Cookbook Look: Summers in Montana inspire 'Big Sky' recipes

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Montana brings out the cook in Meredith Brokaw, who lives the Manhattan life with her husband, Tom, most of the year.



	Eggs are cooked on a bed of tomato sauce and cheese for 15-20 minutes in Frontier Eggs from "Big Sky Cooking."

In New York, there are restaurants galore to satisfy any cravings. But during the summer, when she migrates to the ranch her husband bought 16 years ago, she has to consider meals from the perspective of what her pantry and garden can provide. With the nearest market 17 miles away, spontaneous trips to pick up a missing ingredient just don't happen.

In "Big Sky Cooking" (Artisan, 224 pages, $35), Brokaw writes that soon after she started spending time in Montana, she learned "to run the kitchen not day to day but week to week, even month to month."

Brokaw's friend Ellen Wright, who has written two cookbooks, helped create many of the recipes in the book.

FRONTIER EGGS
SERVES 6-8

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 small green bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1 cup diced celery

1 to 2 teaspoons chopped jalapeño chile

4 cups crushed tomatoes (canned is fine)

1 small bay leaf, crumbled

1 1/2 cups soft bread crumbs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

8 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and jalapeño. Cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, 4-5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaf, and simmer until the tomatoes have cooked down and most of the water has evaporated, 20-30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spread half of the sauce on the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish or 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle 1 cup cheese on top. Ladle the rest of the tomato sauce over the cheese; top with the remaining 1 cup cheese. With the back of a spoon, make 8 depressions the size of an egg. Crack an egg into each well.

Bake until the whites of the eggs set and the yolks are still runny, 15-20 minutes (be sure to check them after 15 minutes).

From "Big Sky Cooking"

PODCAST

To listen to an interview with Meredith Brokaw and Ellen Wright, tune in to the latest "On Food" podcast at www.seattlepi.com/foodcast or subscribe through iTunes.