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Guinness Braised Kale with Roasted Potatoes and Poached Eggs Recipe

March 13, 2013

It’s that time of year. The time when food bloggers everywhere pull out the Guinness, Bailey’s, Jameson and potatoes to create an Irish-inspired recipe for St. Patrick’s Day. I’m no exception.

If you’ve read my blog much at all you know that Ireland has a special place in my travel-loving heart. I’ve had the opportunity to visit three times, exploring gorgeous landscape, overdosing on amazing food and drink and even meeting bloggers. So I can’t let March 17 pass without making something that uses a few flavors from Ireland. I’m always tempted by the incredible desserts that pop up on other blogs, but I decided to go savory. This is a super simple meal, but the Guinness adds a deep flavor to the kale that tastes so good with the eggs and potatoes. Bonus, it’s perfectly suitable for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Guinness Braised Kale with Potatoes and Poached Eggs via @Lori_Rice

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Guinness Braised Kale with Roasted Potatoes and Poached Eggs

Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients

10-12 red or white new potatoes, quartered
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp dried dill
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper

1 lb. kale, stemmed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup Guinness Extra Stout beer
¼ tsp sea salt

4 poached eggs

Prep

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, dill, sea salt and black pepper. Stir to coat the potatoes with the oil and spices. Transfer the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir the potatoes. Return to the oven and bake 15 to 25 more minutes, or until the potatoes are tender with crispy edges.

While the potatoes are baking you can prepare the kale. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the kale and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring to coat the kale in the oil.

Add the beer. Cook 30 seconds more, or until the kale begins to wilt. Remove from the heat and stir in the sea salt.

To assemble, divide the potatoes into 4 serving bowls, top with ¼ of the kale and finish it off with a poached egg. Serve warm.

I leave you with two short PSAs for this Irish holiday that we all enjoy so much in the States. # 1 It’s St. Paddy’s Day, not St. Patty’s Day. I learned this just a few short years ago, but definitely click on that link. #2 Skip the green beer and order a Guinness (or a Kilkenny, or a Smithwicks, or a Bulmer’s Cider).

Sláinte!

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes or images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Baked Eggs with Pumpkin and Greens Recipe

October 16, 2012

I love eggs just about any way you can make them. No problems with the taste or texture here, I could eat them at every meal. Over the years my tastes have evolved from scrambled and hard boiled only, to fried, and just recently to poached with rich, runny yolks.

I realized recently that one of the only ways I have yet to make eggs is baking them. It had to be easier than poaching, right?

I had some left over pumpkin puree from roasting a pie pumpkin last week, and my mom brought me some kale from their garden this past weekend. I mixed in a few other ingredients and made this the base for eggs.

No surprise – I now love baked eggs too!

Even if eggs aren’t your thing, this combination makes a great baked side dish. I used kale and bok choy, but any hearty green will work fine

Baked Eggs with Pumpkin and Greens Recipe

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped kale
2 cups chopped bok choy (mostly greens)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 eggs
1 tbsp panko bread crumbs (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 F and lightly grease a small casserole dish with olive oil.

Heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high and add the onion and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes, or just until the onions begin to soften. Add the greens and cook only 60-90 seconds, just until the greens begin to wilt. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Stir in the pumpkin, ricotta cheese, salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to the casserole dish.

Make four small indentations in the pumpkin mixture. One at a time, crack the eggs into the wells you created. Sprinkle the top evenly with the bread crumbs.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the whites are set, but the yolks are soft. Less if you like runny yolks, more if you like your eggs firm. Remove from the oven and serve warm. Makes 4 servings.

Beginner Homemade Pasta Making

June 23, 2012

The problem with making your own foods is that you regularly discover new things and you realize you can never go back to the package or prepared version. Salsa, guacamole and hummus from scratch beat any store-bought I’ve tried. Homemade corn and flour tortillas will change your world. And making your own pasta results in something that can barely be described in words.

I’d be lying if I said I no longer use dry pasta, but sitting down to a bowl of it does trigger some feelings of disappointment. The texture, flavor and even the look of homemade pasta is worth getting excited over.

I do shy away from making it from time to time because it feels like too much work, but each and every time I follow through, it’s completely worth it.

Ever since I made Hearty Tomato, Kale and Mushroom Sauce I’ve been meaning to do a pasta post. As you can tell, I’m not a step-by-step blogger. This is mostly because I’m not a step-by-step cook. But it’s also because a step-by-step post requires the perfect marriage of a well lit kitchen with the time to stop and photography each step. I rarely have both.

