Shakshuka with Swiss Chard

Photo from The Diabetes Cookbook
for Electric Pressure Cookers.
Used with permission.

I always celebrate a little when someone I know has published their first cookbook, and this time it's even a little more special since Shelby Kinnaird was one of the first bloggers I got friendly with when my blog was fairly new.

Her book is The Diabetes Cookbook for Electric Pressure Cookers, and I was tickled to get a review copy to peruse. And cook from.

Shelby is pretty good at coming up with creative recipes that don't stand up and shout "I'm good for you!" or that seem like they're some kind of special restrictive diet. You'll find plenty of fresh ingredients, and, as she mentioned to me, there's only one recipe with an artificial sweetener, but that can be subbed for regular sugar if you prefer.

As I browsed through the book, I decided I was hungry enough to want to make something right away, so I chose the Shakshuka with Swiss Chard. Unfortunately, I didn't have any Swiss chard or anything else that resembled it. But I decided to make it anyway, subbing other friendly vegetables for the chard.

I also cut back on the recipe since I was just cooking for me, and eggs aren't exactly stellar when reheated. And then I had to fiddle with the technique a bit, since it calls for setting a pressure cooker for 0 minutes, but mine won't go lower than on minute.

My version of the book's shakshuka. So yummy!

Still, I think it was a good example of what you'll find in the book.

The other recipe I considered making right away was a Mexican zucchini casserole, because I happened to have the right ingredients. There were plenty of other recipes that sounded good, but would have required shopping, and I was too hangry for that.

But still, I've got cauliflower on the shopping list to make the Parmesan Cauliflower Mash. That sounds like a perfect side dish, doesn't it?

The book has everything from breakfasts to side dishes to main dishes to desserts, so there's something for everyone.

Since I mangled the original recipe so much, I'm giving you the recipe as it appears in the book:

Shakshuka with Swiss Chard
Serves 4 (110 carbs per serving)
Recipe reprinted with permission from The Diabetes Cookbook for Electric Pressure Cookers by Shelby Kinnaird  and Simone Harounian

Need a great brunch option? Try shakshuka, a dish where eggs are cooked in a seasoned tomato sauce. This version leans towards the Mediterranean with flavors of basil, oregano, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram. Your EPC needs to be at low pressure for this recipe. The first time I made it, I use high pressure and my eggs ended up overcooked. Look for a pasta sauce that's low in sugar and sodium (or make your own).

4 ounces Swiss chard (about 4 large stems and leaves)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black peper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cups Marinara Sauce with Red Lentils (from the book) or tomato-based pasta sauce
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Separate the stems from the leaves of the Swiss chard. Finely chop the stem; you'll need about 1/2 cup. Stack the leaves, slice into thin strips, then chop. Set aside.

Set the electric pressure cooker to the saute setting. When the pot is hot, pour in the olive oil

Add the Swiss chard stems, onion, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to the pot and saute for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the Swiss chard leaves and garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.

Hit cancel. Add the pasta sauce and let the pot cool for 5 minutes.

Make 4 evenly-spaced indentions in the sauce mixture. Carefully crack an egg into a custard cup, then pour it into one of the indentions. (Note you can crack the eggs directly into the pot, but the whites will spread out more and the eggs won't look as nice.)

Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Set the valve to sealing.

Select low pressure and set the timer for 0 minutes.

When the cooking is complete, hit Cancel and quick release the pressure.

Once the pin drops, unlock and remove the lid.

Sprinkle with parsley and parmesan, and serve immediately.

Substitution tip: If you don't have any Swiss chard, use 1/2 cup bell pepper to replace the stems and 2 cups kale or spinach to replace the leaves.

I received a review copy of the book at no cost to me.

There's a giveaway on Shelby's Facebook page for the book and more goodies! Good luck!

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Savory French Toast from Home Made Christmas #AbramsDinnerParty

Whoop, whoop, another fun (and free) book for my participation in the Abrams Dinner Party.

