What do you do when your farmer friend asks if she can park her car in your driveway for three weeks while she visits family faraway? You say yes. What about when she also asks for a ride from your place to the bus station? You say, "of course." And when she drops off eight dozen eggs along with the car because her husband forgot to give them away at work that day? If you're like me, you have a minor panic attack.
Eight dozen eggs! When she set the box down at the edge of my driveway, I asked what was in it. I thought she said, "a dozen eggs." An extra dozen eggs is no big deal. But lo, and behold, upon returning from the bus station, I found eight fully loaded egg cartons; not one. I was really glad it was winter and that the root cellar was cold, because finding that much fridge space would have been the first problem. Did I mention that our own four laying hens have been performing quite well themselves? It's not like there was an egg shortage here in the first place.
So...eggs. Eggs and...potatoes. Eggs and....guanciale. Eggs and...dried figs? Pumpkin? Beans? What am I supposed to do with all these eggs? I know, I know. I'll freeze some. I'll let some "age" so I can make deviled eggs. I'll make and freeze a few quiche. And I'll give some away. But still. That's a lot of eggs.
What's your favorite way to eat an egg? What's your best suggestion for dressing up eggs for a lunch or dinner?
30 comments:
My favorite is Quiche. I have been making alot of it lately. I recently researched pickling eggs. Sometimes I boil them and give a few to the dog and I have on occasion mashed boiled eggs up, shell and all and fed them back to the chickens.
Pickled Eggs are delicious, and versatile. They store very well and can be used hot or cold.
My blog has a good selection of recipes for them, check out the labels on the right, under Recipes:)
sweet potato or pumpkin souflee is delish, as is any pie that uses eggs, like pumpkin or custard.
I'd make curry with hardboiled eggs; for recipes, check www.sfgate.com. And there's always lemon curd.
LisaH
How about egg salad, quiche, pound cake, angel food cake and freeze a bunch for when your chickens moult.
Pickled eggs. I'd hard boil them, and then, put them in the pickled beet juice I've saved and leave them in the fridge for a week or two. They're delicious, and fun. There's nothing like biting into a purple egg to find a bright yellow yolk. Very cool.
I wish I had an egg glut. I have ten birds who should be laying eggs and we get one egg per day. Rotten birds. I think the ducks are laying, but have hidden their nest somewhere. It won't be cool to find their eggs come spring. Eww!
Homemade pasta and french toast.
Lemon meringue pie can use up quite a few:-)
thanks for sharing
martine
Zabaglione! Made with egg yolks and so yummy. I know you're supposed to serve it over things, but I'll just eat it with a spoon. It would be good over a simple cake, though.
curried hard boiled eggs are great. a good way to use lots of eggs is to make "ford field fire eggs". just google that to find the recipe. i have it here somewhere but don't even know where to begin to look for it. they are really good and last a long time!
I know, send them my way! :) It's so amazing to me to have a glut of eggs. Around here, so few people are doing small scale egg production that eggs like that are a precious commodity!
You can make tea eggs, or hardboiled which will keep for a fairly long time.
Also, eggs with stuff are a great way to use up anything in the fridge! (Eggs with stuff can be made a zillion ways, I usually just scramble everything together, but you can make a fritatta, a fretta, omlette, etc. :-P)
There's really nothing like a boiled egg or two when I want a quick snack as I'm heading out the door to class or work. When things like granola bars are just too sweet, a boiled egg really hits the spot, and the "wrapper" is biodegradable!
Also, pound cake requires a surprisingly large amount of eggs, and freezes pretty well too. I made a delicious Meyer lemon pound cake recently: http://disfordelicate.com/2010/02/05/meyer-lemon-pound-cake-recipe/
I see Molly beat me to it... pickled eggs. I understand they are great on salads and if you eat tuna. I watched a video on how to pickle these once and it looked very easy. Only there are a couple of things you need to be careful of to insure they are done correctly.
By the way, I've moved from my old blog (River Rock Cottage) to a new blog - Homestead Revival. Come see me! And there are some drawings going on to celebrate my first year blogging. Who knows, you might win again!
make a whole lot of scrabbled eggs and freeze them in small batches. Then you can thaw and reheat wrap in a tortilla with a little bacon or quaciole (okay never said I can spell but your dried jowl stuff) and salsa and have a yummy breakfast burrito. I've never been able to tell the difference between scrambled eggs I've frozen, but I like dry scramble, if you prefer custardy scramble it might not work for you.
Oh and I forgot, egg custard pie, that's my families favorite easter treat. It takes a lot of yolks. As do flan and custard cups (you can save and freeze the whites for merienges, scramble, and low fat cakes).
Egg salad! With homemade mayonnaise of course. Frittatas are always excellent. Quiches are an excellent use of eggs.
Muffins, cookies, challah, all good use of eggs that can be frozen. Eggs will also keep for a very long time in a cool, draft free spot.
You can scramble the eggs and give them back to your hens (don't do raw or you'll have egg eaters).
Crepes are a favorite of mine.
Lasagne can use up quite a few, if you make the noodles, mix egg into the ricotta, and put hard boiled eggs and vegetables in the layers.
Mini-quiches made in large muffin tins are good frozen lunches to microwave at work.
Dutch Baby pancakes and dessert omelettes came up on a forum thread not too long ago, as well as some other recipes. It might be worth checking out.
Lastly, rather than freezing them, you might preserve them with water glass. As with concrete, it seals the pores, and I understand eggs sometimes keep for a year after that treatment.
I love eggs but 8 dozen is just too many. I would be eating scrambled eggs every meal. A few people mentioned pickled eggs. I've never had one but they do look pretty when pickled in beet juice.
When we are overflowing with eggs I make a lot of pasta (to freeze for use later). Also ice cream is a great user of yolks...
You can dehydrate eggs too:
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/02/natural-food-preservation.html
Lemon curd is another tasty way to use up eggs. Home made is SOOO much better than store bought.
Custard.
Baked goods in general. :D
Pickled eggs...here's my recipe
http://motherskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/04/pickled-eggs.html
Overnight french toast....it uses a dozen eggs! Or homemade angel food cake.....
Wait - "aged" eggs? Elaborate, please?
xox,
Susan
Susan, I put it in parentheses for a reason. Older eggs make the best deviled eggs because they're the only ones that peel reasonably easily. A fresh egg clings to its shell after being boiled and it's impossible to peel it without mangling the white badly. As a rule of thumb, I like to use eggs at least four weeks old for deviled eggs, which need to look halfway decent. If I'm just going to chop up a boiled egg for egg salad, appearance doesn't matter as much and I can use fresher ones.
So that's the secret! I know sometimes boiled eggs peel easily and sometimes they're a chunky mess, but I didn't realize it had to do with the age.
You're a font of wisdom, Miss Kate! : )
xox,
Susan
p.s. speaking of eggs: in Amy Tan's book The Hundred Secret Senses, the main character does something with duck eggs, bakes them in clay then buries them to age or something...have you ever heard of anything like that? Just curious!
today's secret word: lopiebri
I found the reference to the duck eggs! It's here:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/czone/stories/s838560.htm
Sounds vile and interesting.
xox,
Susan
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