recipe and will make my valiant attempt. In fact, the pyrex mixing bowl Bessie and I are using in the photo is in my possession, and so I have high hopes for the outcome.  

If you claim to not be able to cook, just watch someone who does. I still do it when I visit my mother and grandmother, and am constantly learning new techniques, styles and combinations.

Stay tuned for a report on the outcome of the sour creams.