Using the Sous Vide

Several of you had suggested I get a sous vide and I resisted but a couple of years ago, I bought one and I use it so much! I’m not a fan of the microwave so I often heat up leftovers using the sous vide. Today I used it for breakfast and made egg bites. Any time I make these, I make enough for at least two breakfasts. Often, if our egg guy has extra eggs, he knows we’ll take them so he offers them to us at a reduced rate. I’ll freeze dry them but I also make egg bites for the freezer. I cook them in small jars, then remove them from the jar, put them on parchment paper lined cookie sheets, freeze them, then, depending on the size I’ve made, put two or three in bags, vacuum seal them and keep them in the freezer til needed. When I’m going to re-heat them, I’ll usually take them out of the freezer and stick them in the fridge overnight, then slice them in half and heat them slowly in a bit of butter in a skillet. They’re perfect reheated that way.

I don’t usually follow a recipe but, if you prefer to do so, this is one I’ve used before.

Of course, there are eggs, cheese, salt, pepper, ham, bacon or sausage (or all of those), any veggies you prefer, a bit of cream, cream cheese or ricotta or cottage cheese. You really can use whatever you feel like using. Same for the type of cheese. My preference is pepper jack but Vince likes a parmesan/cheddar we buy at Aldi.

For the meat, I made some with ham, some with cooked bacon and some with leftover from yesterday country ham. I have 8 eggs in the photo but ended up using 10. The back saucer has bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and mushrooms that I sauteed. The cheese was the Parmesan Cheddar blend. I used ricotta but I think my preference is cream cheese. I added a bit of salt and pepper but if using a really salty ham, you might want to use less salt.

I always put the eggs in a quart jar and use the immersion blender. Then I add the cream and cottage cheese or ricotta or cream cheese, salt and pepper, blend all that and pour it into small mason jars that have been sprayed with oil.

I put the egg mixture in 8 oz. jars and 4 oz. jars. I’m good with the 4 oz. size and Vince will use the 8 oz. size. From 10 eggs, I filled 4 – 8 oz. jars and 3 – 4 oz. jars.

Once the jars are filled (and filled means about 3/4 full), I added the cheese, placed a tight fitting lid on the jars and placed them in water. For the recipe linked above, the water should be at 167 degrees, and the egg bites should cook for about 35 minutes.

Our breakfast – egg bites, tomatoes, bacon, guacamole and apple slices. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

Then for dinner, I used some leftover pulled pork, placed it in a vacuum seal bag, added a bit of taco seasoning, sealed the bag and heated it in the sous vide. I made a big salad with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers, black olives, black beans, pepperjack cheese, and the pulled pork. It was a taco salad, of sorts, but without the chips. For the dressing, I used the fiesta Ranch Dressing mix, sour cream and a bit of salsa. It was delicious!

I really do use the sous vide a lot – way more than I thought I would. In fact, when I smoked the pork butt, I cooked it in the sous vide for 24 hours at 165, then smoked it for about three hours and it was perfect.