Some food fun followed by a wee rant…..
Like many people, after the holidays I try to lighten the caloric intake for a few weeks.
Also, like many people, I am not overly thrilled with the idea.
So, I have tried to keep the flavors but lose (some of) the calories.
I made Spinach Ricotta Rolls using an ‘omelet’ instead of phyllo dough.
These stacks are made with an ‘egg base’ rather than puff pastry.
I’m rather pleased with both efforts.
I used metal rings to cook the eggs. You could use a tiny skillet or just be very careful or not care if the circles aren’t perfect.
Egg, Pimiento, Goat Cheese and Ham Stacks
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 – 4 slices aged goat cheese, with white rind
- 2oz, (60gr) pimiento, roughly chopped
- 2 slices dry-cured ham, like Prosciutto, torn into pieces
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
- 1 tsp water
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2oz (60gr) spring salad greens
- 1 tbs salad olive oil
- 1 tbs white Balsamic vinegar
Instructions:
- Fry ham in 1 tsp olive oil until very crisp. Remove and set aside.
- Whisk egg, Herbes and water.
- Heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet.
- Place 2 metal rings in the hot skillet.
- Divide egg and spoon into each ring. Cook until egg is set, turning carefully if needed.
- Remove egg rounds and place on a baking sheet.
- Top with pimientos, then goat cheese, cutting goat cheese to fit.
- Bake, 400F (200C) for 2 – 4 minutes, just until you see the cheese soften .
- Remove and put on 2 plates
- Top cheese with crisp ham.
- Arrange salad greens next to stacks, drizzle with oil and vinegar and serve.
Now, for the wee rant…..
Are you on Pinterest?
What’s with all the cupcakes?
At least half of the pins I see are cupcakes, each one more loaded with frosting and fancier than the last.
What is the big deal?
It’s just cake in cups!
I started making cupcakes when I was 10. They were great for lunchboxes, after school snacks and easy portion control.
But they were just cake in a cup.
And speaking of cake….
The other day I saw a post telling the world how to make a cake mix taste like a bakery cake.
Why would anyone want to do that?
Why wouldn’t one strive to make a cake mix taste like a home-made cake? Bakery cakes (IMHO) are dry, tasteless and worthless. Why strive to emulate that?
Unless the person writing the post has never had a cake made from scratch…..
That could also explain why the current cupcakes are smothered in mounds of frosting and topped with cookies and candy bars and everything else under the sun.
I still don’t understand why everyone seems to be obsessed with them…
I mean ‘Cupcake Wars’ on T.V.????
Were all of these people deprived of cupcakes as children and now feel the urgent need to compensate?
Is there a way to make them stop?
I will even refrain about making a comment about all the sugar highs and empty calories…. Okay, I didn’t but it was a mild comment….
I am chuckling because I so agree with you. Cupcakes….what would be the challenge…certainly not an over the top taste. It is simply a blogger striving to be a baker. Totally on your side on this one.
Sounds like the perfect marriage of flavors there, Katie,
I’m not sure I get the cupcake thing. I liked the muffin rage of the 90s better.
They can keep their cupcakes and their cake mixes – I would far rather have a batch of home made biscuits (cookies to you,Katie) or a cake that I know what I have put in! Another pet hate are recipes that are really just assembling sauces, cans and ready made mixes with very few, if any, fresh ingredients in sight.
Oh yeah – lets eliminate any “cream of soups”. A white sauce is not rocket science. As for cupcakes I saw one that had bacon frosting.
Susan, and all the frosting!!!!!
argette, love muffins, but never got the over-sized thing with those, either…
Gill, my sister has a book called “A Man, A Can, A Plan”… Shudder….
Karen, i could never abide ‘Cream of Mushroom’ Bacon frosting??????