Earl Cooks Chef John's Fried Cheese Egg Toast - Sort Of

One of the most entertaining and instructional chefs I have found and follow regularly is Chef John (John Mitzewich). I don't often copy his recipes, because he is, well, a chef. My training is loving to cook and eat.
...but today I wanted to copy this one because it is something even I can handle, I think. I varied it a bit because of my on-hand ingredients. It is three of the best foods ever (cheese, eggs, and toast). I learned at a very young age to LOVE eggs, runny and dippable. I liked them with the top barely white and I would peel it back and open the golden goodness to my hot, buttered toast. I always had a hard time getting eggs at restaurants cooked so the white was set and the yolk was runny. Often the yolk and white were both hard, which was exactly how one of my best friends would order them "Over hard & smashed flat" was his preference and I could never understand that. I don't think my daughters followed in my footsteps, but my grandboys did. I made and continue to make breakfasts for them as often as possible and their favorite is DIPPING EGGS.

Back to the recipe. The original post by Chef John can be found here  

I had to redo my first attempt because I used a pan just a bit too large to accommodate my toast. I am posting both because they tasted terrific!

The pan should be non-stick. My first pan was my 9" Perfect Grip® Pan. To the heated pan I added cheddar/jack enough to cover (but the pan was too big). Simply allow the cheese to melt. 

When your cheese gets golden brown flip it to make sure both sides are crispy. Now it's time to add your egg. The tough part is keeping the yolk centered on the cheese. I just tilted the pan until it was set enough to stay. 

Like Chef John, I tried to allow the white to spread so it would cook, with some success. My wife (a.k.a "Turkey") did not think it was done enough, so I knew it was perfect!

 As you can see, or can't see, the cheese and egg are too large for my toast. If we eat with our eyes, your eyes are saying "Where's the toast?" It's there, I assure you.

I tried to fold mine in on itself as the Chef did, but mine became more of a cheese-Taco shell...what a great idea...but the extra cheese just wouldn't fold like the video showed. As you can see, it looked good and I was determined to  give it another go.

 Second Try
This time I started with a smaller pan, an 8" anodized aluminum pan which is one of my favorites for frying eggs. I followed the same basic steps, using the same ingredients. Since the pan was smaller, I used less cheese, which was my first goal. It melted and crisped up just fine. The egg was still uncooperative and I was less successful keeping it in the center. I also covered it for just long enough to make the white set and the yolk got a slight cover of white from the steam generated.

Here is an animation showing how it turned out. I zoomed in to show better detail.

This is a marvelous breakfast! Chef John said he did it to get out of a breakfast rut. I don't seem to have those. If I have eggs, bread, and cheese (and I always have eggs, bread, and cheese), I never feel I am in a rut, but this is a new take on an old favorite. My wife and friend are probably saying "eew!", and my grandboys are probably saying "why didn't we get an invite!" Thanks to Chef John at Foodwishes.com for the inspiration and the 2 great breakfasts!

Earl Cooks Irish Stew (sort of) for "Turkey" on St. Paddy's Day

My wife, (a.k.a "Turkey"), has a BUNCH of Irish ancestors. Her mom is an Irish researcher and they are proud of their heritage, so St. Patrick's Day is a big deal. Usually I do corned beef and cabbage, but "Turkey" said she didn't care for the fattiness of most of the corned beef briskets, so I started researching other Irish dishes I could make. My research led me to Pork Irish Stew! I had all of the ingredients (I thought), so I went to work.

—I started with 2 large country style pork ribs from the freezer that I had frozen and vacuum packed previously. I defrosted them and removed them from the vacuum sealed bag and cut them up into 1 inch chunks, which I then place in my cast iron dutch oven to brown, seasoned with just salt & pepper and some olive or vegetable oil in the bottom. 

—Once browned, remove from dutch oven and place in a bowl while other items are prepared. Here is where I had to deviate from the recipe, because it called for carrots, and I thought I had some, but I found out I had none. But I did have another root veggie to use...Golden Beets. 

—Cut the beet greens, soak, and then scrub to remove the soil. Trim and peel to remove the thick skin and slice, dice or julienne into chunks about the size of  your cubed pork. Gold beets are a great choice because they have all the flavor of beets without the red which can discolor everything. Start by sauteing onions in butter with salt and pepper 7-10 minutes until softened. Add minced garlic and saute until fragrant. Add 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour and stir for about a minute. Add 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar. The next one is a real deviation. The recipe called for Guinness. I don't drink and don't even have anything close to that, so I called an audible. I poured a cup of cream soda, yes that cream soda, in. To that I added canned chicken stock. Now add the beets and browned pork to the dutch oven and cook at a low boil until almost tender. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

TOP: Add browned pork and beets to stock & onions
Bottom: Add Brussels Sprouts to beets and pork

—And now the cabbage! Yes, I know I said Corned beef and cabbage wasn't very authentic, but Irish stew DOES have cabbage. But I am not using the traditional. Rather I am using baby cabbage. "What?", you say, you have "never heard of baby cabbage". Well it comes from Belgium and is more commonly called Brussels Sprouts. I try to have Trader Joe's frozen Brussels Sprouts on hand always, and I do have them today. The package says they are from Belgium, so not quite Irish in origin, but they definitely are cabbage. I used the whole bag but they were quite small. If you have larger sprouts the recipe calls for 12 cut in half. Pour them into the dutch oven. It doesn't take long for them to cook.

