Mastering with the Microwave

It had been a long time since I'd cooked a full meal for myself so I made sure there was some cookin' going on in my kitchen on Sunday night.  One of the culinary skills that has eluded me is poaching an egg. I've ruined many eggs in my attempt to make those cloud-like sauce pockets.  I even tried watching a video on You Tube, but nothing helped.  How are so many people working in diners across the country unable to speak English but can make perfect eggs to order?

I figured out their secret: the microwave.  All you do is gently crack an egg into 1/2 cup of water, cover the bowl with a saucer and microwave on high for 1 minute.  I'll admit, I was leery.  I assumed there was no possible way an egg would cook properly in the microwave and not give me salmonella.  But after I learned this was how they did it in restaurants, I gave it a shot.  It worked.  I still cant believe it, but I created two perfectly cooked poached eggs in the microwave.  This just opened my eyes to all the brunch possibilities I can make in my very own kitchen.

We'll save brunch for next time.  For Sunday night's dinner, I went with a frisee salad, topped with bacon, shrimp, and a quick dijon vinaigrette.  I kept the vinaigrette light because the broken poached eggs serve as the dressing.  In addition to learning how to poach eggs, I learned frisee is not my favorite lettuce.  Sure, it looks fancy and fun, but it's just not my fave.  The firm texture and bitter taste stood up to the rich egg, but it's still not the best lettuce in the bunch in my humble, less evolved opinion.  This is unfortunate, because I have a huge carton of it leftover.  Lettuce aside, this was a dang good salad.  And let's be honest - you eat a salad for the toppings anyway.