The Biggs Picture

Tonight was the trial for Eggs Chevre en masse. I learned quite a bit.

Timing:

• Bake for 15 minutes, stir. Bake for 5 minutes, add chives and stir. Bake for 5 minutes, add chevre.
• Let the eggs cool slightly before adding the chevre, and do not put them back in the oven. Melting the cheese too much just makes the bottom of the pan all watery and gross.

Volume:

• Do not put in salt sufficient for 3 dozen eggs before you decide to cook only 2 dozen. Fortunately they’re only on the salty side of edible, it wasn’t a complete loss.
• Use twice the butter as in the recipe for 12 eggs, but less than twice the milk.
• Use 8 oz of chevre and 1.3 oz of chives. I am going to get a lot of flack over that last measurement, and amazingly all of it from people who are not in the middle of cooking seven dishes for twenty people!! I’m going to go ahead and get a kick out of that now, because two weeks hence I’ll just feel overwhelmed and angry.

Technique:

• Use the whisk attachment of the KitchenAid instead of the beater attachment.
• The eggs will bake around the vertical outside edges first. Make sure to scrape those down at the 15-minute mark.
• Remove the pan from the oven before adding chives. Tonight I stood there for five minutes adding chives, stirring, adding more… and then closed everything back up and noticed my hand was stinging and hot. I ran it under cold water. Still stinging. I held it under cold water for a few minutes, and then it felt a little better, but it was still pink. Like a steak cooked medium. I’m okay now, but lesson learned: DO NOT BAKE YOUR HAND.

Presentation:

• Two dozen eggs fit perfectly into my white oval/rectangle serving dish. Scoop eggs in, garnish with a few uncut chives, and serve!

On the schedule for tomorrow: cinnamon chips with fruit salsa. Stay tuned!