—And now I must backtrack some. The recipe called for mashed potatoes as a base for the stew. I chose to make mine with my soon-to-be-famous mashed cauliflower. I start with riced cauliflower from the frozen section which I cook WELL. It must be softened to be mash-able. Drain the liquid and add 2 tablespoons butter and half a cup of milk. Add a half cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Irish of course). Use a hand masher to mash and blend completely and place in the bottom of the bowl. Top with the completed stew and season with salt and pepper and a nice daub of butter. Happy St. Paddy's Day 🍀


The link below is for the recipe I I used from chef John with video:
Chef John's Irish Pork Stew with Baby Cabbage

Game Day Goodies & Gathering

I realized, as we all gathered on Super-bowl Sunday, that I was the only one of us that remembers the first Super Bowl. My wife's family barely watched TV, let alone a sporting event on Sunday. My household, on the other hand, was headed by my dad, a real fan. Back then the only way to see professional sports was on TV, except for our minor league baseball team. Which is one reason we always had a very nice TV, in our basement, in the room we called the TV room. It was an unfinished room and if the washer was going, you couldn't hear the TV! The two things that were always on were The Tonight Show, (Carson of course) and any sporting event: Friday night fights, Golf on Saturday, and Sunday for pro football, which later expanded to Monday nights. Don't get me wrong, we watched many more programs...as long as they didn't get in the way of sports. Let me get back to the food...

I have tried to make the Super Bowl an event my Grandboys gather for. I try to have goodies for them and make it a special occasion, even if we hardly watch the game. We don't have favorite teams, so we just hope for a good game, and if not, we ignore it.

Starting with appetizers, my wife, "Turkey", was tasked with making the deviled eggs, which was the ONLY dish everyone ate. I made some Little Smokies which I placed in a crock-pot and then added a raspberry jam with jalapeño. Of course, we had chips and dip.

My favorite kind of chicken is wings. My favorite wings come from Winger's®. Because they are so good, I have never tried to match their quality and flavor...but today is game day and so it's on! I found a recipe from Chef John at Foodwishes.com, which promised crispy wings baked in the oven!
—Start with 2½ to 3 pounds of chicken wings.
— Mix together in a large bowl:

• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp baking powder (aluminum free)

—Coat the wings in the spiced baking powder mix, and bake at 425 F on a wire rack in a baking sheet, turning every 15-20 minutes, until they are browned and crispy. Total cooking time will be about 1 hour, but that depends on the size and the starting temperature of your wings. They will look unappetizing for the the first turn or two. (Also, "Turkey" recommends lining your baking sheet with aluminum foil for easier clean-up).

—I made a sauce from Texas Pete's Wing Sauce, a legacy from my departed mother, to which I added about a cup of brown sugar.

This was about as close as I will come to Winger's-like wings. My one grandboy liked his, but the other grandboy felt it was a bit too spicy for him. My wife peels the skin off of her wings, so she didn't get the full effect of the heat. 

My final contribution was cheddar brats. Shown here with a toasted bun and caramelized onion chips topped, of course, with mustard. I chose to braise the brats first and pan grill them to give them a rich color. I used a hoagie roll rather than a bun. It was delightful. 

I know who won but didn't care much. With my wife, 2 grandboys, and daughter here it was a great evening!

Earl Cooks Salt Roasted Chicken & Burns Golden Beets

In keeping with my new resolve to follow more recipes from others to learn from them, rather than "wing" it, I found a recipe for a salt roasted whole chicken from Chef John, Salt-Roasted Chicken – Tastes Like Chicken .
I should point out that I have never roasted a whole chicken. Whole turkeys, yes. This is a different animal - for me.

There are only 2 ingredients for the chicken -  and one was the chicken. I liked that. The other ingredient is kosher salt. This is perfect. but I made a couple of mistakes, which I will tell you about. Let's begin.
—I found whole roast chickens ON SALE for just 77¢/pound! The recipe called for a 3½ to 4-pound bird which was what I brought home. The chef used a nice big skillet, which was stainless steel and oven proof. I didn't have an oven-proof skillet that was big enough...except my 12" cast iron, which turned out to be the perfect size! (One note here: It is nearly impossible to find chicken that has not been "enhanced" with a solution of 10-15%. This is NOT an enhancement, it allows them to sell you a smaller product than you want to pay for or for a price that is deceptively lowered. Enough preaching!)