This time the book is Home Made Christmas by Yvette van Boven. When I saw the title, I thought it might be about making Christmas food gifts.

Nope, this is about food you might serve during the holidays.

There are plenty of dinner ideas, along with sides and desserts, but I got stuck on the idea of making the savory French toast. I mean, I like plain French toast, and I generally don't make it super-sweet (although I do love it with maple syrup) but this sent the savory meter all the way over to the no-way-is-this-sweet side.

The recipe includes mustard, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, and cheese. So, if you happen to like savory breakfasts, you'd like it. But I had it for lunch. Because it seemed to make sense.

The best thing about this recipe is that it opens the door for all kinds of savory variations. I mean, I wouldn't make it with anchovies, but you could change the cheese, add more heat, or add some herbs and spices. It's not completely unlimited, because the ingredients would have to be able to either soak into the bread or stick to the outside. But it could be fun to fiddle with.

This called for a salad of fresh herbs on the side, but I skipped that and just had the French toast. And while this is meant to be savory, I can see how a tart jelly or jam could work with this. Probably not maple syrup, but something fruity. Maybe even cranberry sauce, hmmmm?

I also didn't cut the bread into shapes with a cookie cutter. Cutting the bread into triangles after cooking was as fancy as I wanted to be. But yeah, for a holiday breakfast, they'd be fun cut into shapes.

Wentelteefjes, or Savory French Toast (the Dutch version)
Adapted from Home Made Christmas by Yvette van Boven

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
A pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A few drops of Tabasco sauce
6-8 slices of good-quality white bread
Butter, for frying

Whisk the eggs, milk, cream, and mustard until foamy, then stir in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper, a little Tabasco, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. (You can do this the night before, if you want to save a little time, and save yourself from early morning measuring.)

Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl.

Place two slices of bread in the bowl - or really, as many as you can fit at one time, whether it's one or 4 - and let the bread soak for a minute or two.

Heat a nonstick frying pan on medium heat, with a small pat of butter. Cook the bread slices for about 2 minutes per side, until they're golden brown. Let them drain on paper towels as you continue cooking the rest of the sliced.

Sprinkle with a little extra cheese and serve with a green herb salad.

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Acid Trip and Eggs with Vinegar #AbramsDinnerParty

I'm participating in the Abrams Dinner Party, where I get cookbooks (and a little swag) from the publisher. Since I'm a bit of a cookbook hoarder, this is great for me.

Once of the books I got was Acid Trip, which is all about vinegar.

I adore tart foods, so a book about vinegar is right up my alley. I mean, I've even made my own vinegar from wine. There's a jar of it in the pantry right now.

When I first got this book, I bookmarked a whole bunch of recipes to try:

• Fried Egg with a Spoonful of Vinegar
• Beurre Noisette Dressing
• Brown Butter Balsamic Mushrooms with Hazeluts and Sage
• Seasonal Tomatoes with Raspberry Vinegar
• Vinegar Pie

Out of that list, I've made a few similar dishes, and wanted to revisit them. In particular, the egg with vinegar was calling to me. I'd made a similar dish, but used red wine vinegar. The flavor was lovely, but the look was ... not great.

The recipe in this book calls for white wine vinegar, which makes a whole lot more sense in terms of presentation. So I just had to do it. Breakfast for dinner just happens to be one of my favorite things ever.

If this sound a little weird, it's really not. The acid helps to cut the richness of the egg yolk, and adds another dimension of flavor. I love eating tomatoes with eggs, but never thought about why - it's that hit of acid. In this case, you can add that acid without needing to have fresh tomatoes on hand.

Yum!

I think the vinegar pie is next on my list. How about you?

Fried Egg with a Spoonful of Vinegar
Adapted from Acid Trip by Michael Harlan Turkell

1 tablespoon butter
1 egg
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Chopped herbs

Fry an egg they way you like it, with ample butter. (They suggested cooking on medium-high until the edges are a little brown. I opted for a more gently-cooked basted egg, instead.)

Place the egg on a warm plate and season with salt and pepper.

