My Favorite Easy Dinner

This is another recipe ganked from a real chef's cookbook, but it's one of those easy and scrumptious dinners that has become an old standard. Plus, it's made up of ingredients i regularly keep stocked, so it's a very everyday dinner.

Pasta with Egg and Gruyere
pasta (smaller, shaped kinds work better than long, stringy types)
Gruyere (about 1/2 cup, but to taste)
2 eggs per serving
butter
chives
salt
pepper
olive oil

1. Salt a big pot of water and bring it to a boil.
2. Add pasta and cook until al dente. (Or however you like it. This is my equivalent of comfort-food mac and cheese, so, as with just about any recipe, do what tastes best to you!)
3. While the pasta is cooking, combine olive oil, a handful of chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Just before you drain the pasta, add 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to the olive oil/chive mixture. Whisk to combine.
4. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Be sure to use a skillet you can fit a cover over.
5. Add butter to the skillet when hot. Swirl butter to coat the bottom.
6. Then add 2 eggs to the pan and cover. Cook 3 minutes until the whites are just set, but the yolk is still runny.
7. Plate up some of the pasta, add Gruyere to your liking, add an egg. Then repeat with more pasta, Gruyere and the other egg.
8. I like to cut everything up and mix it all around so the yolk covers everything in a decadent, egg-y, cheesey sauce.
9. Repeat for additional servings.
10. Scarf down.

Recipe adapted from Fast Food My Way by Jacques Pepin.

I got sooo hungry while writing this. I think I know what I'm having for dinner...

Blueberry Galette

This is a recently discovered recipe, but it was so easy, fast and DELICIOUS it's already been repeated twice.

Blueberry Galette
for dough:
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1-3 Tbsp ice water

for filling:
1/2 pint blueberries
3 Tbsp crème fraiche
3 Tbsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor. Pulse briefly to combine.
2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add just enough ice water to bind the mixture. It's a sticky dough.
4. Form a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 mins.
5. After the dough has rested adequately, roll out on a well floured piece of parchment paper to form a rough circle.
6. Distribute blueberries evenly in the center of the dough, forming one layer.
7. Dollop crème fraiche on top of the blueberries. Don't worry about spreading, it will melt into a gooey, purple puddle around the blueberries in the oven.
8. Roll up the edges of the dough to form a rough crust. (It's going to look a lot like a fruit pizza).
9. Sprinkle entire galette with sugar. (Just before this step, you could brush the crust with an egg wash if you like, but it's unnecessary. The butter in the crust makes it golden enough).
10. Transfer the parchment paper to a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. The crust should be a nice golden brown.
11. Let cool briefly before serving with another dollop of crème fraiche on top.

Adapted from the Blackberry Galette in How to be a Domestic Goddess, by Nigella Lawson.

Every time I've made this, the crust hasn't held up to the melted crème fraiche flood that comes half way into the cooking time. Doesn't matter. Still delish.