First Chocolate Egg!!

My 20 week old Blue Copper Marans "Bleu" just laid the first egg in the "juvie" pen. Here it is next to a Buff Orp egg, It is very small (a starter egg), but awesomely dark and beautiful. The Marans breed originated in France and is fairly rare in the states. There is a mystique surounding these chocolate colored eggs that is fasinating. Martha Stewart apparently imported Marans chickens for eggs to use in her baking, and in one of his novels Ian Fleming says that the picky James Bond ("shaken, not stirred") prefers Marans eggs. Personally, I think that chicken egg flavor is more dependant on diet than breed, but I'll let you know if I discover otherwise.

My Pets Make Me Lunch

Now that you have visions of hens in aprons stirring pots on the stove, I'll post my recipe for Spinach Quiche. I usually use those already pie crusts in the box that you unfold; for less mess and bother, but homemade crust is always the best.

Spinach Quiche

6 slices of bacon

1/2 c. finely chopped onion

2 c. fresh chopped spinach

2 T butter

4 large eggs

1 1/4 c. half 'n half

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 c. shredded swiss cheese

1/4 teasp. nutmeg

1/2 teasp. salt

1/2 teasp. pepper

Cook bacon. (I microwave mine between layers of paper towels for a bit less than a min. per slice-time will vary per microwave, start with 4 min for 6 slices and adjust).

Saute onions in butter until clear. Add spinach and cook 5 min. stirring often. Turn off heat.

You can substitute frozen spinach, but squeeze all the water out of it.

Beat 4 farm fresh free range eggs (well, any eggs will do, but the orange yolks and stand up whites of naturally raised chicken eggs give this dish excellent color and consistency).

Add half and half, cheese, spinach/onion mixture, crumbled bacon and seasonings. Pour into a 9" unbaked pie shell (pricked slightly with a fork). Flute edges (I loosely cover these with foil strips to prevent over-browning).

Bake at 375 for 35-40 min. until center is set. I pull off foil for the last 5 minutes to brown crust edges.

Although I may make this sound complicated, this is a 15 minute recipe, (minus cooking time).

If you can't find free range eggs, I should have several dozen a week available in a couple of months, for pickup in Gainesville for 3.00 a dozen. I'll be taking orders in early spring-email me LD1324@aol.com for availability starting February.

All my Buff Orps are back laying after maternity leave and some of the "babies" are getting close to laying age.