Our neighbor Judy has six chickens that provide her with plenty of fresh eggs. Lucky for us, Judy shares with us and dropped off a dozen the other day. Every now and then I visit The Guardian web site which always has an interesting story, or in this case, a really good recipe. Well one thing led to another, and before you know it we had ourselves a wonderful meal.
All you need are a few eggs, an avocado, some feta cheese, and good bread. There’s no way you can mess this up.
Mt. Vikos is my favorite feta. It’s delicious and not at all overly salty as some of the other feta cheeses I’ve tried. It’s made with sheep and goat’s milk which is a plus for anyone who is lactose intolerant.
In a small bowl beat the eggs with a splash of milk or cream and a little salt and pepper. Set aside.
Mash the avocado, season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Fold in the feta cheese. Set aside.
Toast and butter the bread, keep warm.
Meanwhile melt a bit of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring constantly until eggs are done to your liking. It's best to remove the eggs from the heat while still a little soft as they will continue to cook in the residual heat.
Divide the avocado and cheese mix between the toast and top with the eggs. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and chili flakes if desired.
Cream cheese adds richness to these scrambled eggs without altering the flavor of the eggs. Luckily for us, our neighbors Judy and John who have three chickens, deliver beautiful, fresh, eggs to our front door.
Judy writes the date on each egg so that you use them in the correct order. Brilliant!
These days there are more and more lactose free products available, such as this delicious cream cheese. Green Valley Organics also makes lactose free sour cream and yogurt. All of their products are superb.
Keep the heat low throughout the cooking time of your scrambled eggs. Stir occasionally with a soft spatula.
Once the eggs have set a bit, fold in dollops of cream cheese and most of the chives to the eggs. Keep stirring.
The eggs are almost ready to serve. It’s your decision when to remove the eggs from the pan. Some prefer very soft, runny, eggs, others like me prefer them to be just a bit more firm. By the way, these scrambled eggs are delicious piled on buttered toast.
2 tablespoons Green Valley Organics lactose free cream cheese (or regular cream cheese)
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
¼ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Place a medium-sized skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 tablespoon Earth Balance Buttery Spread (or butter).
Crack eggs into a medium bowl and whisk well. Add salt and a few grinds of pepper to the eggs. Pour eggs into skillet, stirring occasionally. Keep stirring until the eggs have set just a bit. Add dollops of cream cheese and most of the chives and fold into the eggs gently. Continue cooking until the eggs are as soft or firm as you like them. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with reserved chives.
There must be a million different potato salads out there in recipe land. This one, with perfectly boiled eggs caught my attention immediately. It is truly a meal in itself.
Our local Whole Foods market carries this delicious Upland Cress. You snip off just the amount you want to use and store the remainder in the crisper section of your refrigerator. Because it is sold with its roots still attached, it stays nice and fresh for up to a week. The tender leaves are delicious in any type of salad. I especially love tossing them into vinegar based potato salads just before I serve them.
My sister Mie gave us this crock of whole grain mustard from France. Lately I’ve been using spoonfuls in this potato salad.
Potato Salad with 7-Minute Eggs & Mustard Vinaigrette
Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 15 – 20 minutes. The cooking time will depend on the size of your potatoes. Transfer cooked potatoes to a plate to cool.
Place eggs in a small pot, cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, turn the heat down to medium and simmer the eggs for 7 minutes (set the timer). Drain cooked eggs and cool in a bowl of ice water. Peel eggs and set aside.
Whisk vinegar, mustard, and honey in a small bowl. Whisking constantly, gradually add oil and whisk until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper.
Halve potatoes and place in a large bowl. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Add parsley and a generous amount of dressing. Toss to coat potatoes well. Add Upland Cress if using, and lightly toss again. Transfer potato salad to a platter. Halve reserved eggs and tuck in between the potatoes. Season eggs with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle salad with some of the reserved vinaigrette. Top with pickles and chives.
*If you are not serving the salad right away, hold back on adding the Upland Cress, eggs, pickles, and chives until just before you serve the salad. You will have extra dressing. I use it over salad greens or bean salads.
