Blog Posts by Food Republic

Learn how to fry an egg with our super-easy step-by-step guide. You'll never
Learning how to fry an egg is very important. One of the nicest things you can do to a simple, hearty dish is top it with a fried egg - check this out if you don't believe me. And as far as easy breakfasts go, this recipe doesn't require the washing of a big unwieldy bowl coated with gooey pancake batter.

The best thing about starting off a Test Kitchen shoot with How To Fry An Egg? Eating the very egg you see above about two seconds after it was finished being photographed, along with a couple of the sausage patties I made for Toad In The Waffle. Cause what's the most important thing? Breakfast.

Related: 5 Ideas For Dinner Tonight: Fried Eggs

Here's what you'll need:

- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon of butter per egg (if frying 2 eggs at the same time, use 2 tablespoons of butter)
- A nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, lid optional if you want your egg more well-done

Step 1
Melt the butter
Melt the butter over medium heat in the skillet or pan.

Step 2

Tilt pan to

We're working our way through The Clean Plates Cookbook - recipes using fresh, healthy, sustainable-but-not-out-of-reach ingredients. This warming winter tomato soup is easy to pull off and is perfect for those winter tomatoes you wouldn't dare eat raw.

Reprinted with permission from The Clean Plates Cookbook

Some tomato soups are smooth, creamy and perfect for dipping grilled cheese into. This one is chunky, garlicky and toothsome and perfect for serving alongside a melty open-faced toast or something of that nature. Ready to look your veggies in the eye before you devour them?

Related: 17 Winter Soup Recipes To Warm You Right Up

Servings: 6This chunky vegetarian tomato soup is a perfect way to use those winter tomatoes that have no other purpose.

Ingredients
4 pounds ripe tomatoes, quartered
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
12 large garlic cloves, chopped
6 tablespoons organic extra virgin olive oil, divided
fine sea salt, to taste
freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 medium-sized red onions, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf

Ah, the Southern life. Whenever we feel the need for ultimate comfort recipes we turn to Southern Living magazine's new Feel Good Food cookbook. These cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped okra poppers sure sound like they'll make us feel good. Chiefly, we like the part where we don't have to hollow out, stuff and deep-fry 30 jalapeños.

Reprinted with permission from Southern Living Feel Good Food

Related: 7 Bar Snack Recipes For Your Boozy Bash

Servings: 16 poppersThese fried okra poppers are great as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. You might want to make a double batch.

Ingredients
16 slices bacon
1 pound okra
1 8-ounce container chive cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
vegetable cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees with oven rack 6 inches from heat. Cook bacon, in 2 batches, in a large skillet over medium-high heat 1 to 2 minutes on each side or just until bacon begins to curl; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels.

2. Cut each slice in half

Pairing wine with food can be a tricky process. Sure, there are some basic rules - how many times have we all heard that red wine goes with red meat and white wine goes with white meat and fish? But wine pairings will always be somewhat subjective. After all, who would have thought that a Chardonnay could be the perfect complement to smoked bacon? We finally have a simple and effective way to pair wine with our meals, thanks to the good people at Wine Folly, via Gizmodo. The graphic recommends a variety of wines with different food groups, allowing for a good amount of overlap. Yes, people will still be quick to nitpick- purists and mavericks dominate the wine world - but we think this is a straightforward and helpful start. Your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Read these stories from Food Republic:

Infographic: Craft Sprits By The Numbers

Orange You Glad There's A New Wine Color?

5 White Wines For Winter

by George Embiricos

Sometimes we get a cookbook that changes the game. We like cooking our way through as many of the season's great books as we can, but now that the chefs at the Culinary Institute of America have provided us with the ultimate guide to simple yet innovative pasta recipes (plus everything you needed to know about polenta and crespelle), game on! First up, ravioli filled with buttery beets and fresh sage. Bet you've never had that before.

Reprinted with permission from Pasta

The chefs' advice? We're on board.

"You can add bacon or prosciutto to the stuffing for a more complex flavor."

Related: 8 Ideas For Dinner Tonight: Hearty Pasta Dishes

Servings: 6This ravioli recipe combines the flavors of beets and fresh ricotta cheese.

Ingredients
2 ounces (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds beets, peeled and diced
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup fresh ricotta
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
plain dry bread crumbs, as needed
1 pound pasta sheets
flour, as

by Denise Gee and Robert Peacock

The nice folks from Portlandia pickle it, and the nice folks from Food Republic deep-fry it. Realistically there's nothing we won't batter and fry, so when we heard that the mythical deep-fried Coke recipe had been published by cookbook author/photographer team Denise Gee and Robert Peacock, we jumped right on it. Ready to pop until you can't stop?

Related: Super Bowl Menu: Deep-Fried

Since Abel's recipe is a secret, this comes pretty dadgum close to what he invented in 2006 - a concoction of fried Coca-Cola batter that sold 10,000 cups in just two weeks.

Reprinted with permission from Sweet on Texas.

Servings: 6
Deep-fried coke, for your next recipe-slash-party trick!
Ingredients
3 eggs
2 cups Coca-Cola
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil for deep frying
powdered sugar
pure cola syrup

Garnish (optional)
whipped cream
maraschino cherries

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the Coca-Cola and

Here's why Food Republic's Test Kitchen is magical: toad in the waffle. These kinds of things occur when we cook at full-force for a whole day. The inside is savory and egg yolky and the outside is maple-ey and meaty - neither layer competes with each other, it's just the perfect breakfast in a very concise format. That's all. If you're a toad in the hole fan, it's time to take it to the next level. We have to hand it to KitchenAid's waffle iron (which we borrowed - yup, it was their only one), waffle-craftery has never been so easy.

Related: Soft Buttermilk Waffles Recipe

I recommend serving these with sausage patties made with the Bernamoffs' veal and turkey breakfast sausage recipe from Brooklyn's Mile End Deli.

Servings: 2

There's a complete breakfast on this plate. As adults, it's up to us to decide what that means. Voila, Toad in the Waffle.Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg separated
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon

Lift up a scoop of sausage and kale pasta bake and watch the mozzarella stretch. Now you know you've made it right. Sometimes, you need to be able to throw together comfort food dishes like this homestyle rigatoni casserole for those nights when your priority is eating rather than slaving over the stove.

Related: Light And Easy Pasta Dishes For Your Weeknight

Casseroles are also a great way to feed a lot of people when it's cold. Yet with this casserole, there's no cream of some canned soup is involved in any way. Casseroles can be hearty and yet made with great fresh ingredients. Make one using tons of squash layered with cheese that encourages folks to eat just as much squash as cheese. That's the beauty of most great casseroles: a lot of cheese.

Servings: 4 to 6
When you need to feed a lot of people, but also make them happy: sausage and kale pasta bake.
Ingredients
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch kale, washed thoroughly and roughly chopped
1