Sous Vide Egg Bites - Steam Bake

This recipe is from the website Steam & Bake - Sous Vide Egg Bites

I like the concept of this recipe because there are times when I just don't feeling like making a breakfast, but I want to EAT one.  I like that you can make a supply for the week, and have them ready to just heat up in the microwave when wanted.

The "bites" consist of 2 main parts: The egg/cheese mixture and the fillings.  I use 1/2 pint jelly jars.

1.  For the egg/cheese mixture:  In a large bowl break eggs (about 1.5 per container), add half and half (about 15% of the volume of the eggs), and cream cheese about 1 T per container.  Sour cream is another possibility, about 1 teaspoon per container. Let sit while you prepare the other ingredients, so that they come to room temperature.   Preheat the oven to 230 degrees STEAM BAKE, filling the water reservoir.  (For example, for 12 jars, use 18 eggs, abt. 1/2 c. half and half, and 12 tsp. cream cheese.)

2.  The fillings - use what you have on hand, anything that will taste good in an omelette.  So far, I have used:

      a)  Ham slices with swiss cheese
      b)  Breakfast Sausage (cooked with onions and mushrooms, then cooled)
      c)  Pork carnitas
      d)  Cheese - gouda, swiss, mozzarella, and american
      e)  Vegetables - broccoli, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, cooked potatoes, etc. - chopped into small bits
      f)  Mix and match any of the above

3.  Layer the fillings in each container.  I generally use only one type of meat in each, but you can be as creative as you want.  DO NOT PACK.

4.  Add spices to the egg/cheese mixture.  I use Italian seasoning, seasoning salt, pepper, cumin, chives, and parsley to taste.

5.  Use an immersion mixer to whip the eggs, cream, cream cheese, and spices.  Then, ladle into each container, filling to about 1/2 inch below the top.

6.  Add the lids, only screwing on lightly.  Do not tighten.

7.  Clean each container and place into a large casserole dish.

8.  Baking time will vary with the quantity made.  I found that it took 30 minutes to cook 3, 45 minutes to cook 8, and 75 minutes to cook 11.  I like my eggs firm, so if you like softer eggs, you may want to reduce cooking time.

9.  I checked how done they were by removing one, opening the lid, and checking for consistency.

10.  When done, I turned off the oven, removed the containers, and opened the water reservoir to let it cool.  Then I carefully tightened the lids on the hot containers and placed them in the refrigerator.

11.  To reheat, MICROWAVE at 80% for 2 minutes.   I recommend you remove the egg from the jar before reheating, as it can be difficult to handle the hot jar (I've broken 2 jars and 1 plate trying to do it while it is hot).

The first time I made them I did not use immersion blender, so there were areas of egg white.  The gooey looking parts are melted cheese.

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Here are the results of some of my experiments with this recipe

 I wanted to try them to make sure I liked them before I made a whole bunch, so I made 3.  One to try right away and 2 to try on Monday when my husband goes off to work, oh!  I mean GOLF.

For my experiment I used what I had on hand:  1/2 pint jelly jars with lids, eggs, gouda cheese, mushrooms, and bacon.  I used 5 eggs for the 3 containers, and used a shaker jar instead of a hand blender.

Ingredients:

5 eggs
3 T half and half
2 T sour cream
2 slices of smoked gouda cheese, chopped up (the grater was dirty)
4 mushrooms, chopped up
3 slices of pepper bacon, cooked using the Auto Cook function of the microwave (upper oven) and cooled.
italian seasoning, to taste
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
chives, to taste
butter and olive oil (optional, if you want to turn out the result)

Process:

1.  Crack the eggs into the shaker jar, add the half and half, sour cream, and seasoning and let them sit to come to room temperature.  Meanwhile....
2.  Fill the reservoir with water and preheat the oven to the lowest temperature it will go, 230 degrees.
3.  Cook the bacon in the upper oven using AUTO COOK, BACON.  Cool after cooking
4.  Find and wash out the canning jars.  Dry them.  Use hard butter to grease the sides of the jars, and a tiny bit of olive oil to get to the parts of the jars the butter didn't get to.
4.  Chop the mushrooms and gouda cheese into small pieces.
5.  Cut the cooled bacon into lengths the width of the canning jars, reserving 2 pieces for each jar.  Chop up any remaining bacon into chunky pieces.  Discard any that are not cooked enough.
6.  Carefully shake up the egg mixture, holding the top on firmly.
7.  Layer the jars with the ingredients:
       Insert 2 pieces of bacon in each, in a cross pattern.
       Pour some of the shaken egg mixture in, to cover bacon, dividing evenly among jars
       Add mushrooms and cheese and left over bacon
       Pour the remainder of the egg mixture in, dividing evenly
8.  Gently screw on the lids, making sure not to make them tight
9.  Cook them for 45 minutes, but check regularly after 30 minutes.  According to the website, the hotter the oven the more fluffy the eggs, which happens to be how I like them. 

I reserved one to eat immediately, and put the other 2, hot, on a plate in the refrigerator.   How did it come out?  It was good!  I think I'd use something like deli ham, julienned, instead of bacon, as I expect bacon to be crisp, and it doesn't come out crisp when cooked this way.  I noticed that the recipe calls for way more cheese than I used, so maybe I'd add some cream cheese, and use the hand blender, as the recipe calls for.  Using the butter on the jars did not give perfect results -- I needed to slide a knife around the jar and jiggle it a bit for the "bites" to come out.  It was filling and satisfying!

To reheat, I removed lids, and used the Upper Oven MICROWAVE setting at 80% for 2 minutes to get the best results.

Next, I made a big batch, 8 of them. I rubbed olive oil around the sides, hoping to make it more non-stick.   I skipped the bacon, since I didn't like that last time, and used crumbled breakfast sausage in 1/2 of them.  I used diced up maple ham slices in the other half, with swiss cheese.  I put in some diced tomatoes and broccoli in some of them, and some pre-fried mushrooms (4 for 8 containers).

I also fried up 2 diced medium potatoes with a slice of red onion, diced up.  I used 9 eggs to make 8 cups.  I added a container of creme cheese along with 1/2 and 1/2 and sour cream to the eggs  this time, and used my hand blender to super blend it up with the spices, instead of using a shaker.  I loaded up the solid ingredients in the jars first, then filled using the egg mixture.

I baked on Steam Bake at 230 degree F for 45 minutes.  Last time the jars slid all around the hot tray, so this time I used a pyrex rectangular pan that they could all fit in that had 2" sides -- that was much better and easier to handle!

Somehow I didn't hear the ding when the time was up, and they stayed in the oven for some extra time.  Though the heat turned off, it stayed hot.  Then they went straight into the refrigerator.   They were great, reheated, but I found that using oil or butter to line the jars was a waste of time.

The NEXT time I made them, I made 11, and when the time was up I opened one and determined that it was not adequately cooked.  I added another 30 minutes, for a total of 1hr and 15 minutes at 230 degrees, and they came out perfect.  I also changed up the ingredients, increasing the eggs and decreasing the cream cheese so they weren't quite so goopy.