WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE E3
“They seem so simple, but when
you make them, it’s surprising
how good they are.”
You swirl the cream in a
skillet, crack the egg into the
cream and then cook until the
water evaporates from the
cream, leaving just the fat, which
then caramelizes a bit.
Sprinkle them with fresh
herbs, if you like, and serve them
with a salad and toast or biscuits.
This little dish is a great
example of how simple can be
just right on a weeknight.eggs labeled “certified humane
raised and handled” when
possible.
“I hope that they will think
about where they are buying
their eggs and what kind of eggs
they are buying, whether they
are fresher or the chickens are
happier,” she said.
I tried several of her recipes,
but the one I’ve made several
times is the Cream-Fried Egg.
“Who doesn’t have a little bit
of heavy cream left in the bottom
of the container,” Steele said.the refrigerator and then uses
them to make fried eggs, egg
sandwiches and in baking.
“There are times of year you
have so many eggs that you don’t
know what to do with them all,”
said Steele, who has 18 chickens,
10 ducks and two geese.
The goal of her blog and book
is to encourage people to think
about eggs more broadly in their
cooking, and to buy the freshest
eggs they can from smaller
farms, if possible. She
encourages shoppers to look forwrites. (The average large egg
contains 2 tablespoons of white
and 1 tablespoon of yolk, she
writes.)
Can you freeze whole eggs?
Steele freezes them separated
and whole. To freeze them whole,
she coats a flexible, silicone ice
cube tray with cooking spray. She
cracks one egg in each
compartment and then freezes
the tray. Once the eggs are
frozen, she pops them out and
stores them in a freezer-safe
container. She defrosts them inyou the packaging date. So, if
Feb. 22 is the 53rd day of the
year, you want that number as
close to 053 as possible. That
little nugget went viral when she
posted it on social media.
Why are eggs sometimes
different sizes in a single
carton? Eggs are graded by size,
but they are sold by weight, she
wrote. A dozen large eggs should
weigh 24 ounces, or an average of
2 ounces per egg. As long as the
total weight is 24 ounces, the
individual egg size may vary, sheIngredients
l^1 / 2 cup heavy cream
lFine salt
lFreshly cracked black pepper
l4 large eggs
lFresh thyme leaves, for serving
(optional)
lToast or biscuits, for serving
(optional)
lGreen salad, for serving
(optional)Steps
lIn a large skillet over medium-
high heat, add the cream and swirl
the pan to cover the bottom. Light-
ly season with salt and pepper and
heat until the cream starts to boil,
about 1 minute.
lCarefully crack the eggs into a
small bowl and gently slide them
into the cream. As the eggs cook,
the cream will boil, start to evapo-
rate and the butter fats will start to
caramelize around the edges.
Watch carefully, and turn down
the heat if the cream begins to
burn.
lCook until the egg whites are set
but the yolks are still a little runny,
5 to 8 minutes (a couple of minutes
longer, if you want firmer yolks.)
lRemove from the heat and use a
spatula to separate the eggs and
slide them onto plates. Scoop up
any caramelized cream bits and
add them to the plates. Lightly
season with more salt and/or pep-
per, sprinkle with the thyme, if
using, and serve with toast or
biscuits and/or a lightly dressed
green salad, if desired.
Nutrition | Per serving (1 egg) : 174 calories, 7 g
protein, 1 g carbohydrates, 16 g fat, 8 g
saturated fat, 227 mg cholesterol, 156 mg
sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugar
Recipe tested by Ann Maloney; email questions
to [email protected]Vegetable Fried
Quinoa4 servings (makes about 6 cups)
Total time: 35 mins
Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
From cookbook author and
registered nutritionist Ellie
Krieger.Ingredients
l2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon
peanut, canola or grapeseed
oil, divided
l1 cup (3^3 / 4 ounces) finely diced
carrots (from 1 large carrot)
l1 cup (4^3 / 4 ounces) finely diced
red bell pepper (from 1 large
pepper)
l1 cup (4^1 / 2 ounces) frozen
shelled edamame
l1 cup (4^1 / 2 ounces) corn kernels,
fresh or frozen
l4 scallions, thinly sliced, plus
more for serving
l2 tablespoons finely grated
fresh ginger
l3 cloves garlic, minced or finely
grated
l4 cups cold cooked quinoa(from about 11 / 3 cups/
81 / 2 ounces uncooked)
l2 large eggs, lightly beaten
l3 tablespoons less-sodium soy
sauce, plus more to taste
l2 teaspoons toasted sesame oilSteps
lIn a large, deep nonstick skillet
or wok over high heat, heat
2 tablespoons of the oil untilshimmering. Add the carrot and
bell pepper and cook, stirring
frequently, until the vegetables
begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the edamame and corn and
cook until just warmed
through, about 1 minute. Add
the scallion, ginger and garlic,
and cook, stirring, until aromat-
ic, 30 seconds. Then add the
quinoa and cook, stirring, untilheated through, 2 to 3 minutes.
lMake a 3-inch well in the center
of the quinoa mixture. Add the
remaining 1 teaspoon of oil,
then add the eggs and cook,
stirring them in the well in the
center of the quinoa, until they
are softly scrambled. Then stir
the eggs into the quinoa mix-
ture. Stir in the soy sauce and
sesame oil. Taste, and seasonwith additional soy sauce, if
desired. Remove from the heat,
divide among shallow bowls
and serve.
