Macaroni salad is a picnic staple. This recipe has many servings that can easily feed 6-8 people as a side. I also make another version of this recipe with tuna or imitation crab meat that excludes the egg and mustard. Spring is coming, and a light refreshing salad is always welcomed. Macaroni salad is also great to fill you up after a long day of work!
Hard-boil 3 eggs, (recipe here). Boil 4 cups of water. Once boiling, add 2 cup macaroni. Cook until al dente, then strain and rinse with cold water.
Transfer pasta to serving dish. Add 2 cups of mayo, and 3 Tbsp mustard. De-shell and crush the hard-boiled eggs with a fork until the eggs are in small pieces. Add the 3 eggs to the macaroni, and stir. Once mixed, serve or refrigerate until serving.
This was my first time trying to make eggs in a nest. I had initially heard of this from Binging with Babbish when he made them several years ago, but I don’t follow him as much now that his personality has changed. It took me 3 attempts before I was able to make this dish. I didn’t make them as sunny side up either, because everything burnt when I tried that, and I really don’t like sunny side up eggs anyway. I always try the make my eggs over easy, though I do occasionally go for scrambled.
The biggest hints for this dish are to make sure the heat is low, like making a slow grilled cheese, and to make sure you have enough oil in the pan to make a seal with the bottom of the bread. This is to try and limit how much egg leaks out. My egg came out as over-medium, but it was still delicious and super easy/fun to eat. I also garnished with chives, but it’s not necessary.
Heat a small frying pan over low heat. Spray the pan with a generous layer of non-stick spray/oil. With a toaster, toast enough bread for your desired number of servings. You only need one piece of toast per egg in a nest.
Once toast is cooked, use a 2 inch round cookie cutter, or cup to make a hole in the center of the toast. Once done, transfer the bread with the hole into the pan, and crack an egg into the center. Let cook until the bottom is no longer opaque. Shake pan to release from bottom of pan, cover and let cook for 3-4 minutes.
Once the first side is cooked, gently get the toast and egg up onto your spatula. Keeping you bread and egg parallel with the burner, tip your pan to be almost 90 degrees to the spatula, then flip your spatula’s contents into the pan and place the pan back on the heat. Cook for another 3 minutes. Flip the egg in a nest as you transfer it onto your serving plate, and serve with the hole of toast and salt.
It’s a bit later then I had said, but here is my recipe for homemade pierogies. I’ve said before that I usually don’t add additional salt to my food even if the recipe calls for it, however this time I highly recommend adding salt to the dough. Because the dough is such a main part of this dish, it is important it has seasoning. Other than that this recipe is straight forward.
Peel, cube, and boil 3 medium potatoes (about 2 cups). Cook until you can stab with a fork, and the potatoes breaks in half. Strain, and transfer to a mixing bowl. Smash the potatoes till smooth. Add 4 oz of shredded cheese, mix and set aside.
Mix together 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup milk, and 1 tsp salt until a sticky dough forms. Turn out dough onto a flours work surface. Flour your rolling pin and your dough surface. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick, and using a cup or a round cookie cutter, cut 2 inch diameter circles. Repeat flouring, rolling, and cutting your desired number of times.
Using a Tbsp, pack with potato mixture then place in center of cut dough. Wet the edge of the dough, then close the dough around the potato mixture. Place onto floured surface. Repeat with remaining cut dough rounds.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add pierogies to cook until they float or about 3-4 minutes. Then transfer to a skillet with melted butter and sauteed onion. Cook for a few minutes before serving.
These french fries are cooked to the point where there are kind of crisp on the outside, but fully soft on the inside. If you desire crisper fries, consider the double fry method, or cook longer at a higher temperature. As I said in my chicken nugget post yesterday, this was my first time really frying, and so I was impressed these turned out so well!
Heat oil to 350 F. Wash, peel, and julienne potatoes to desired size. Add potatoes to oil and fry for 15 minutes.
Remove from oil and strain on a paper towel for 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and add to a 250 F oven to keep warm till serving.
My initial idea was to deep fry an entire chicken breast, but when I was thinking about the logistics, I figure it would be easier for my first time deep frying meat to fry smaller pieces of meat to see how that goes first. I’ve never deep fried at all, so my post yesterday of donuts was the first thing I’ve ever successfully fried. I did these chicken nuggets the same day, and my post tomorrow of french fries, I also made this day. I hope you consider trying this recipe! They turned out really well, just be careful not to microwave more than 45 seconds when reheating, because they will become really dry and tough.
Heat 3 cups of oil in a large dutch oven. Heat to 350 F.
Take one chicken breast, and dice up to desired size. In one bowl place bread crumbs (I used shake ‘n bake), in another bowl place 1/4 cup milk and 1 egg, and in the last bowl add 3/4 cup flour, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp Marjoram, and 2 tsp Paprika. Mix the contents of the flour bowl, then mix the milk bowl until the egg is fully scrambled.
Bread the chicken: Take the chicken in a few pieces at a time. Dip into the milk bowl, coat in the flour bowl, return to the milk bowl, then add to the bread crumbs bowl and cover. Place on a side plate. Coat all of the chicken before frying.
Add 1/2 the chicken one piece at a time and move to prevent them from sticking together. Fry for 5 minutes, then flip the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes, when they have an internal temperature is over 165 F. Remove chicken and place on cookie sheet. Keep warm in a 250 F oven until other half is done, or you are ready to serve. Best served with a side of dipping sauce.
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