Bon Appetit’s February 2015 issue shared a story about SHED, part market, part café, part events center in Healdsburg. I love wine country and visited Healdsburg some years back, but unfortunately it was an overnighter and we had little time to explore the town and look for interesting places to dine. Next time, however, I’ll be sure to visit SHED. The article featured a brief story about this lovely place as well as several recipes. As one who loves eggs, this one caught my attention immediately. It’s delicious.
Hard boiled eggs are pickled for 12 hours then chopped up with herbs and mayonnaise added to it. Good country-style bread or ciabatta is toasted until golden brown then topped with the egg salad and a paper-thin slice of prosciutto (or Serrano ham). It’s really perfect for lunch. I’m planning to make it using small pieces of bread, and serve it at my next dinner party as an appetizer.
Pickled Egg Salad Crostini with Prosciutto
Adapted from Bon Appetit February 2015 Issue
Serves 2
Ingredients
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more
4 extra-large eggs
1/4 cup or more mayonnaise
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
4 1/4″- thick slices country-style bread or ciabatta
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove
chervil or parsley leaves with tender stems (for serving)
4 slices prosciutto or Serrano ham
Preparation
Bring vinegars, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/3 cup water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Let cool.
Meanwhile, place eggs in a small saucepan and add water to cover by 2″. Bring to a boil, immediately turn down heat to medium and let eggs simmer for 10 minutes (set your timer!). Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water to cool. Drain, peel, and return to a small bowl. Add cooled pickling liquid; cover and chill at least 12 hours. Remove eggs from pickling liquid. Coarsely chop; mix with mayonnaise, chives, and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with pepper. I found the eggs to be perfectly seasoned from the pickling liquid so I didn’t add any additional salt.
Preheat oven (I used my toaster oven) to 425°. Place bread on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toast until golden brown, 6 – 8 minutes. Rub with garlic. Top each toast with pickled egg salad, some chervil or parsley, and a slice of prosciutto.
I always return to my eternally favorite food: eggs. I rarely make omelets, however I now have a new favorite weekend breakfast. This open-face omelet is so easy to prepare and very delicious. I had never tried escarole before and initially thought I might not be able to find it for this recipe. Mana Foods, my favorite market in Paia, has almost every type of vegetable and fruit you can imagine, but they didn’t have any. I tried Whole Foods as well, but our store on Maui is quite small with a limited selection. I was quite surprised to find it at Safeway. Recently Safeway in Kihei upgraded their produce section and it’s a considerable improvement from what they offered a year ago.
Escarole is a gorgeous green, belonging to the endive family. It’s definitely not as bitter, and is very good tossed with other salad greens. Each head of escarole has a pretty mix of bright and pale colored leaves.
A bit of feta and spicy jalapeños make this dish stand out. The recipe calls for za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend typically consisting of sesame seeds, sumac, thyme, oregano, marjoram and salt. I had purchased a jar in Napa at the Whole Spice shop (they spell it zahtar) and it sat in my refrigerator waiting to be used. If you can’t find za’atar at your local market, the recipe says to combine 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds with 1 teaspoon of dried oregano.
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (I love Mt. Vikos sheep and goat’s milk feta. It’s mild and creamy and not too salty)
1 scallion, white part only, finely chopped
2 jalapeño nacho rings (you may use more if you prefer, or fresh jalapeño to taste)
3 extra-large eggs
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups shredded escarole
pepper
Preparation
In a small bowl, mix the za’atar with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Set aside.
In another bowl, mash the feta, scallion and jalapeño with 2 – 3 teaspoons of water until smooth.
In a small non-stick skillet (9 – 10-inch works well) heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil. In a 2-cup measuring cup, beat the eggs with the flour, salt and 1 tablespoon of water (it’s OK if a few lumps remain). Pour half the mixture into the skillet and swirl the pan to form a thin omelet. Sprinkle half the escarole and half the feta mixture evenly over the eggs; cook over moderately low heat until the escarole starts to wilt, the feta melts and the omelet is just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Slide onto a plate and season with pepper. Repeat with the remaining oil, eggs, escarole and feta mixture.
