Eggs In Hash Brown Nests

I know that the egg event at Little Thumbs Up has just come to an end, but well, here's another one from me, this time it is for the event at Cook Like A Star, where the featured chef for this month is The Pioneer Woman, also known as Ree Drummond.

I am a regular reader of her blog for the past few years. She is fun, hilarious sometimes, with a great sense of humour, making her blog an enjoyable one to stop by. Besides being an accomplished cookbook author, she has authored several other books, books for children based on her dog Charlie and a book on how she met her husband. Do you know that her full name is Ann Marie, nicknamed "Ree". She is married to Ladd Drummond, one of the richest families in cattle ranching in Oklahoma, going back to four generations. More than a year ago, I was reading her blog posts story "From Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" which ran into more than a dozen chapters, but before I could even finished reading all of the chapters (I actually took my own sweet time reading them), the story was taken off her website. I was very dissappointed when that happened, it is like reading a "Mills&Boon" (remember M&B??? haha!), book halfway and it got snatched away! Obviously, it went into print and her book was published. She wrote about how she went from city girl to ranch girl, and it was an enjoyable and fun read. I'm sure most of you already knew about her, but if you don't, then you can visit her website, or read all about her in Wikipedia, yes, she's in Wikipedia, I guess all famous persons are!

The recipes from her website comes with lovely photos of step-by-step instructions. 

I was browsing The Pioneer Woman's website and looking for ideas for the kids' lunch, when this easy meal caught my attention. Anything with eggs would surely make the kids happy. This is very easy to prepare. Russet potaotes are baked for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, unpeeled. Try not to bake them not too long, as I did! I baked mine for 1 hour and they are quite soft. They should have a little bite in them, cooked but not too soft. When the potatoes are cool, peel and grate them in a bowl. 

Season the grated potatoes with some salt and black pepper, though I could not help adding in some garlic powder, I just love this stuff! Make sure the potatoes are well seasoned. 

 

Grease the muffin pans and place the grated potatoes at the base and the sides of the muffin cups, without pressing them down, popping over the brim slightly, as they will shrink when baked. Spray with some cooking spray and baked at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are brown and cripsy all over. Mine took about 30 minutes. Remove the pan and let the potato cups cool in the pan.

Note : Make sure you greased the muffin pans really, really well. Some of the potatoes got stuck at the base and it was quite difficult to remove them without breaking the eggs.

When you are ready to serve, break an egg in the centre of each potato cup, sprinkle some salt and pepper over the eggs, I have added some chopped spring onions from my garden, even chives would be nice. Place the muffin pan into the oven and bake for about 12-15 minutes until the whites are set and the yolk still runny. Remove from the muffin cups gently using two forks or knifes and serve immediately.

A simple easy and quick meal for a nice lunch. I served this with some soup and homemade crusty bread.

(This is the full recipe, I used 3 medium Russet potatoes and got 8 potato nests)
Eggs In Hash Brown Nests
(adapted from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond)
Ingredients :
6 whole medium russet potatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
garlic powder to taste (my addition)
24 whole large eggs
chopped spring onions (my addition)
non-stick cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Bake the potatoes until almost tender (potatoes should still have a little bite) 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow to cool, and then peel and grate them. Season well with salt and pepper.
3. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees. 
4. Spray two muffin pans generously with cooking spray. Scoop 3 to 4 tablespoons of grated potato into each muffin cup. Use your fingers to gently press the sides and bottom in each muffin hole to make a nest (don't press the potatoes firmly against the pan ; they should sit lightly in the pan). Spray again (very lightly) with cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Watch and make sure they do not burn. (If they seem like they're not browning, kick up the temp to 450). Remove when the nests are golden brown. Allow the nests to cool.
5. Crack an egg into each one. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until the whites are set, about 15 minutes. Don't be concerned if some whites bake differently, no two nests will look alike! Remove from the muffin pan with a spoon or fork and serve.

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star, featuring Ree Drummond as the star for this month, hosted by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat Your Heart Out and Mich from Piece of Cake.