Poached Egg with Tomato Butter and Tarragon Sauce

Breakfast this morning was not Eggs Benedict, but it was certainly inspired by in, especially in the construction of the dish. You could put Hollandaise on it and call it a variant of Eggs Benedict if you wanted.

Rather than tell how I cooked everything, I'll show and tell how I put it together.

I started with a lightly toasted English muffin half (for each egg) which I topped with a few pieces of bacon that I cooked in a small (like 4 inch) skillet in about a tablespoon of butter. It was important not to get the burner too hot, as I didn't want the butter scorching.








I use turkey bacon, if you use regular bacon you make want to cook the bacon first, drain it, then put it int he butter to infuse the butter with the bacon flavor. Otherwise you would have way too much grease in your butter sauce.









After the bacon I put two thin slices of very ripe tomato to exploit the fact that bacon and tomato always go well together. I saved the rest of the tomato for later.






Next came the star attraction, the poached egg. Poaching is a method of gently cooking something in water or another liquid. It is not boiling. You want the water just below a simmer, barely making bubbles at all. If you have a thermometer, shoot for around 190° F (about 88° C). Also, add just a little vinegar to the water, this will help hold the white together. Alton Brown uses distilled vinegar as it's merely for chemical reasons, but wine vinegar or cider vinegar work fine.

Two other things about poaching. First, make sure you have enough water to cover the egg(s). Secondly, the egg(s) need to be added to the water as gently as possible. I cracked the egg into a small bowl, touched the edge of the bowl to the hot water and gently tilted to pour the raw egg in. 4 1/2 minutes is the perfect time for nicely poached eggs. Ideally you want to pull the eggs out with a slotted spoon (let them drain a few seconds) and then put them right on the plate (of tomato slices in this case). IF you're not ready for the eggs when 4 1/2 minutes is up, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl of cold water to arrest their cooking. Slightly cooled perfectly cooked eggs are better than overcooked eggs.

Once I had the egg in place, I spooned the sauce over it. What sauce? Why, the sauce I made by dicing the rest of the tomato then gently simmering it in the hot bacon butter with a little bit of salt, some black pepper, some garlic powder and a big pinch of tarragon. Tarragon goes well with both butter and eggs, don't be afraid to be generous with it, but add and taste, add and taste so you don't get too much.

Lastly I sprinkled some grated cheese over the whole thing and ate it. I used Cheddar, but most grate-able or crumbly cheeses would have worked nicely, from Parmesan to Munster to Feta and Cojita.


Eggs should be eaten as soon as possible after cooking. The array of flavors and textures from the delicate egg white to the warm gooey yolk and from the herbaceous butter to the two different textures of tomato, all brought together on a toasted English muffin with bacon, this was definitely a nice way to start the day. And, yes, it tasted good too.





Note: A perfectly poached egg has a delicate but firm white that is thoroughly cooked, with a yolk that is warm but runny. If runny yolks aren't your thing, then just avoid the poached egg and fry or scramble yours instead.

Linguine with Squash and Green Beans

I whipped up this yummy dish in about 30 min.

The garden is producing lots of yellow squash right now so it will be prevalent in many dishes over the next few months. Other veggies should be ripe soon but for now it's yellow squash, which is fine by me because it is a tasty and versatile food.

To start this dish I put a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil (hereafter abbreviated EVOO for all you Rachael Ray fans) and I do mean generous, I would guess at least a 1/4 to 1/3 a cup. The "sauce" portion of this dish is the oil. Don't worry, EVOO is heart-healthy and all natural. I added a diced sweet onion to the hot oil and sauteed that until it began to get translucent. I then added 3-4 cloves of crushed garlic (maybe a tablespoon if you use crushed in a jar) and a diced yellow squash. I seasoned the dish with salt and pepper (don't be stingy with the salt, nothing else in this recipe has any*) and added a little bit of dried oregano and a lot bit of dried basil. If you have fresh herbs, even better.

This is when I threw my linguine noodles into my boiling water.