—I cleaned my bird, making certain I didn't contaminate any wooden surfaces, after removing the giblets. Then I coated it on ALL sides, including the cavity, with kosher salt and placed it in the pan which was coated with oil and a thin layer of salt. I discovered after cooking that I had used too much salt because I didn't follow the recipe and tried my own measuring. (DON'T DO THIS. I love salt, as does my wife, but too much is, well, TOO MUCH!) Now place your bird into a preheated 450℉ oven. Cook it for 50-60 minutes or until the thickest part of the thigh registers 165℉. When you remove it from the oven, it should look something like mine (pictured at the left). Remove your chicken to a platter and cover it with foil while you prepare the lemon/thyme sauce. This became the star of my dish, and I was surprised. I had never tried to make a pan sauce but it was well worth it.

FOR THE SAUCE
—Remove all but about 10% of the fat in the pan and place the pan on a burner set to medium-high. Add thyme leaves to the pan. Heat until wilted.
—Add the juice of 1 lemon to the pan drippings along with ⅓ cup of chicken stock. I found that this was great for scraping up the tasty brown bits (or fond) from the bottom of the pan. Reduce, if necessary, and turn the pan to low. Add 2 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into quarters and stir into the sauce. It will emulsify when stirred. It will be one of the best sauces ever! Spoon the sauce over the chicken and add fresh ground pepper and it will be great...if you didn't use too much salt!

For my portion, I chose the leg/thigh quarter This may have been the juiciest chicken I have ever cooked! I prepared a side dish of Golden Beets, which I OVERCOOKED by mistake making them inedible for my wife, so I ate them all. here is how it SHOULD be done:

If you have never tried Golden Beets, they are great! They have the flavor and texture of regular beets and can be cooked the same, without the deep red color permeating everything.
—Clean by soaking well. The soil seems to cling to them. Remove the greens (save them for another dish or stock). Peel them and slice each beet into 8 wedges.
—I like to place them into a pan and roast them with olive oil and salt and pepper. a splash of balsamic vinegar goes well too, and is a bit reminiscent of pickled beets. You can also roast them with other root veggies such as  parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, and carrots. They would be good mashed too and a healthy alternative to potatoes. They can be boiled or pickled, just like their red counterparts too.

My beets BURNED!

WHAT I DID and DIDN'T Do:
—I used all of the recipe ingredients with no substitutions.
—I roasted it per recipe instructions.
—I made the pan sauce as directed.
—I didn't have any cotton twine so I couldn't tie the legs together, but the bird I bought had been flattened a bit so it would have been difficult anyway.
—I used too much salt! It was the only place I deviated from the recipe, and I shouldn't have. It affected the flavor of the outer part of the bird but the meat was fine.
—I BURNED MY BEETS! I basically forgot about them while finishing the chicken. I know it's just the side dish but we were looking forward to it!
Conclusion:
I will make this again, but I will modify it to use parts rather than a whole bird since it is just two of us.

Earl Cooks Baked Chicken Parmesan from Chef John

Recently I decided I needed to start following some recipes, since I have hundreds I have wanted to eat from years of collecting foods I want to eat. My first shot at this is a recipe from Chef John & All Recipes.com called The Best Parmesan Chicken Bake (link). I will say up front, I did not follow the recipe exactly, but mostly.
—I started with three chicken breast halves flattened to an even, half inch thickness.
—In a 9x13 inch glass baking pan, add olive oil to the bottom and add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic. I have pre-chopped in my fridge, so I use that. On top of the oil & garlic, I place the 3 chicken breasts.
—Next I added chunky Garden Vegetable Pasta Sauce from a jar on top of the breasts. Enough to cover. Use plenty to avoid drying out the chicken breast.
—Layer the pasta sauce with ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated. You will need another ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan later for a total of 1 cup mozzarella and ½ cup Parmesan. (Note: The recipe called for fresh basil before the first cheese layer, but I didn't have any. It would have been better with it.).
—Now add the croûtons. Mine were homemade using my wife's homemade bread and seasoned with herbs. Use enough to cover the first layer.
—Now add the reserved cheese. For the final layer I used shaved Parmesan rather than grated.
—In a preheated 350℉ oven, bake until golden brown and chicken is done, about 35 minutes.

I finished by adding Brussels Sprouts, which I roasted  along with the chicken, to the plate and placed the chicken on top of a bed of gluten free rotini. It was all very good.


Results & Conclusions
My modifications to the recipes were minor. I did not have fresh basil, and wished I had. Even dry would have helped. That was my bad. I also used an Italian blend of cheeses rather than straight mozzarella. Next time I will use the mozzarella and Parmesan alone. The cheese tasted fine, but I wished I had a gooier melt. I also used too little sauce. I eyeballed it. DON"T! 

I was surprised how much I liked the gluten-free rotini! It was a gift from my departed mom, which she got on clearance somewhere. Next time, I will go for a more traditional Chicken Parmesan, but the bake will always be an option!