Heart of Gold

FM Staff

Ron Hall
Executive Chef Mercy Hospital Iowa City, IA

"Huevos Fried Rice is one of our more popular egg dishes. I like to experiment with a basic fried rice. You can put it with anything. It's easy to do spin-offs by adding a protein or vegetables or both. That's how I came up with the Huevos Fried Rice recipe. It's been a huge hit.

"Quiche and other pan casseroles are good egg menu items as well. Eggs are great for these styles of dishes, since they offer flexibility. We can prepare a large quantity, bake it off and serve it easily.

"In our pasta, we use eggs to do a ricotta and spinach dish; we also do a chicken Florentine, and cheesecakes, which are my absolute favorite dish to prepare.

"I try to create a different cheesecake every month, experimenting with different types and fillings. One of our more unique cheesecakes is the Pina Colada Cheesecake. I wasn't sure how it would go over with customers, but it's proven to be a huge success. Just garnish with a few spikes from the top of a fresh pineapple, and you have an elegant presentation."

"The Southwestern Waffle Pie with spiced sour cream has been a fairly popular and unique egg dish. People are sort of perplexed by it, but once they taste it, they love it. The recipe actually won a contest a few years ago and was used in an advertising campaign."

Patrick Lovineau
Test Kitchen Chef University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN

"Our most popular egg dish with students is, of course, the omelet. They like to build their own, adding all sorts of different ingredients.

"Because the omelet is so popular,-we wanted to create a different-kind, a Chinese omelet. In a large bowl you blend together eggs, lump crabmeat and shrimp. Then stir in chives, soy sauce, chili sauce, green onions and bean sprouts. The finished omelet is a delicious and unique dish that our students love." (For recipe see page 62, June 2005, FM).

Maria Cunningham
Assistant Director of Nutritional Services Geary Community Hospital Junction City, KS

"Because we are a healthcare facility we cannot use shell eggs. While this limits our choices on egg dishes, it keeps us constantly looking for new ways to serve eggs. Scrambled can get really boring. So we do a lot of quiches and Eggs Benedict with sauces that dress the dishes up a little.

"One of our more unique items is the breakfast chimichanga.

"It's a garlic and herb tortilla filled with eggs, cheese, potatoes, sausage, peppers and onions. It's rolled up and deep friend and served with a homemade salsa. This item was develop as a result of a fluke kitchen experiment, but ever since we started selling them we haven't been able to keep up with the demand. Customers love them."