Prosciutto, Dill, and Marscapone Egg Puff

This Sunday is Easter and, if your family is anything like mine, you are starting to put together a Brunch menu for post egg-finding nourishment. 

At our house, the Egg hunting is a full out contact sports. We actually have to have two separate hunts, a kids hunt and a grown-up hunt. It's that, or specifically assign each participant their own color, size, and type of egg to find.  It's that competitive. For a family that mostly eschews all sports activities, on Easter, we surprise ourselves.

The morale behind all this, is that by 10:30? We. Are. Starving.


I came up with this take on a dish my aunt makes (stay tuned for my version of that dish) and calls "The Egg Puff." What's an Egg puff you ask? Well, it's sort of a cross between a frittata (although much less fun to say) and a soufflé.  But its much, much easier than either, and twice as versatile. It can be made ahead and served cold, or prepped ahead and popped into the oven right before serving and enjoyed warm. I often make both versions, and serve them simultaneously to make sure both vegetarians and carnivores (who, lets face it, luck out and eat both) have options. It's that easy.

Ingredients:

10 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 carton mascarpone (16 oz)
4 cups shredded mozzarella
10 slices of prosciutto, diced
2 TBS fresh dill, minced
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat eggs until light, fluffy, and pale yellow.

Add flour, backing powder, salt, mascarpone, mozzarella, butter, dill, and prosciutto, blend until smooth.

 

Pour mixture into a well buttered baking pan. I used a 8 1/2 by 12 Le Creuset. 

 

Bake 40-45 mins; top should start looking like this...

... and the puff should look solid (not watery), although moveable, when jiggled.

 

And that, is it. Trust me, once you add this to your brunch or breakfast rotation, you won't go back.

Roasted Turkey Breast

Having cooked Thanksgiving for the past 17 years, I consider myself quite the turkey expert. I have cooking the whole bird down to a T. This past Thanksgiving, Jamie and I were remarking that for a family who is as large as ours is, and who loves turkey as much as we do, it's surprising that we only have turkey once a year. On Thanksgiving. We could quite easily roast a smaller bird, and eat it, throughout the year, but we just never do it.

Yesterday I was at the grocery store, tracking down snack items for Buggys class, when I ran across a bone-in, skin-on Turkey breast, and thought...why not? It's got the bone and the skin for flavor- one of the reasons I have been against cooking just a breast...Really, what good is turkey without all the built-in flavor enhancers?!? So I brought it home with me and cooked it.

Life changing. I kid you not. Turkey, pan gravy, and all the thanksgiving yuminess in no time. I served it with steamed zucchini and artichoke risotto. Perfect family meal. Life changing. Guess what we will be having for dinner regularly? I can't wait to play around with flavors, now that I've nailed the cooking technique. And trust me when I say this... It's easy. 

And have I mentioned... life changing?!?

Ingredients

4 - 5 lb turkey breast, skin-on, bone in

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened 

2 sweet onions, peeled and sliced

Handful of Italian Parsley

8 stalks of fresh Thyme

4 stalks of fresh Rosemary

1/2 cup of Chardonnay

1/2 cup of chicken stock

3 T of flour

1/2 cup of milk, warmed 

2-3 cups of chicken stock (separate use)

Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat Oven to 450.

In a stove-top safe roasting pan, layer onions on top of each other in center of the pan. Top with fresh herbs. Rub softened butter all over turkey breast, under skin, in cavity, and under the bone. (If you don't plan on making gravy, you can coat the breast in olive oil instead). Salt and pepper the breast, top and bottom. Lay breast skin side up, over onions and herbs, using them to create a natural roasting rack. The flavor will infuse the breast, and also flavor the drippings for pan gravy. Pour liquid into the bottom of the pan.

Roast at 450 for 25 minutes. Lower heat to 375, basting turkey with pan liquid when you do so. Continue to cook for one hour, basting every 20 minutes. Using a meat thermometer make sure breast has reached 165 degrees. 

Remove turkey to carving board and tent with tin foil. Let rest 20 minutes before carving.

While turkey is resting, make gravy. Place pan on stove top, and turn heat to medium. Add flour 1 TSP at a time, whisking vigorously several minutes between each addition. Once pan drippings and flour have been combined, whisk in warmed milk. Add chicken stock in 1/2 cup increments, whisking every time, until mixture is slightly thick. 

Serve gravy over sliced turkey.

Potatoes formally known as Ginger

We are huge on holiday food traditions around here. I love making the same things, once a year, and know that my kids have come to love and associate certain dishes with specific holidays. I incorporate dishes my grandmother made with dishes I especially love, and we end up with a smattering of holiday fav's.

This particular dish was my grandmother's, or rather her friend Ginger's. At least that's what I am assuming because my grandmother always made them, and they were always known as "Ginger's potatoes." I've 'moderned' them up a bit... making them a little bit fresher, and removing a lot of the processed ingredients...Because of this, they've become similar to an au gratin potato and could certainly be used in the place of, for any occasion that calls for them. Note that I removed some processed ingredients, but NOT the fat... this is not a diet conscious recipe.

Ingredients:

6 russet potatoes, peeled, diced, and thrust in lightly salted ice water until use
2 yellow or orange bell peppers, diced (can be omitted)
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBS butter
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 sticks of butter, melted (reserve 1/4 cup for second use)
1 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 cups of panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Melt 1 TBS butter over medium heat. Sautee onions, garlic, and peppers until just soft. Drain potatoes, and add to pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine melted butter (reserving 1/4 cup for later use), shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and chicken stock. This will look like one big mess, but don't worry. Add potato/pepper mixture to bowl and combine. Pour ingredients into a 9x13 baking dish. Cover top with panko crumbs and drizzle reserved butter over the top.

Cover with tin foil and bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes. Remove tin foil and continue baking for 15 minutes, until panko is golden brown.