Egg puns we will not use next week

Back in 1997, when I was a young food writer and had not yet cracked up from the constant flood of press releases, I made Observer readers a promise:

No egg puns. Specifically, not these:

Egg-citing.
Egg-xactly.
Egg-stravaganza.
Egg-stravagant.
Egg-static.
Egg-speriment.
Egg-cellent.
Egg-sultant.

And to my knowledge, in the ensuing 15 years, I never have. (I also continue to honor my pledge to never use a "thyme" pun.)

So, in the coverage leading up to Easter, I am not to blame for any egg puns you might see committed by The Observer.

Yolk puns, though, are entirely possible. I'm only human, people.

One Great . . . smashed potato recipe

There are recipes you see and you just know: "That is going to have a home in my life."

That was my reaction of the Crash Hot Potatoes in Ree Drummond's new "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" cookbook.

For one thing, roasted potatoes wedges are easy and reliable, but they're also a little boring. For another, several local farmers, including Dean Mullis of Laughing Owl, grow really bang-up small potatoes that would be great in this treatment. They usually don't show up until early summer, but this year, I'm afraid to predict anything. Better to be prepared.

Crash Hot Potatoes

From "The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier," by Ree Drummond (William Morrow).

A dozen whole new potatoes or small round potatoes, such as Bintjes, washed and unpeeled
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and rosemary or other herbs to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender. (I test potatoes by sliding in a knife -- if the potato clings to the knife, they're not done.) Drain potatoes. Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Drizzle a roasting pan or baking sheet with olive oil. Place potatoes on the sheet in a single layer, leaving space between each one. With a potato masher, press down on each potato until it slightly mashes open. Rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.

Sprinkle the potatoes with kosher salt (or flaky sea salt), black pepper and chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme or chives).

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the craggy edges are browned.

Serves 4 (although the amounts are very adaptable.)



PHOTO: www.thepioneerwoman.com.

One Great . . . strawberry recipe for spring

Strawberry season is coming so fast, it may arrive ahead of the Easter baskets this year. The best of the local berries won't arrive for a couple of weeks, but there will be berries in the stores before you know it.

Nigel Slater's magnificent new book "Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard," captures the joy of fresh fruit grown in all seasons. When it landed on my desk last week, I immediately flipped to strawberries and found this very simple version of strawberry ice cream. It's so basic, you don't need an ice cream freezer.

Strawberry Ice

From "Ripe," by Nigel Slater (Ten Speed Press, $40).

1 pound very ripe strawberries
1/2 cup superfine sugar (see note)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Rinse the berries quickly under cold, running water and remove their leaves. Cut each berry into three or four slices, then put them in a bowl, sprinkle with the sugar and set aside for an hour.

Lightly whip the cream. You want it to be thick enough to lie in folds rather than stiff enough to stand in peaks.

Put the strawberries, sugar and any juice from the bottom of the dish into a food processor and whiz until smooth, then stir gently into the cream. (How thoroughly you blend the two is up to you. Slater notes that he likes to leave a few swirls of unmixed cream in the mixture.)

Transfer to a freezer-safe box, level the top, cover with a lid or a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper, and freeze for three to four hours. Stir occasionally as it freezes, bringing the outside edges into the middle.

Remove from the freezer about 15 to 20 minutes before serving to bring it up to temperature.

NOTE: Slater calls for superfine sugar, which blends more easily. You can find it in some stores, or you can pulse granulated sugar in a food processor a few times. However, you also can try making this with granulated sugar, since most it will dissolve while the strawberries sit.

Yield: 4 servings.

Dean and Deluca Wine Room is still open

Put this in the category of helping out a colleague: Linda Seligman of the restaurant and wine publication Epicurean Charlotte asked me to help her get the word out that the March/April issue of magazine includes an erroneous report that the Dean & Deluca Wine Room in Phillips Place had closed.

Seligman said her report was premature. The wine room will be moved into the main store when it expands, but that expansion isn't expected until later in the summer.

So for fans who want to use those great outdoor tables to enjoy a glass of wine with their pollen, there is still plenty of time. The wine room and the main store are both in Phillips Place, off Fairview near Sharon Road in the SouthPark area.