A few weekends ago, I had daylight in the kitchen and the time so I finally documented my pasta making. I was reminded again how much I love this stuff!

Notice that this is a beginner guide. Very, very beginner. I’m still learning, and at times my noodles can be down right ugly. But they still taste good.

A few tips for your pasta making:

Be patient. Dough gets stuck, it stretches out. Try, try again.
If you don’t have an electric pasta attachment, get a helper. I’ve made it with a manual machine by myself before and it’s doable, but tough.
Most books will tell you to avoid flouring the dough too much because it makes it gummy after cooking. I try to limit it, but still find I need to flour to keep it from sticking to the table and the machine.
Don’t be a perfectionist. Ugly noodles taste good, too.
You don’t have to have a pasta dryer. You can lay the pasta out flat to dry. But I like hanging it on a dryer.

Pasta dough is simple. Just about every recipe is flour and egg.

In a food processor, combine:

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

I’ve used white whole wheat flour as a substitute and it works well, but results in a dryer dough.

Pulse until dough resembles peas, and holds together when pressed between your fingers. You can add a half teaspoon of cold water if it is too dry. Continue to add water until it reaches the above state.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until it is smooth, about 2 minutes. Cover in a sheet of plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

Beginner Homemade Pasta Making | Fake Food Free

Cut the dough into six equal pieces. Roll those pieces into a ball and flattened into an oval. It’s ready for pressing.

Set the pasta maker to the largest setting, meaning the rollers are as wide as they get.

Slowly turn the crank and feed the dough through. I do this about 3 times on this setting, folding the pasta each time There is no rhyme or reason to my folding. Sometimes I fold end to end, others, horizontally.

Next, take the pasta maker setting down two notches. This is as far as I go, feel free to make if thinner. Feed the dough through once. You should end up with a long piece of dough that is just a little shorter in width the an the pasta maker rollers.

Lay the pasta sheets on a floured surface and cover with a damp towel. Continue the process with the remaining five pieces of dough.

The next step is to cut the pasta and this is where help comes in handy. Choose the cut you would like based on your maker. I always make fettuccine. I’ve tried spaghetti, but it got stuck in the maker so I stick with what works.

Turn the handle to feed the pasta sheet through the cutter and gently catch and pull the noodles from the other side.

Place the noodles on a drying rack. This is where you can pull apart some that stuck together and spread it out evenly to dry.

Repeat with the remaining sheets.

I know that you can freeze fresh pasta, but every time I make it, it goes straight to the pot. I let it dry for about 15 minutes while the water comes to a boil.

I use a large pasta pot with the inset colander. Bring the water to a boil, salt if it’s your thing, and add the pasta.

Don’t stir the pasta right away to keep from breaking it up. After it has cooked about 2 minutes and it’s almost done, I use tongs to separate it a bit and make sure all of it has been sufficiently dunked in the water. The pasta should be done in 3-4 minutes.

Drain and serve. Makes about 1 pound to serve 4.

Need more ideas for what to top it with? These are a few of my favorite pasta recipes, and homemade pasta can easily be substituted for any type.

Thai Basil Pesto with Cherry Tomatoes and Meatballs
Lemon Feta Shrimp
Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Pasta with Parmesan

Fried Egg over Kale and Quinoa

November 15, 2011

The words big breakfast lead one to conjure up all types of vivid images. Maybe it’s omelets with bacon and toast, waffles with country ham or biscuits and sausage gravy. Or, if you are anywhere near the vicinity of the southern US it might mean all of the above.

As much as I enjoy all of our traditional breakfast favorites, I also love redefining the big breakfast. Considering that I can barely go a day without eating kale in one form or another it’s no surprise that I’m now having it in the morning. Greens with eggs and grains have recently climbed the ranks as a favorite breakfast which can also easily pass as lunch and dinner.

I went to a farm to table breakfast a couple weeks ago and was greeted with sautéed kale over grits topped with a fried egg. Morning meal contentment right there.

I decided to recreate it at home and since I already had some cooked quinoa on hand from the Cranberry Orange Quinoa Stuffing, I thought I’d use that instead of grits.

I learned a little tip at that breakfast from the chef who was preparing our meal – add a splash of apple cider vinegar to your greens to perk up the flavor. I’d never done that before, but it gives the greens a nice tang. It doesn’t take much. Just a splash in the pan a few minutes before they are done cooking is perfect.