Nutrition | Per serving (1^1 / 2 cups): 537
calories, 19 g protein, 74 g carbohydrates,
19 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 93 mg
cholesterol, 484 mg sodium, 11 g dietary
fiber, 6 g sugar
Recipe tested by Olga Massov; email
questions to [email protected]center of the mixture, adding a
little oil and scrambling the egg
in the well before incorporating
its small curds with the rest of
the ingredients. At this point you
could add any other cooked
protein instead or as well, such
as leftover shrimp, chopped
cooked chicken or pork.
Finished with a drizzle of soy
sauce and fragrant toasted
sesame oil, it’s a meal in a bowl
that’s as practical and healthful
as it is delicious.Krieger is a registered dietitian,
nutritionist and cookbook author who
hosts public television’s “Ellie’s Real
Good Food.” Learn more at
elliekrieger.com.Don’t get me
wrong — I am not
one of those
nutritionists who
thinks you need to
substitute quinoa
or cauliflower for
grains in every
dish. (Technically,
quinoa is a seed.) I
have way more
respect than that for food
traditions and the nutritional
value of grains in general, and
whole grains in particular.
But I also relish the creative
freedom to break rules, and I hate
to waste food. So when I found
myself with piles of leftover
quinoa in my refrigerator and a
couple of half-used bags of frozen
vegetables, my mind went straight
to one of the best and easiest ways
I know to turn them into a crave-
able meal: Cook them up like
Chinese fried rice.
For me, the most fun thing
about any stir-fry is how fast it
comes together once you get
cooking. Because everything
happens lightning-fast, it’s key to
have all the ingredients lined up
and ready to go before you begin.
I start here with diced carrots
and bell peppers, letting them
soften a bit, then I add the frozen
vegetables: edamame and corn.
You could substitute pretty much
any vegetable you have on hand
— peas, green beans, broccoli,
spinach, whatever. Then the
magical flavor trio of scallion,
ginger and garlic get stirred in to
meet the heat before the quinoa
is added to warm through. As
with fried rice, it is best if the
quinoa is well-chilled to start, so
it doesn’t get gummy, again
proving the dish a prime use for
leftovers.
For protein, I like to go with
scrambled egg, made in the same
pan by forming a well in the
Ellie
Krieger
NOURISH
Stir up another satisfying meal with leftover quinoa cooked like fried rice
TOM MCCORKLE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY GINA NISTICO FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTFried eggs are Lisa
Steele’s default
dinner “when I
don’t have
anything
defrosted and we
haven’t been
grocery shopping
in a while,” she
writes in her
delightful “The
Fresh Eggs Daily
Cookbook.”
I’m with her on this. So many
nights, I’ll pull a few eggs from
the refrigerator and fry, scramble
or steam my way to a quick, easy
supper.
As she noted in a recent
telephone interview from her
farm in rural Maine: “An egg is
almost neutral, so you can add
different cheeses and herbs to
them, and it will taste completely
different.”
“When I was writing this book,
I just wanted two chapters, sweet
and savory. I don’t like
pigeonholing a recipe into
breakfast or dinner,” she said.
Her theory: “Eggs are a breakfast
food because chickens lay their
eggs in the morning, so you go
out, milk the cows, collect the
eggs and so, of course, you’d just
cook them up for breakfast. But I
think they are great any time of
the day.”
Her publisher, of course,
pushed her to give the book a bit
more structure, so you’ll find 10
chapters featuring Steele’s takes
on classic egg dishes, such as
frittatas, vanilla pudding and
cheesecake, but also some
unexpected ones, including a
new-to-me Swedish Egg Coffee,
Marshmallow Cream and a
labor-intensive recipe for making
your own colorful sprinkles.
Steele, who about a decade ago
left a Wall Street job for farm life,
takes pride in being a fifth-
generation “chicken keeper.” This
cookbook grew out of her
popular Fresh Eggs Daily blog,
which began with her
chronicling her chicken-raising
efforts.
In the book’s introduction, she
offers a picturesque take on that
farm life, explaining how she
rises early and pulls on boots,
picks up a basket and heads out
for fresh eggs just laid in the
straw by her favorite hen,
Miranda. That idyllic scene
quickly leads into an efficient,
nuts-and-bolts guide to selecting,
handling and cooking eggs
gleaned from the thousands of
eggs she has prepared herself.
As I read along, I found myself
gleefully highlighting
information I wanted to
remember. Here are a few
examples:
How fresh are your grocery
store eggs? Steele says look for a
three-digit number, from 000 to
365 (or 366 in leap years),
stamped on the carton. That tells
Ann
Maloney
DINNER IN
MINUTES
Eggs make a versatile centerpiece to any meal, but have you fried them in cream?
Cream-Fried Eggs
2 to 4 servings
Serve these eggs on their own, or
with toast, biscuits and/or a salad
dressed with a light vinaigrette. The
dish works well as a quick breakfast,
lunch or dinner — and even celebra-
tory brunch. It also is a great way to
use up that last bit of heavy cream
lingering in your refrigerator.
Total time: 20 mins
Adapted from “The Fresh Eggs
Daily Cookbook” by Lisa Steele
(Harper Horizon, 2022).SCOTT SUCHMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; FOOD STYLING BY LISA CHERKASKY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST