Friday, December 9, 2011

Free Range Friday...sort of

One of the beautiful flowering weeds in my yard
The other day I mentioned I'd been given two chickens. Hopes and dreams rested on their beautiful feathery backs. When would the day come that I'd find a big, brown, gorgeous egg, the beginning of many? When could I post, in all its glory, that same egg, first in the shell and then on the plate? Shockingly, it was the next day. There it was. Oops. Not big, barely tan. In fact, tiny, miniature, petite -  any adjective for really little egg - and this one was it. It's so small...well, ok, you have the idea. So from owner of said chickens, I am now the foster mom. They will, when their new home is ready, go back to the giver, who doesn't care how big or how brown the eggs are, she's just in love with these two. So goes my second venture in the chicken and egg world. I don't know which came first, but I know which is going first! I know, I should cook it and let it be a Free Range Friday recipe, but, I just can't yet. Yet.


If I DID have a few big, brown organic eggs (which I will, if I want them badly enough, those chickens are going to show up!), I'd make this, because I've been craving it madly since the calendar flipped to December. Around here, the equivalent holiday drink is coquito, which I enjoy a lot, but I'd still really like some eggnog!

Eggnog 

6 eggs
3 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg (a microplane or zester works for grating fresh nutmeg)
1 cup (more or less, to your taste) bourbon or brandy or rum or mix 'em up, it's your eggnog!

Whisk (or use a mixer on a low speed) the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a large pan until well-blended. Keep on whisking while you slowly pour in the milk until it is completely mixed-in. Next, set the pan on your stove's burner on the lowest setting. Continue to whisk ingredients until they coat the underside of a spoon and all the sugar is dissolved.

Remove the mixture from heat and, if needed, strain it into a large-sized bowl, making sure to get out any pieces of cooked egg. Now stir in the bourbon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Refrigerate the mix for at least 4 hours. Whip the cream and add it to the chilled mix. Buen provecho!

Makes  about 14 servings, depending on your glass size.
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I've mentioned that the weather here has been spectacular, and that is continuing. I can't say how many times I'm working with friends and we look up and out at the sea and just stop to gape at what is in front of our eyes. The colors, the breezes (even the breezes that spatter paint all over me), the temperature. Oh my!

These are dawnings from the past couple of mornings, which probably put the following song in my head.



I don't have a single human partner to sing this to, but I do have a whole island that makes me feel this way pretty much every day. I'm so lucky!


Have a faithful Friday. Do something flagrantly fabulous.

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