I’ve just come around to undercooked eggs, i.e. a runny yolk. It’s taken me a while, but I now find when I use farm fresh, local eggs and they are served over something like greens or grits that I love them. No worries if they aren’t your thing, just take the egg to your desired doneness.

Then, if you are like me, you’ll want to drizzle whole thing with your favorite hot sauce. My hot sauce of the hour is Sriracha which is amazing with sautéed greens.

Fried Egg over Kale and Quinoa

1 tbsp olive oil
1 to 1 ½ lbs kale, stem removed and chopped
½ large onion, thinly sliced
10 – 15 white button mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sunflower seeds (optional)
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
4 farm fresh eggs
1 cup cooked quinoa, seasoned to taste

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over med-high heat. Add the kale and turn to coat in the oil. Add the onions and mushrooms. Cook 3 to 5 minutes. As the kale begins to wilt, add in the chicken stock and simmer until it evaporates gently turning the kale to cook it down further. Add the apple cider vinegar.

Stir in the sunflower seeds if using. Cook 1-2 minute more. Season with the salt, pepper and red pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a non-stick skillet, fry all 4 eggs to your desired doneness. Top will a little ground black pepper on each side.

On each plate, place ¼ cup quinoa, ¼ of the kale and one egg. Top with hot sauce and serve warm.

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Farm Fresh Heirloom Tomato Omelet

June 14, 2011

Waiting.

That is the stage of gardening that we are in at the moment. The plants are in, but the only thing that seems to be growing are the weeds. Tiny peppers have emerged as well as little green tomatoes and but it feels like things are never going to ripen for picking.

Every day I make the trek out to the garden. Well, okay. It isn’t exactly a trek. It’s roughly 3 yards from our driveway, but bear with me for dramatic effect.

I trek out to the garden and look the plants over, make a loud sigh so that the plants hear me and return to the house empty handed.

Waiting.

I feel such a lack of creativity lately and I know it has a lot to do with lack of ingredients. So I had to make it to a Farmer’s Market, even if I only picked up a few things. I needed some inspiration.

We ran a 5K at a local park on Saturday and it just happened to be within walking distance of the Farmer’s Market so I set out afterward to explore. The markets in our smaller counties here only have a few tables this time of year, but there were quite a few offerings.

I came home with red potatoes, green onions, cue ball squash and a few heirloom tomatoes.

I’m trying to learn my tomatoes by sight so a played a bit of a guessing game with the vendor. I said the name with each one I picked up and I was at about a 50% accuracy rate. I have a lot to learn, but I’ve got my Purple Cherokee and Mr. Stripey down for sure.

Growing up, I wasn’t a huge tomato fan, but after finding heirloom varieties within the past couple years, I can’t get enough. I absolutely love the flavor.

I usually serve them simple with some olive oil, balsamic and a sprinkle of feta cheese, but I had the time to make a big breakfast over the weekend.

I’d just picked up a few dozen eggs from Pike Valley Farm and had some Derby cheese. So I decided to toss in those green onions I bought and a few sweet slices of the beautiful tomatoes.

I have to admit that I’m awful at making omelets. They fall into the pancake category for me as far as failure vs. success. They always taste good, but rarely turn out picture worthy. It took some extra effort and careful skillet skills, but this one wasn’t half bad in looks. With the tomatoes and the sharp cheese, the flavors were some of the best I’ve had in an omelet.

There are few things better than a farm fresh breakfast on the weekend!

Farm Fresh Heirloom Tomato Omelet Recipe from @Lori_Rice

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Farm Fresh Heirloom Tomato Omelet
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 spring onion, sliced (reserve greens for garnish)
1 medium heirloom tomato, sliced
1/3 cup crumbled Derby-style cheese

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Set aside

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add the oil or butter. Once heat/melted, add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the eggs. Allow to cook, gently scraping the sides, until it begins to firm in the middle.

Gently lay 3-4 slices of tomato on one side of the omelet and sprinkle with cheese. Use a spatula to fold over the other side. Cook for 30 to 60 more seconds to melt the cheese. Slide onto a plate and garnish with the onions.

Enough for two. You can cut one omelet in half, or cut the ingredients in half and make two omelets.

