Vibrant, Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

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This time of year there are some pretty amazing craft-tastic ideas online and in magazines, making it entirely possible to devote days to creating museum-quality ova, but I prefer a less design-y and more rustic approach. After all, they’re eggs you might be stashing somewhere in the lawn. And with a small child in the house, this is not a project likely to involve X-Acto knives and tiny electrical tape stencils.

Easter is a reminder of fertility and abundance, so I say turn on nature’s color and let loose.

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18 Delicious Side Dishes to Go With Ham — Recipes from The Kitchn

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Are you serving ham this weekend for Easter, or perhaps later next month on Mother’s Day? Ham is a savory, salty, and easy main dish; and part of the pleasure of serving it is enjoying with side dishes that play well with its rich flavor.

Here are 18 side dishes that will go beautifully with your holiday ham. You have to start with the biscuits (well, you can get away with rolls if you really prefer!). Potatoes are a must — we have classic scalloped potatoes for you, plus showstopping smashed potatoes with Gouda and horseradish. Or you can lean lighter, with an herbed potato salad or snap peas with Meyer lemon and mint.

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If You Like Blue Moon, You Should Try These 5 Beers Too — Tapped In

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Just like bacon is the gateway meat, Blue Moon seems to be the introductory brew for those just starting to dip their toes into the waters of craft beers. And although Blue Moon has big-name financial backing (it’s owned by MillerCoors), it’s emblematic of a light and citrusy style of ale that’s been brewed in Europe for centuries.

If you like the taste of Blue Moon—or Hoegaarden, another popular example—and want to broaden your horizons, start looking for (and asking for) witbier, weissbier, or hefeweizen at your local bar or beer store. Here are five beers in this style I think you may fall in love with.

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How To Carve a Bone-In Leg of Lamb — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

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Earlier this week we gave you a simple, straightforward method for roasting a juicy, tender leg of lamb. (Hint: It’s actually super simple to make a lamb roast.) Carving, however, can be the trickiest part of cooking a leg of lamb. We prefer bone-in leg of lamb for flavor, and carving around that bone can feel a little intimidating.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to carving delicious slices of lamb.

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Are Hard-Boiled Eggs Easier to Peel If You Add Baking Soda to the Water? — Putting Tips to the Test in The Kitchn

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We’ve found a method to make perfect hard-boiled eggs, but how do you peel the suckers? There are a lot of different theories out there, but one that is especially intriguing involves adding a little baking soda to the cooking water. Could this small step produce pretty eggs that peeled smoothly from their shells every time? I had to test it and find out.

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baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms

baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms

My brunch arsenal, the dishes I’ve made enough times that they no longer cause any furrowed brows — a core entertaining principle here at House Smitten Kitchen (sigil: cast-iron skillet) — is as follows: bacon (always roasted in the oven, I mean, unless you were hoping to mist yourself with eau de pork belly*); some sort of fruit salad (either mixed berries and vanilla bean-scented yogurt or mixed citrus segments, sometimes with mint and feta); buttermilk biscuits; a pitcher of Bloody Marys, a bottle of champagne and a couple carafes of freshly-squeezed grapefruit or orange juice, blood orange whenever available; something sweet (our current favorite) and eggs. As I dictated years ago, everything that can be made in advance should be, thus pancakes, individually fried slices of French toast, omelets and even eggs baked in ramekins, adorable as they may be, are verboten. I’ve been there, I’ve done that, and it’s always the worst.

so much baby spinach
wilted spinach

In the egg category, my favorite for ease and laze is this spinach and cheese strata, however, if I have even 15 additional minutes at my disposal (which, let’s be honest, I do, especially when I spend less time here) remains these baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms. We talked about it, oh, seven years ago, but it’s been so buried in the archives, literally three recipes deep with a single hideous photo, that I’m long overdue to unearth it. At the time, I was charmed by how incredible something so wholesome could taste. These days, I’d add to its list of charms: vegetarian, gluten/grain-free, as good for a weeknight dinner as it is a weekend brunch dish, and oh, did I mention that it looks like an Easter egg basket? That’s a recent development.

add the mushrooms

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