The Rebel Within - Or A Mistake By Any Other Name

Wow. 

It's been almost three months since I posted on here. Traveling home to help Mom and Dad started "the busy season" and one thing or another followed that...and here I am, three months later and finally getting back to post. It doesn't help that the camera finally bit the dust and the replacement is new to me still and not as easy to post photos from (for me.) Not having pictures I have taken also sort of slows me down when it comes to posting.

The garden has been put to bed. All the vegetables have been harvested, preserved, canned or eaten. The yard has been put to bed for the winter. So there isn't much else to post about house-wise at this point.

But I am moved to post again by a recipe we worked on to have for breakfast this morning. My friend Nilos threw down the gauntlet by posting this photo on the EatShareEat Facebook page and I took up the challenge. Bill usually makes Sunday breakfast and he asked me what I wanted. So I said these. To give credit where credit is due, these are original to Tell Tale Preserve Company formerly at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. William Werner, who created them, now offers them at a new venture called Craftsman and Wolves. He calls them "The Rebel Within.” (He has another masterpiece called "The Devil Within" which is a foie gras and caramel stuffed chocolate muffin. Really.) 

Peeling the eggs is the real challenge. No matter how careful we were, we were not able to get one out completely unbroken. They white is so soft (a five minute boil) it falls apart under its own weight. We were able to maintain three yolks unbroken though. I didn't think the yolks were going to survive the wrap. We found a simple muffin recipe and decided to start at 400 and bake for 20 minutes.

As you know, our kitchen is tiny, so when we were done managing the eggs, I left. I went back and Bill was pacing around saying "Oh man...I really screwed this up!" I tried to console and peeked in the oven. They looked wonderful, actually.

And then he showed me the bowl with all the dry ingredients still in it. "I don't know how I managed to do this!" he moaned. But I assure him an experiment is an experiment and there are no failures, just "learning situations." 

 

So we baked them for about 30 minutes at 400, turned down to 350 for the last ten. Then I turned them out into bowls. First of all, they came out intact. They didn't collapse into a pool of scrambled eggs. And in fact, they looked like a nicely baked omelet that held the shape of the muffin form. Toast was buttered and we dug in. 

They were delicious and, frankly, beautiful. I would serve them to company. Or, our other metric, I would order it in a restaurant. Even with the eggs in the condition they were in, they held together and in at least three of them were still passably soft centered and runny. The flavors (cheese, ham, scallions) and the texture (soft set eggs wrapped in a delicate omelet) were, if I say so myself, and surprisingly in light of what a disaster we were expecting, was superb. Next time: flour! I would include a photo but the camera battery was uncooperative.

 

 

The Rebel Within

Makes four

1 C all purpose flour

1 t sugar

½ t baking powder

½ t salt

½ t pepper

1 C cottage cheese

¼ C sour cream

4 T unsalted butter, melted and cool

1 large eggs

4 soft boiled eggs, peeled (recommend a 5 to 6 minute easy boil)

1 scallion, minced

¼ C diced ham

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400˚. Lightly grease a 6-cup muffin tin. We used a tin that makes larger than usual muffins.

2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pepper together in large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk cottage cheese, sour cream, melted butter, eggs, scallions and ham together. Gently fold wet mixture into dry until just combined (do not over mix).

3. Fill muffin tin half way with batter and then lay the soft-boiled eggs in and cover with remaining batter to cover. Bake until golden brown, about 25 to 35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through.

4. Let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and then remove from the tin and serve.

Craftsman & Wolves 
746 Valencia St (b/t 18 & 19th), SF
415-913-7713