Thanks for reading! All images and content are the property of Fake Food Free unless otherwise stated. Please do not republish full recipes and images without written permission. What is okay? Feel free to Pin images, share links to my posts or share the photo in a round up post with the title of this recipe and a link back to the post. Confused about copyright and food blogs? Here is some helpful information on Recipe Attribution. If you want to use a photo or full recipe, just ask. I’m sure we can work something out.

Spring Garden Cobb Salad

May 22, 2011

I’ve been inspired by cobb salads lately. It could be because of all the beautiful colors, but I really think it’s all those fresh ingredients arranged in tidy rows. Things around here have felt very hectic lately and I must be craving organization. This has to be the most organized way to eat a salad, don’t you think?

As I was thinking of making one, I soon realized I could make my own version of the cobb salad completely from our garden with a little help from local farms.

Kind of fun, right? I love the challenge of creating meals entirely from the garden.

First, we have the very last of our asparagus quickly blanched and seasoned with salt and pepper. Next is a hardboiled egg from Wonder of Life Farm nearby. This is followed by lettuce, strawberries and finely chopped kale. This version is without meat and cheese, but a delicious combination, nonetheless.

I debated on what type of dressing to use and I finally ended up topping it with homemade honey mustard dressing which included Kentucky honey. I was unsure of the combination of flavors, but the dressing pulled it all together. This proved to be a wonderful way to kick off what I’m officially marking as salad season!

Spring Garden Cobb Salad

Makes: 1 serving

Ingredients

½ cup chopped asparagus (one-inch pieces)
1 hardboiled egg, sliced
½ cup chopped bibb lettuce
2/3 cup strawberries, sliced
½ cup finely chopped kale
2 tablespoons of your favorite honey mustard dressing (or a dressing of your choice)

Prep

Heat a small pan of water to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the stove, drain and immediately rinse or cover in cold water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange the asparagus on the plate followed by the sliced egg, bibb lettuce, strawberries and kale. Top with your favorite dressing and enjoy! Makes one large salad.

Spring Cobb Salad with strawberries and asparagus | Fake Food Free

Baked Egg Cups with Asparagus and Kale

April 12, 2011

These easy baked egg cups are a perfect way to use up produce from the garden for a protein-packed breakfast!

A few weeks ago, when the temperatures were still well into the freezing range, I was checking out the garden and thinking about my plan for planting this summer. I hadn’t paid much attention the raised bed of greens we planted last fall. It had been so hot that nothing grew so I just let it be.

That day I just happen to look down and see a bit of green. I thought – wow, that kind of looks like new growth. Turns out, it was. The kale from last fall came back this spring and it has loved the cooler temps!

Soon after the kale, came our first round of asparagus. The plants are two years old now so this year we’ve been able to harvest some for the dinner table. Three bunches so far.

I am loving this sign of new life. Lately, I’ve been a bit uninspired in the kitchen. I can’t seem to come up with any new ideas and at times I’ve felt a bit like not cooking at all.

That was until the green goodness starting showing up. Soon behind these are all the blooming strawberry and blackberry plants.

Armed with asparagus, kale and so far from the herb garden, thyme and chives, I decided to try and use up some of the eggs I got from a local homesteader and friend. Baked eggs seem to be popular this spring so I did my own twist on this tasty breakfast or brunch dish.

It turns out these are great for snacks and dinner too. They are full of greens and the herbs are definitely the shining star, or at least as much as they can be next to those bright orange, farm fresh egg yolks. It was only after making them that I realized everything I had added was either from our garden or a local producer except for the milk, salt and the butter I used to grease the muffin pan.

Baked Egg Cups with Asparagus and Kale

2018-04-27 17:55:13

Makes 8

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Ingredients

1 ½ cups finely chopped kale leaves
2/3 cup finely shredded cheese (I used St. Jerome)
6 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoons fine sea salt
Eight 1-inch pieces asparagus

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a muffin pan with butter or the oil of your choice. Divide the kale and cheese evenly between the 8 muffin cups.
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Add the chives, thyme, and salt. Pour the egg mixture into the muffin cups, dividing it evenly. Place a piece of asparagus on top of each cup.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the eggs are set in the center and slightly browned on the edges. Cool for 2 to 3 minutes, remove from the pan and serve.

By Lori Rice

Fake Food Free https://www.fakefoodfree.com/

Baked Egg Cups with Asparagus and Kale Recipe

Vegetable Fried Rice

August 6, 2010

Is anyone else experiencing a cooking low right now? I’m feeling uninspired and I blame it on the current season. Just weeks ago I was still giddy over garden goodness and content with fresh salads, light vinaigrettes combined with the occasional grilling.

