April: The Incredible Edible Egg!

Since Easter is coming, I thought it'd be fun to celebrate with eggs as our theme for Cooking Club. Try to find a recipe where eggs is the main ingredient or one of the main ingredients.

Cooking Club will be at my house at 7:30 on Thursday, April 9th. I'll email with directions later. This should be fun to see what we all come up with.

Main: Marie -- Eggs Benedict w/ Hollandaise Sauce
Appetizer:
Appetizer: Jeri --(Egg Drop Soup)
Salad:
Salad: Cobb Salad - Sarah
Side Dish: Quiche - Missy
Side Dish:
Dessert: Angel Food Cake with fruit and cream-Lindsey
Dessert:
Dessert: Creme Brulee (I hope it's ok to add another dessert?!) Kristen
Drink: Egg Nog. Because what other egg drink is there?

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse (Martha Stewart)
Serves 4

* 4 large egg yolks
* 1/4 cup sugar
* Pinch of salt
* 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
* 3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions
1. Finely chop chocolate; reserve. In a double boiler, whisk yolks, sugar, and salt until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, quickly whisk in chopped chocolate until melted and cocoa until smooth (mixture will be thick). Cool to room temperature.
2. In a medium bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Whisk half of whipped cream into room-temperature chocolate mixture. Gently fold in remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Divide mousse among four serving dishes. Chill at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
3. Remove mousse from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with shaved chocolate.

Quiche
Pie Crust - America's Test Kitchen:
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 T sugar
3 T shortening
1/2 stick frozen butter - grated
4-6 T cold water
Combine flour and sugar. Add shortening and cut in w/ pastry cutter until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand. Cut in grated butter w/ pastry cutter. Sprinkle 4 T water over the mixture. Stir and press dough together using a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. If it doesn't stick, add additional water until it does. Form dough into disk, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill 1 hr. Allow dough to soften slightly at room temp. Roll between two pieces of wax paper to 12" circle. Fit into pie plate; trim, fold, and crimp the edges.
Line crust with double thickness of foil. Bake @ 450 for 8 min. Remove foil and bake another 4-6 min until crust is set and dry. Remove from oven - reduce heat to 325.
Filling - Better Homes and Gardens:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
• 6 slices bacon, chopped
• 8 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream - I used plain Yogurt
  
• 1/2 cup half-and-half, light cream, or milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• Dash ground nutmeg (optional)
• 3 cups lightly packed chopped fresh spinach (opt)
• 1 1/2 c Monterey Jack Cheese, grated
  

In a large skillet cook onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels. In a bowl stir together eggs, sour cream, half-and-half, salt, pepper, and, if desired, nutmeg. Stir in onion mixture, spinach, and cheeses. Pour egg mixture into the hot, baked pastry shell. Bake in the 325 degree F oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent over-browning. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish with cherry tomatoes.

Cobb Salad
Dressing:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:

Cooking spray
Bacon
Hard-boiled eggs
Romaine lettuce Iceburg lettuce
Tomatoes, seeded and diced
Avocado, diced
Cooked diced chicken breast
Crumbled Roquefort or Blue cheese