Fried eggs and crispy kale.

 

When I was younger, my mom used to get me to eat certain foods by telling me they were crunchy. That's how I started liking water chestnuts. We were in California visiting relatives, and it was summertime and there were ants invading the kitchen, and I had spent the week playing with a distant cousin who pronounced magenta as "magneta," and I didn't want to eat the water chestnuts. But my mom was right -- they were crunchy, and apparently, I liked crunchy. I still do. It's my firm belief that such foods as tuna/potato/egg salads, stuffing, and others that I can't think of right now, just aren't the same without those little bits of crunchy celery.

This story doesn't have much to do with anything right now, except that I thought of it while chopping celery tonight to throw in the slow cooker tomorrow, along with carrots, onions, garlic and chicken thighs. Also, I read this post from Jess about celery today, and realized that I never really knew what the difference was between celery hearts and celery ribs, but now I do. (Celery hearts are those smaller, tender pieces that you get to once all the bigger outer stalks are pulled away.) All signs point to this post being about celery today, but it's not. It's about eggs, which are better than celery but not crunchy at all, and kale, which, in this particular recipe, is crispy.

I'm sorry for rambling. I've been wanting to write a post for a while now, but nothing was coming to me. I have recipes to share, and photos to share, but no words to put on the page. So I figured I'd just sit down and write. And maybe post some photos that also have nothing to do with water chestnuts, or celery, or kale and eggs.

These were taken in Orlando, on a family vacation we took just a few days after Christmas. I made spaghetti on New Year's Eve, and we played Scattergories and Euchre and Ticket to Ride, and the pool was a little cold but not cold enough to stay out. I scanned the film myself, with the scanner I got for Christmas that I'm still not sure how to use, hence the dust. I have learned the following about scanning: It takes a lot of time. But taking pictures with film is expensive, and I'll save money any way I can to keep on shooting it.

Here's another scanned photo, taken on Christmas morning. Having family halfway across the country is rough on the holidays, and the rest of the year for that matter, but video chats help.

Let's talk about those eggs now. I made them for breakfast last weekend and the weekend before, although technically, it was more like lunch time. I'm not very good at mornings on the weekend, no matter how hard I try. There was a bunch of kale in the fridge, so I tore up the leaves and threw them in a frying pan with a touch of olive oil, let them wilt a bit, and pushed them aside to create a hole in the center. Then, I dropped in the eggs, covered the pan, and let the whole thing cook away for about three minutes. (I learned this "nesting" method from that same Jess, who sent me a book about eggs as a wedding gift, and makes a hell of a cute human, too.)

The eggs fried up nice and firm, with soft, runny egg yolks, as they should be. The kale crisped up nicely, so they were tinged with brown and had the texture of kale chips, except they were better than kale chips because there was no oven involved, and because of the runny egg yolk, of course.

Nowadays, if you want to get me to eat something, just drop a fried egg on it. Although crunchy still works, too.

Fried Eggs and Crispy Kale
When you make this, which you should, I suggest squirting a good drop of Sriracha on every few bites.

olive oil
2 eggs
a handful of kale, washed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add kale and toss until coated with oil and just slightly wilted. Push the kale to the outside of the pan, and drop the eggs in the center. Cover the pan and let the eggs set, about three minutes. Do not touch. When the eggs are cooked to your liking, slide the whole thing onto a plate, salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy. 

Winter evenings, and slow-cooked feijoada.

Here is what I have been loving about this winter:  

clementines

relatively mild weather 

chicken and brown rice soup 

a new board game 

Canal House Cooking Vol. 3 

rewatching LOST episodes 

reading 

lists 

slow cooker meals 

Last month, I fell in love with a slow-cooked ham shank. Have you tasted the meat off a ham shank that has been cooking for eight-plus hours? It's magic. Fall-off-the-bone-tender, flavor-that-clings-to-every-ingredient, silky-shredded-meat, magic. Thus began an obsession with my slow cooker.

   

In the past two months, I have used my slow cooker four times, and my parents' slow cooker once. It all started with Brazilian feijoada, which I discovered after a coworker brought in her leftovers for lunch one day and was gracious enough to share. Feijoada (fay-ZWAH-dah) is a stew typically served in South America, and includes beef, pork and beans. This particular recipe called for boneless pork shoulder, beef short ribs, ham hocks (did you know that ham hocks and ham shanks are the same thing?), bacon and black beans. In a word: YES. 

So I got the recipe, and made it for my sister and brother-in-law on one of our many board game nights, and served it with rice and juicy Satsuma oranges. For appetizers, we had Renn Faire mushrooms that had been frozen since the summer and simmered back to life, with crusty bread to dip in the broth. After dinner, we video chatted with my other sister and brother-in-law in California. It was a good night. Add that one to the list.

 

Brazilian Feijoada (from Cooking Light)

I had trouble finding ham hocks, but finally ended up at Whole Foods, where the butcher told me that ham hocks and ham shanks are the same thing. This recipe doesn't mention anything about removing the meat from the shank and returning to the pot once it's done, but mine had so much meat on it that I couldn't possibly just toss it. Next time, I might just use the pork shoulder and ham hock, and skip the beef short ribs altogether. 

Another thing: this stuff freezes beautifully. In fact, that last photo up there is of the leftovers I ate just a few days ago. Thaw in the fridge and put over low heat on the stove, with just a splash or two of water to add a bit more moisture. 

And finally, the oranges really do add a nice, refreshing touch. 

2 cups dried black beans
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 pound boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
3 bone-in beef short ribs, trimmed (about 2 pounds)
3 cups chopped onion (about 2 medium)
1 1/4 cups  chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (9-ounce) smoked ham hock
1 tablespoon white vinegar
8 orange wedges

Place beans in a small saucepan; cover with cold water. Bring to a boil; cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain. (Alternatively, you could soak the beans overnight, then drain and rinse.)

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and set aside. Sprinkle pork evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add pork to drippings in skillet; sauté 8 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Transfer pork to a 6-quart electric slow cooker.

Sprinkle ribs evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add ribs to skillet; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in slow cooker.

Add drained beans, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, onion, and next 3 ingredients (through ham hock) to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on LOW 8 hours or until beans and meat are tender.

Remove ribs from slow cooker; let stand 15 minutes. Remove meat from bones; shred meat with 2 forks. Discard bones. Remove ham hock from slow cooker, and shred the meat off the bone. Discard bone. Return beef and ham to slow cooker. Stir in vinegar and crumbled bacon. Serve with orange wedges and rice.

almost Film Friday.

 

 

 

Some scenes from December

that involved homemade pizza

and cinnamon buns.

Tonight, there was chicken in the slow cooker

topped with biscuits.

Right now, there is a fire.

Tomorrow, a snow storm.

This weekend, I'll make corn chowder

with the fresh sweet corn we froze

over the summer.

Summer. 

It seems so far away.

But Friday is close

and that's good enough for now.

Here's to the new.

We're in Florida right now
enjoying family
food
roller coasters
sunshine
Bloody Marys
and a new year.
Happy 2012!
to you and yours.
Looking forward
to what comes next.