The grilling is still interesting, and for that matter I could bake and bake, but I am stumped for main courses to cook. Nothing sounds good at all.

While part of me is saying – it’s still summer, enjoy fresh and light meals, another tiny voice which grows by the day is saying – fall is right around the corner. I think about pumpkin, casseroles, stews and dumplings, and then I realize it is still much too hot for all that heavy food. As a result, I got nothing.

How will I combat this problem? Well, I’ve decided that I will devote much of the month of August to making other people’s recipes. I’ve been pulling out the cookbooks and revisiting all the great food blogger recipes I have bookmarked.

Otherwise I’m going to try to combine the two seasons – light and summery with filling and comforting. That is how I decided on Vegetable Fried Rice.

My mom made the best fried rice when I was growing up. I’ve made it myself before, but after enjoying it last week I have no idea why I don’t make it more often.

I used a variety of vegetables from our garden and tossed in some shiitake mushrooms. (Those came from Indiana.) The eggs are from friend nearby who has her own chickens and runs a small sustainable homestead at Wonder of Life Farm.

The rice is white. Why? Well, because I love white rice. I eat plenty of whole grains on a regular basis so I have no issues with including white rice from time to time. Brown rice has its place, and feel free to substitute it here, but when traveling all around Southeast Asia I rarely saw it eaten. White rice is more traditional to me so that is what I stick with.

This dish didn’t pull me out of my cooking blahs completely, but I think it was a good start. Now I’m off to check out some more cookbooks, two of which I hope to review for you next week.

Vegetable Fried Rice

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small candy onion, diced
½ cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 small zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
½ orange bell pepper, chopped
2 Anaheim peppers, sliced
3 cups cold, day old rice
2 eggs
3 tbsp tamari

In a large, deep skillet heat the oil and add the garlic and onion. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and zucchini and cook about 2 minutes more. Finally add the peppers and continue to cook until all vegetables are tender.

Add the rice and stir to incorporate, heating the it through. Push all of the ingredients to one side of the pan and add the two eggs to the empty side of the skillet.

Break the yolks with your spatula and allow the eggs to cook for 30 to 60 seconds. Once they are almost cooked through, stir them into the rest of the rice, distributing the egg evenly.

Stir in the tamari and you are ready to serve. Add salt and pepper to taste if you desire. I find the tamari is enough for me. Serves about 4.

Kale and Mushroom Quiche

April 28, 2010

Quiche is such a springtime dish. Funny how I make it this week and the temperature dropped to 35 F last night. Good thing the quiche I made is a little on the hearty side with a whole wheat crust and kale. See, I loved that kale and mushroom combo I made a while back so much that I thought – why not try it in a quiche; take a break from the traditional spinach.

It was so good that I’m bummed my husband took the last piece in his lunch today. Although, I had plenty, I think a piece every day since I made it on Sunday.

I used my favorite quiche crust that I started making last year. It is a pat-in-the-pan butter crust in which I use stone ground whole wheat flour. It is not a light and flaky pastry crust. It is crumbly and the nutty flavor of the whole grain goes well with any quiche combination. I doubt I’ll ever put my quiche in anything different.

I put raw kale in the egg mixture and the cooking time on the quiche was plenty to make it nice and tender. I also sprinkled in some red pepper and hot sauce for a mild kick.

Kale and Mushroom Quiche

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

½ tsp salt

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 to 3 tbsp milk

½ cup fresh button mushrooms, chopped

1 cup kale, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh parmesan, grated or shredded

1 cup milk

4 farm fresh eggs

1 tbsp white whole wheat flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

1 tbsp hot sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl mix together whole wheat flour and salt, cut in the butter and mix with a fork or pastry blender until butter is incorporated and dough is crumbly. Slowly add milk, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms a dry, yet cohesive dough. Press the dough evenly into bottom and sides of a deep, 9 inch pie pan.

On top of the crust sprinkle the mushrooms, kale and cheese. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, spices and hot sauce. Whisk until light and fluffy, or you can also put the mixture in a blender and pulse. Pour the eggs over the crust and arrange your fillings as needed.

Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes. The egg will rise a bit and the top should be slightly browned and the center set. Allow to cool for five minutes, slice and serve. Makes six to eight servings.