Once the squash was beginning to cook (looking slightly translucent) I added some frozen green beans (fresh would be even beter if you have them) and some canned stewed tomatoes that I drained (I wasn't making tomato sauce) and diced coarsely. I also added about 1-2 tablespoons of butter for flavor (* if you use salted butter my previous statement on salt isn't exactly true but the important thing is to taste as you add salt and don't be afraid to add more if needed). If the mixture is looking too dry add more EVOO.

I tried to keep the mixture moving til the green beans are hot but still bright green, then turned off the heat till the noodles were done. When the noodles were done, I drained them and then tossed them with the veggies. I then served the linguine and veggies with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Pasta, herbs, garlic, EVOO and veggies always go well together and this dish, though simple, had some nice depth to it. It was also healthy and colorful, and it tasted good too.


**Notes: This dish is vegetarian. Yes, I sometimes cook vegetarian, usually when I forget to thaw any meat and am too lazy to defrost it. If you omitted the butter and Parmesan, it would also be vegan. If you want some formerly living protein (as I usually do), adding diced chicken before the squash would work (add the salt, pepper herbs and garlic with the chicken if you do) as would serving it with a nice piece of herb baked/broiled/poached/pan fried or seared/grilled fish.

Pollo Ranchero

Tonight's dinner was Pollo Ranchero. Pollo meaning chicken and ranchero meaning cooked in a spicy tomato and onion based sauce.

To make the sauce I sauteed diced sweet onion and several cloves of crushed garlic together in olive oil in a saucepan. I then added diced tomatoes, enchilada sauce, oregano, black pepper, adobo seasoning (a kind of Mexican seasoned salt type mix) and bit of mild chile powder. I let that barely simmer for a good 30-40 min, stirring occasionally.
Once the flavors came together, I diced up some boneless skinless chicken thighs and browned them on high heat in olive oil in a large skillet. Once they had a nice light browning on the outside I poured the ranchero sauce over them, stirred it all together, then reduced the heat and covered it. I let the whole thing simmer a further 20-30 min.
I had originally planned to put some beans in with the chicken, but my skillet was full, so I heated up a can of ranch-style beans separately. When the beans were hot and the chicken pieces thoroughly cooked and tender, I heated up my comal (a flat skillet with no sides designed for cooking tortillas that can be used like a griddle) and heated up some corn tortillas.
To plate the pollo ranchero, I placed two hot tortillas on a plate, topped that with a goodly portion of the rachero chicken and sauce, spooned some beans on top of that, and crowned the whole thing with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Don't let the tortillas fool you, this should be eaten with a fork. It's been raining a lot here lately and this dish really hit the spot with the whole family with it's array of flavors, rich tomato-y goodness and familiar ingredients brought together in a slightly exotic way. Best of all, it tasted good too.


Notes: I used canned tomatoes, sauce and beans because it was a easy throw-together meal using what we had. If I made this again I would plan ahead and cook a pot of dry beans all day to use in the dish. Tomato products do very well in cans and I used canned versions often, but if you used fresh diced tomatoes you would definitely bring more depth to the dish. If I make this again when our tomato plants are producing I'll probably use fresh.
Some finely minced jalapenos or serranos added to the sauce would be great too, and give it a more authentic taste and heat, but not everyone in the house likes food as spicy as I do.
One thing to note when simmering any meat in a tomato based sauce is that tomatoes naturally tenderize meat and can reduce cooking time needed to make the meat tender.

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my food blog "It Tasted Good". This blog is to be a chronicle of my adventures in food and cooking. I've always loved food and began cooking at a young age. I now have a passion for both. I enjoy both reproducing delicious dishes I've had, as well as creating new ones. Sometimes my cooking is guided by inspiration from what I've seen, read or eaten recently. Most times, though, it's guided by whatever ingredients we have on hand. My wife has convinced me to start cataloging what I make and encouraged me to share it with others; so, this blog was born. Whenever I make a dish I'm particularly pleased with, I'll post it here (with photos when I can). If you're reading this then I appreciate your interest. If you have comments or questions you can post them here or email me at ittastedgood@gmail.com

Thank you and good eating.