Poached | I Can Cook That

Arugula Pizza with Poached Eggs

May is (was) National Egg Month, and, well, the month of May ended more abruptly than I was expecting. So, happy June, and happy belated National Egg Month! (This Friday, June 3rd, is National Egg DAY though, so you can celebrate your little heart out then.)

I love using eggs in dinner recipes, because I don’t get much opportunity for a nice sit down breakfast with eggs. This Cooking Light recipe is the perfect eggs-for-dinner meal — Arugula Pizza topped with Poached Eggs.

Nellie’s eggs sent me some coupons, plus a cool little kit that included a t-shirt, stress egg, and a gift card so that I could try their eggs in a post, and this recipe seemed like the perfect opportunity. Nellie’s are free range, the hens are never caged, and have as much or as little access to the outside as they’d like.

Nellie’s works with over 40 independent, family owned and operated farms to provide their free range eggs produced from Certified Humane Free Range hens that are antibiotic and hormone free.

You can find where Nellie’s eggs are sold here.

On to the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 (11-ounce) package refrigerated pizza crust dough (suggested: thin crust)
Cooking spray
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shaved fresh Romano cheese, divided
1 tablespoon white vinegar
6 large Nellie’s free range eggs
2-3 ounces baby arugula
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
grated fresh lemon rind from 1 lemon
fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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Citrus Poached Salmon with Mustard Sauce

Hooray for more salmon recipes! I will never have enough different recipes for salmon, it is definitely one of my favorite proteins.

This recipe for Citrus Poached Salmon with Mustard Sauce comes courtesy of Alan Jackson and Joann Cianciulli’s new cookbook: The Lemonade Cookbook: Southern California Comfort Food From L.A.’s Favorite Modern Cafeteria (paid link). The cookbook’s name comes from Chef Alan Jackson’s fast-casual eatery’s Lemonade, which offers fresh and seasonal food in a modern cafeteria setting.

There are some really fantastic sounding recipes in this cookbook. Just look at how I tabbed this book trying to decide which to make for this post!

Included in the cookbook, which features 120 recipe, are:

Forbidden Rice with Hearts of Palms, Mushrooms and a Jalapeno Vinaigrette
Bay Shrimp with Cannellini Beans dressed in Shallots and Cayenne Pepper
Red Miso Short Rib Braise
Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
Unique Lemonade concoctions like Peach Ginger, Pear Basil, and Cantaloupe Sage

With descriptions like that, I have to point out that these recipes are surprisingly unfussy and manageable to make at home. I decided to make the salmon because 1. it sounds delicious and 2. I have never poached fish before and I love trying out new techniques.

This recipe takes about 40 minutes from start to finish so it is great for a special weeknight dinner (or as a mid-week pick me up!) I changed the ingredients ever so slightly so to see the original, check out the cookbook, available in stores now!

From The Lemonade Cookbook by Alan Jackson and Joann Cianciulli. Copyright © 2013 by Alan Jackson and Joann Cianciulli and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press, LLC.

Ingredients:

2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine (I used Sequoia Grove Napa Valley Chardonnay)
2 oranges, divided
2 lemons, divided
2 limes, divided
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 fresh dill sprigs, plus 1 tablespoon chopped dill, divided
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
4 (5 oz) salmon fillets, skin removed
coarse salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) smooth Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave nectar
2 cups cooked rice (I used basmati)

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Mushroom, Green Bean, and Farro Salad with a Poached Egg and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

One of the highlights of the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival was catching a cooking demonstration by Antonia Lofaso of Top Chef. She made this wonderful mushroom and green bean salad with a poached egg and bacon vinaigrette. How fantastic does that sound? I didn’t have any arugula on hand, which was in Chef Antonia’s recipe, so I decided to sub in farro instead. (Farro is a grain that you cook like rice). I also kinda sorta forgot how she made most of the stuff, but it still turned out great. This is also the first time I’ve ever poached an egg because I’ve been terrified to do so but it was much more simple than expected!

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup farro

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, minced

8 ounces mushrooms, chopped (if you can, go for some wild mushrooms)

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 pound green beans, trimmed, and cut into bite sized pieces

3 strips bacon, finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, plus 1 teaspoon, divided

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

4 eggs

Begin by cooking your farro. Bring the 2 cups water and 1 cup farro to a boil in a pot. Cover, reduce the heat, and cook for 20 minutes or until the water has evaporated.

Also bring another pot of water to a boil. Liberally salt the boiling water (Chef Antonia says that your water should “taste like the ocean”). While waiting for the water to boil, prepare your green beans and mushrooms. Add the green beans to the water for 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Keep the water at a simmer (you’ll use it again soon).

Finely chop the bacon and add to a saute pan over medium high heat.

Cook until the bacon begins to brown and crisp. Remove from heat, reserve the pan.

Add the olive oil, 3 tablespoons cider vinegar and Dijon mustard to the bacon and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Return the saute pan to the stove and heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms give off some water and it evaporates. Remove from heat.

Combine the green beans, farro, and mushrooms.

To poach the eggs, add 1 teaspoon of the cider vinegar to the simmering water. Drop the eggs in one at a time.

Cook for 3 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon.

Top the green beans, farro, and mushroom mixture with the poached egg. Drizzle with the bacon vinaigrette.

The textures of this dish are fantastic. Farro has the texture of a more al dente rice, which was really nice with the crunchy green beans and the meaty mushrooms.

My poached egg, was a success! Look at that egg!

The bacon vinaigrette set this dish right over the top. Little bites of smokiness were an awesome touch. This is definitely a winning dish!