While the pan is still hot, add the white wine vinegar and allow to reduce by half.

Spoon the reduced vinegar over the egg and garnish with chopped herbs. (They suggested parsley or tarragon, but the only fresh herbs I had on hand were cilantro and chives. I opted for chives.)

Serve immediately. I suggest some toast on the side. Yum.

This post is sponsored by ABRAMS Books, as part of the ABRAMS Dinner Party. Look for more posts with the hashtags #AcidTrip and #VinegarCookbook.

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Sous Vide Scrambled Eggs

If you're scratching your head and wondering if I've gone off the deep end with all of these sous vide recipes lately ... well, maybe.

But also, I got a few cookbooks with sous vide recipes that I wanted to try. I recently bought Richard Blais's book Try This At Home, and when I browsed through it, the sous vide scrambled eggs caught my eye.

They're not really a recipe, I guess, but more of a side note about cooking technique. The actual recipe was Riley's Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Hollandaise.

I didn't make the asparagus or the hollandaise. But I used the sous vide method to cook some eggs.

The Recipe(ish):

Basically, you whisk together 4 eggs and a tablespoon of milk, along with salt and/or pepper to make you happy.

Preheat the sous vide water to 168 degrees, then drop the bag in for 10 minutes.

Fish the bag out, mush the eggs around in the bag (you'll see some very yellow uncooked yolk in the center of the eggs in the bag) and drop it back into the water for another five minutes, or however long it takes for the eggs to set.

The Results

The first time I tried this, there was a bit too much of the super-loose egg for my taste, so I decided to cook the eggs longer the next time. Then I decided I wanted the eggs a little firmer, too, so I increased the temperature.

Honestly, I'm still fiddling with this. It's not that the recipe is bad, it's just that everyone's taste in eggs is a little different. I think for me, the sweet spot will be somewhere around 171 degrees. Maybe 170. See, it's not that much different from his favorite temperature, but it does make a difference when cooking something like eggs where they can go from custard to curd in the blink of an eye.

As for the book, there are some recipes here than I'm pretty sure I'll make, a lot that I will use as inspiration or that I'll make one component but not the whole shebang, and then a bunch more that I'll probably try as-is.

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Chorizo and Fried Egg Tacos

There are two basic types of chorizo, and they're completely different from each other. Spanish chorizo is something like pepperoni in shape and form. Mexican chorizo is totally uncooked. It's more like spicy sloppy joe in a tube than it's like a typical sausage. Needless to say, you can't substitute one for the other.

This recipe requires Mexican chorizo.

Now that we've got that settled, you might find a whole lot of different versions at the store. Most of the time, I see it sold in plastic tubes that make it look like a sausage, but sometimes you can find it sold in bulk. Some chorizo is made from pork and some is made from beef.

For this recipe, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference. Use what you like - or what you can find.

The great thing about using chorizo in a recipe is that since it's so highly spiced, your really don't need to add a whole lot more. You could, if you wanted to. But you totally don't need to. And that's what makes it perfect for a quick meal. No need to drag out half the spices in the cabinet.

The downside about chorizo is that it can be very greasy. Like oil-slick greasy. It depends on the brand you buy, but be prepared to drain the grease if you need to.

The other bad thing about chorizo is that the red chile in the meat can stain things. If you splatter on your clothes, you won't be happy. So be neat.

On the other hand, it's delicious, and it cooks really quickly. You can have dinner on the table in no time at all.

I've seen plenty of recipes for chorizo and eggs, but usually it's scrambled eggs with chorizo mixed in. That's great, for sure, but I decided that a slightly runny fried egg would add a nice complement to the sharp and spicy meat.

Chorizo and Fried Egg Tacos

For the chorizo filling:
8 ounces Mexican chorizo
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 medium green bell pepper, cored and diced
Salt, as needed

For the taco:
Tortillas (as needed)
Eggs, fried, poached, or sunnyside-up, as desired (as needed)

Heat a saute pan on medium and add the chorizo (removed from the tube). along with the onion and bell pepper. Break up the chorizo with a spoon or spatula as it cooks, stirring as needed so it all cooks evenly.

Because of the red chiles in the chorizo, the color doesn't change very much as it cooks, so you won't see it turn from reddish to brownish. It stays pretty red and only turns slightly brown.

But, since you have onions and green peppers in the mix, you can use those as your gauge. If the onions and peppers are done, you know the meat is done as well.

Taste the mix. While you won't need to add more spice, you might need one other adjustment. Some peppers can be a little bit bitter, so if you taste that bitterness in the chorizo, add a bit of salt.

Yes, salt. Not sugar. Sweet is the opposite of sour, but salt combats bitterness. Trust me, it works. And of course, you can add a bit of salt just because you think it needs it.

To make the tacos, add a small amount of the chorizo to the taco and top with your cooked egg. Serve immediately.

You can serve these as-is, or you can bring out your favorite taco toppings, like guacamole, sour cream, chopped tomatoes or onions, or shredded cheese. Basically, grab whatever's easy and have dinner on the table in no time.

On the other hand, if you're avoiding bready things, you can ditch the taco and serve this without it. Or make a bed of lettuce and make it a salad!

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Cracking the Code on Eggs

What do YOU know about eggs?

Are you SURE you know everything you need to know?

It wasn't that long ago that we didn't have as many options. Maybe there were brown eggs. Maybe a different brand. But now we have free range, cage-free ... all sorts of of labels. All sorts of options.

Which ones actually make a difference?

Here are some of the most common terms you'll find on eggs at your local grocery store:

Produced without antibiotics: This term can be misleading, as eggs produced in the U.S. are generally antibiotic-free. Antibiotics are not used on a continuous basis in the egg industry, and though antibiotics may be used for hen health, antibiotic residue is not present in eggs.

Brown eggs: Eggs that are laid by chickens with red feathers and red ear lobes. The nutrient content, quality and flavor of brown eggs is the same as white eggs.

Cage-free: Eggs laid by hens at indoor floor operations. The hens may roam in a building, room or open area, usually in a barn or poultry house, that include nest space, perches and unlimited access to fresh food and water.

Cage-free systems vary and include barn-raised and free-range hens, both of which have shelter that helps protect against predators and bad weather. Both types are produced under common handling and care practices. Depending on the farm, these housing systems may or may not have an automated egg collection system.

Free-range eggs: Eggs produced by hens that have access to the outdoors in accordance with weather, environment or state laws. The birds have continuous access to fresh food and water and may forage for wild plants and insects. They are also provided floor space, nesting space and perches.

Natural: USDA identifies all shell eggs as natural.

Nutrient-enhanced eggs: Eggs that are produced by hens fed a special diet that may include things like flax seed, marine algae or fish oils.

Certified organic eggs: Eggs that are laid by cage-free, free-roaming hens raised on certified organic feed with access to the outdoors. The hens’ feed is grown without most synthetic pesticides, fungicides, herbicides or fertilizers, and 100 percent of the agricultural ingredients must be certified organic. Antibiotics and growth hormones are prohibited (although these will not be found in any shell eggs).

Pasteurized eggs: Eggs heated to temperatures just below the coagulation point to destroy pathogens. Pasteurized eggs have the same nutritional and protein content as conventional eggs. These eggs are recommended for recipes that call for raw eggs or for people susceptible to illness who prefer runny eggs. Pasteurized eggs must be kept refrigerated.

Pasture raised eggs: Pasture raised eggs originate from hens free to roam and forage on a maintained pasture area. The hens are moved to various pasture areas to maintain a constant supply of vegetation for the hens.

Vegetarian fed eggs: Produced by hens fed a vegetarian diet.

Here's a handy infographic with eggs-ceptional information about eggs. Double-click the image to see it full-size in a browser window or right-click and save, if you want to print it full size.

Infographic and information courtesy of The Egg Nutrition Center and Colorado Egg Producers. This is not a paid or sponsored post; I saw the graphic in a newsletter and asked for permission to use it.

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