TIP OF THE DAY: Eggs In A Nest & Dark Vs. Light Baking Pans
 [1] Eggs in nests for breakfast (photo © Cooking Light).
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What’s on tap for Easter breakfast? How about eggs in crispy hash brown nests (photo #1). If you want to make the adorable bunny rabbit rolls to serve with them, bake them first. You can make the dough the night before, and bring to room temperature before baking. See the tip on when to use dark- versus light-colored baking pans, below. We adapted this recipe from one in Cooking Light. Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 30 minutes. You can also place a bacon or ham surprise on the bottom of the basket. Ingredients Per Serving 1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Combine the shredded potato, carrot and optional onion, and lightly season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. 2. MAKE the nests: Coat the muffin cups with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin cup. Press it into the bottom and up the sides of the cup, to above the rim. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Once baked… |
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3. ADD the optional meat to the bottom of the nest. Crack 1 large egg into each nest. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes for runny eggs, or 12 to 15 minutes for set eggs. 4. SPRINKLE the top with a dash of salt and garnish the egg and the plate with the chopped herbs. Depending on your age, all of your mother’s and grandmother’s baking pans were aluminum, a metal that absorbs and conducts heat evenly and is not reactive or corrosive. Then, test kitchens discovered that food browns better (e.g., the bottom of a baking sheet and the bottom and sides of a cake pan). This is because dark pans absorb more heat and thus, more heat radiates off the surface. For foods you want to brown (pizza, pie crusts, potato wedges, roasted vegetables), darker metal baking pans, sheets, and pie plates give you an edge. For recipes where you don’t want the extra browning on the bottom (breads, cakes, some cookies, muffins), use a light-colored pan, which absorbs less heat. That being said, we don’t know why Cooking Light specified a light muffin pan. There is no comments section on the page so we couldn’t ask; but we wouldn’t mind a browner potato nest (as opposed to a browner blueberry muffin). You don’t have to get rid of your pans. According to Cooking Light, if you bake in either dark metal pans or glass dishes, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and check for doneness early. ________________ *1 package (19.7 ounces, 560 grams) yields 6 egg nests. |
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