Pork Schnitzel with Chanterelle Mushrooms

Long-delayed post of what I did with most of the chanterelles I found over a month ago.  I pickled the rest with sherry vinegar, shallots, mustard and olive oil, but there weren't very many left.  I threw some of the pickled ones in with some other sauteed mushrooms though, a couple weeks ago, and despite their small quantity, their flavor came through nicely.

Anyway, for the bulk of them, I followed this recipe, with shallots substituted for onion and a little less bacon.  Everything tasted good, but I thought the mushroom element was a bit muddy and not my preferred use of chanterelles, which already have a lot going on in terms of flavor.  I was pretty excited to see how the bacon, mustard and capers would play into those flavors, but it didn't do that much for me in the end.  It's just kind of hard to compete with bacon and cream I think.

Scotland

So a few weeks ago I was in Scotland with the parents - Glasgow, St. Andrews, Edinburgh and some surrounding countryside. Very nice, indeed. The food was incredible. Some of the best seafood I have ever had. I only took a few pictures of the food.

They make a lot of awesome smoked fish in Scotland, this is a smoked haddock and clam chowder that was bomb.

Haggis with Neeps (Swede) and Tatties (Potatoes)

Haggis is also great.

Anstruther is a small fishing village on the North Sea between Edinburgh and St. Andrews. It is notorious for having the U.K.'s best fish and chip shop. We went there. I have yet to go to every chippy in Great Britain but  it was damn good. 

If only it came with hot sauce.

Proof

Bonus: We actually did not eat any of this, but it was a good picture from Edinburgh. 

Pork and veal hot dog on a pretzel roll with sauerkraut and mustard

Here's my sauerkraut in action, with a pork and veal hot dog from Gene's sausage shop, a toasted pretzel roll from the same, and some Maille whole grain mustard.  Worthy of five pictures.

Baked Eggs

I love baked eggs.  They are really simple to make.  And they are a particularly good option when you have half a gallon of cream.  The basic ingredients are eggs, butter, cream, a bain-marie and ramekins.  Plus anything else you want to throw in and if you don't have ramekins, like me, then some other appropriate vessel.

For the first round of eggs, about two weeks ago, I used a pyrex bowl, which worked satisfactorily, but failed to cook the eggs evenly.  This weekend, I used a muffin tin, which actually worked quite well.

The first time I made use of some picnic leftovers: namely, chorizo and Big Ed's cheese, a firm, washed-rind, raw cow's milk cheese from Wisconsin.  I also threw in some basil and parmesan, in addition to the requisite butter and cream.

To make:

You need 4 eggs, 6 tablespoons of cream, a small knob of butter, some sliced chorizo, Big Ed's or substitute cheese, basil, parmesan, salt and pepper.

Smear butter around the bottom and sides of the cooking vessel.
Grate parmesan over it.
Throw in some chorizo and basil.  I used whole slices of chorizo, but I would probably cut them up more next time.
Pour in about 3 tablespoons of heavy cream.
Break in four eggs.

Add grated cheese.

Add salt and pepper to taste and more parmesan and basil.

Add the remaining cream.

Cook in a bain-marie in a 350 degree oven.

I used a larger pyrex bowl for the bain-marie.

Served with crusty bread and lettuce dressed with a mustard vinaigrette.

The chorizo eggs were pretty delicious, but it took about half an hour in the oven, one of the yolks was slightly overcooked, and the center was a little runny.  I would really like to get some ramekins, but in the meantime, I figured that a muffin tin would serve my purpose.

These eggs were made with bacon and a homemade pesto.

I didn't measure things out, but the procedure is basically the same: smear butter, grate parmesan, add pesto and some bacon, add cream, add egg, add salt, more bacon, parmesan and cream.  Bake in a bain-marie at 350 degrees.

 These guys were ready in about 11-12 minutes I think. 

 Beautiful.  You can see the pesto underneath and a supplementary dollop on top.  I just wish I had had some crusty bread.  I had to settle for fried potatoes.