Debbie Moose leads a family cookbook workshop

You've got piles of old family recipes, you know you need to organize them and you'd love to put them together into a book for your friends or families. (And yes, I know you do -- most of you have asked me how do it.)

Here's an option for you. Raleigh cookbook author and food columnist Debbie Moose is leading a class on that very subject, "Cooking Up Family History," on April 14 at The Farm at Weathers Creek in Cleveland, N.C. (that's in Iredell County, Mecklenburg's neighbor to the north and about 35 miles from uptown Charlotte).

The workshop begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m., it includes lunch and it costs $75. Moose plans to cover options for organizing your recipes, how to get recipes from family members, and how to write recipes in a way that's readable and useful to other cooks.

To get more details on the class, including requesting a registration form, go to the farm's web site, here.

In addition to her column in the Raleigh News & Observer and her books, including "Fan Fare" and "Deviled Eggs," Debbie blogs about food and cooking in her life at www.debbiemoose.com. And you can follow her on Twitter, @debbiemoose.

Molly O'Neill wants to teach food bloggers to write

Molly O'Neill, former New York Times food writer and current blogger and cookbook author ("One Big Table") is offering Food Blog U, a six-week online food-writing course.

It starts April 9 and includes guest lectures from food-blog royalty, like Molly Wizenberg (Orangette) and Tanya Steel (Epicurious and GourmetLIVE). The course will focus on writing and presenting a blog, including podcasting, photography and video, SEO, social media and design.

The lecture series is $250; the full course is $650. Scholarships and internships are available. Space is limited and registration is required. You can get the details, on this course and others from O'Neill's Cook 'N' Scribble, at www.cooknscribble.com.

One Great . . . asparagus with miso butter

In a burst of healthfulness last year, I bought a small tub of white miso, driven by a suggestion from a fellow food writer that a little miso makes a good topping for a baked sweet potato. It does, although I quickly discovered "a little" is key. Even the milder white miso is a strong flavor.

The easy way to describe miso is as a fermented soybean paste, but that's not completely accurate. There is more than soy in miso. The pastes vary in color and intensity -- red and mixed misos also are common -- and they can include grains, such as barley or rice. They also can be made from other beans beside soybeans.

Since a little goes a long way, my tub was lasting a while. Then, just as asparagus was starting to show back up in stores, I spotted an idea inspired by New York chef David Chang: Miso butter.

One night when I needed to throw together a fast supper for myself, I gave it a try and was stunned at how tasty this stuff is. As a topping, it's as easy as it gets: Half miso, half room-temp unsalted butter, whisked together with a fork. The sweetness and creaminess of the butter complements the intense salty/savoriness of the miso. Chang's version also tops the asparagus with a poached egg, so the runny yolk mixes with the butter. That makes a great simple meal, although it also works great just to toss a little hot asparagus with a little of the butter mixture.

I'm starting to see more ideas for using miso butter cropping up: Toss it with roasted corn, dab it on flank steak, It's a completely different set of flavors, and a great spring trick. Oh, and yes, it's also amazing on a baked sweet potato.

Asparagus With Miso Butter
Inspired by David Chang and adapted from a number of online versions.

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons white miso (also known as shiromiso)
1 bunch of asparagus (about 5 to 6 stalks per serving)
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 eggs
Salt and pepper

Place the butter and miso at room temperature for 10 minutes or so, until soft enough to whisk together. Set aside.

Cook the asparagus: Either toss the stalks with a little olive oil and roast in a 375-degree oven for 5 to 8 minutes, or heat the olive oil in a skillet, add the asparagus and a couple of tablespoons of water, cover and saute for about 8 minutes, until the water is evaporated and the asparagus is crisp tender.

Bring a small pot of water to boil, add the vinegar and reduce the heat to keep the water just simmering. Carefully crack the eggs into the water and cook until the whites are just set, 3 to 5 minutes.

Place a little of the miso butter on a serving plate. Top with the hot asparagus. Remove the eggs from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and place on the asparagus. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately. If you have any miso butter left over, just refrigerate it and use it on another dish, such as any roasted vegetable or a grilled steak.

Makes 2 servings.