Drizzle za’atar oil over the omelet and serve. Side of bacon please!
Most of us are aware that eggs have been described as the perfect food. Some years back, their reputation suffered a bit but they are now recognized as a healthy part of our diet. However one views the egg, we can all agree that eggs are perfectly delicious. There’s nothing better than sopping up runny egg yolks with toast, breakfast potatoes or rice. As I was thumbing through the June 2014 edition of Bon Appetit, this recipe immediately caught my attention: Sorrel Rice Bowls with Poached Eggs.
Sorrel is a delightful leafy green with a bright, lemony flavor. It grows well in warm climates like Kihei. I was excited to try this recipe since we have a beautiful sorrel plant in our garden.
Isn’t this sorrel sauce gorgeous? The sorrel leaves are blended with olive oil, a tablespoon of water, and seasoned with salt and pepper. That’s it. I couldn’t wait to add it to the rice.
When I first read through the recipe, I thought it was a tad wacky. After all, who would come up with sorrel rice with preserved lemons topped with poached eggs and served with pickled radishes on the side? Ingenious! It works.
Though I’ve often thought about making preserved lemons, it’s been on the back burner. The recipe calls for half of a preserved lemon, which I didn’t have. After a quick web search, I found an acceptable substitute and it worked out quite well. Fresh lemons are thinly sliced and warmed on low heat with olive oil, a bit of sugar and salt. The peel, which is what you aim to use in the recipe, becomes tender, and it’s flavor mellows while gently cooking.
This is the quintessential meal. Flavorful whole grain brown rice, fresh poached eggs with a sprinkling of feta, and crunchy radishes on the side. The recipe is meant to serve four, with one poached egg per serving, but I always regret not having two eggs. So if you’re like me, go ahead and double the eggs in the recipe below.
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling over eggs (such as Maldon)
freshly ground pepper
Preparation
Cook the rice in your rice cooker for the specified time. If you don’t have a rice cooker, the recipe says to cook the rice in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 45 – 50 minutes. Drain the rice, return to pot, cover, and let sit 10 minutes then spread out on a baking sheet and let cool completely.
Place sliced lemon in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Drizzle olive oil (1 – 2 tablespoons) and sprinkle sugar and kosher salt over the lemon. Cook until lemon is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oil and finely chop the lemon peel into small pieces, discarding flesh and seeds. You want to use the softened lemon peel for this recipe.
Puree the sorrel, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1 tablespoon water with an immersion blender or small food processor. Season with kosher salt and pepper.
Toss radish with 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a small bowl; season with kosher salt.
Toss the rice, diced lemon peel (as much as you prefer), remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1/4 cup sorrel purée in a medium bowl. Season with kosher salt and pepper mixing in more sorrel purée, if desired.
Meanwhile, heat 3″ water with 1/4 cup white vinegar in a 3 quart saucepan over high heat (for 4 eggs). Watch closely. When the water barely reaches a boil and you see small bubbles in the bottom of the pan, gently slide eggs into the water one by one and immediately turn the heat down to medium (crack eggs into small separate bowls). Set the timer for 4 minutes. The water should not be boiling and the eggs should simmer gently. Adjust the heat as needed. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Reheat the rice in the microwave to warm briefly before serving. Stir in two teaspoons dill. Spoon rice into individual bowls or plates and place eggs on rice. Season eggs with flaky sea salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta (optional) and remaining 1 teaspoon dill over rice bowl.
Our neighbor Judy has six chickens that provide her with plenty of fresh eggs. Lucky for us, Judy shares with us and dropped off a dozen the other day. Every now and then I visit The Guardian web site which always has an interesting story, or in this case, a really good recipe. Well one thing led to another, and before you know it we had ourselves a wonderful meal.
All you need are a few eggs, an avocado, some feta cheese, and good bread. There’s no way you can mess this up.
Mt. Vikos is my favorite feta. It’s delicious and not at all overly salty as some of the other feta cheeses I’ve tried. It’s made with sheep and goat’s milk which is a plus for anyone who is lactose intolerant.
