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Katie Davis

@PopCultureCuisine

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Recipe of the Month – Hold the Red Onion

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 @ 09:02 AM

46251_155If you’ve happened to wander into the ‘About’ section of ‘Pop Culture Cuisine,’ you know that in addition to loving to eat out and try new restaurants, I really enjoy experimenting with fun recipes in the kitchen.  This is not to say that my experiments are always successful, but as Adam can attest, we have had a few winners that are now on the Davis dinner menu.  I like to pull out recipes from various lifestyle magazines as I come across them, and I have even compiled my favorites into a book (although I must admit that it’s not a book I rarely to often cook from ;)).

As a newlywed, I’m only now beginning to find out what to cook that meets both Adam and my tastes (and if I left the cooking to him we’d have a steady diet of macaroni & cheese and tuna helper :)).  Admittedly, I am a bit nervous about tackling some of the more difficult recipes, seeing as it’s taken me awhile to get confident in “making up” my own creations by adding this and that to the simple dishes; and as Adam can attest, my least successful attempts usually come from when I follow a recipe to the letter and measurement.  Crazy I know!…, but I seem to do better by winging it.

Still, this blog is about famous foods, which means cuisine that is highlighted in all areas of pop-culture, not just on TV.  So, I thought it would be fun (and at least an adventure) for me to try out a new recipe each month.  Most of the recipes will likely come from a famous chef, but don’t be surprised if you see a dish from one of your favorite restaurants.  Just like with my restaurant reviews, I will give a TRUE and HONEST opinion of them.  I will let all of you in on just how easy the recipe is to re-create, if it’s a crowd pleaser, is it a practical dish for the home cook, and most importantly if it actually tastes as good as the chef claims.

For the first recipe, I thought I would start off slow and easy.  Rachael Ray is well known around the world for her easy “30-Minute Meals.”  Over the years I have tried a few of her recipes and always felt they were easy to follow, needed relatively few ingredients, and come out pretty darn tasty :).  However, I have also discovered after looking through many of her recipes, she often includes some rather odd ingredients, or ingredients I’m not a huge fan of and find that the recipe can typically do without.

For awhile I subscribed her magazine, “Everyday with Rachael Ray,” and a bunch of the recipes I have added to my book are from there.  So… for the 1st PCC ‘Recipe of the Month’ contribution, I give you…

Biscuit-Crusted Sausage-Egg Pie

Source: May 2009 Issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 pound bulk pork breakfast sausage
  • 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
  • 4 pieces refrigerated biscuit dough, such as Pillsbury
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
  • 1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced
  • 2 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • Salt and pepper
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and oregano and cook, breaking up the sausage, until just browned, about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool.
  2. Grease a 9-inch pie pan with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Place 1 piece biscuit dough into a large resealable plastic bag and, using a rolling pin, roll into a 1/8-inch-thick disk. Remove the dough from the bag and transfer to the prepared pie pan. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces, pinching the pieces together in the pan to form a crust.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the cooked sausage, onion, feta and olives; spread evenly over the crust. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks, milk and 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage mixture and bake until set, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

001Looks pretty tasty…,doesn’t it?  Well, it was, but it needs some definite explanation before any of you decide you might try it.  When I found this recipe, I thought it sounded easy and fun and volunteered to cook it for dinner date we had with some friends of ours (Hi Chad & Christina!!! :)).  First, the recipe says it will serve 4, basically each person getting 1/4 of the pie.  I figured this would be plenty, forgetting I was not just cooking for myself (I eat relatively small portions), but also two large hungry men.  Also, I figured the ingredients sounded hefty enough that a slice would pack a big punch.  In reality, we were lucky our friends had made a salad  or we would have all been left hungry (I even gave Adam half my slice because I felt so bad).  The problem was that it really did not require as much egg or sausage as I originally thought, which really cut down on the “filling up” power I was counting on.

Second, as I mentioned with Rachel’s tendency with ingredients, be wary if you are not an onion liker…or lover is more like it.  For what little protein this called for, it made up for in red onion!  I mean, it should have been named the ‘Biscuit-Crusted Onion-Egg Pie!’  I was shocked by how much onion it called for; and as I was filling up the crust, I even eliminated some because the onion was starting to over-power the senses (and as you can see from above, it still had a ton!).  So, needless to say, although I like onions, let’s just say they were a bit too overwhelming in this dish (we also chose to leave out the olives, since neither Adam or I are a fan of them).

What I did like about it was the biscuit crust.  It gave the egg layer a nice flaky portion that tasted great together.  Also, the feta really brought a nice robust flavor to the dish.  Finally, this dish was extremely easy to make, cooked fast, and all the ingredients were very inexpensive, less than $10.  I think with a few adjustments and additions, this dish could be a nice addition to a week of family dinners, or at least a breakfast/brunch.  My recommendations would be to use more eggs and the entire pound of sausage (or a mix of another meat), and cut the amount of onions in half.  If you want to beef it up with some other veggies, I think mushrooms or broccoli would also taste really good in this ensemble dish.  Overall, after making the adjustments I mentioned, I think I might eventually give this dish another try.  So with taste, cooking ease, practicality, serving size, and cost to make in mind…I give Rachel Ray’s ‘Biscuit-Crusted Sausage-Egg Pie’ 3 1/2 Little Piggies.

pig-icon pig-icon pig-icon pig-icon half

2 Responses to “Recipe of the Month – Hold the Red Onion”

  1. Astrid says:

    This recipe looks delicious. I have dealt with the whole cooking for me and my boyfriend thing. It’s fun to make meals that I love and then give him things like cheese, bacon, and sour cream to put on top of it. We are able to compromise. The only thing is that I can’t cook things like mushrooms or peppers for him, because he hates them. But you compromise and I know that I would eat pretty boring meals if it weren’t for him!
    I think I will always be a Rachel Ray fan. She does love onions, and sometimes her recipes are not great, but overall, I adore her approach to cooking!

    • Katie says:

      I agree…I think she is so cute and fun. And it does help to come up with lots of alternatives so that we both like the meal we are eating. This one just happened to be a it too onioney for even my tastes haha.

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