The Egg
The ever contested Egg. Pop culture and personality profiles pose the prolifically pondering poll: “how do you like your eggs?”The answer can very telling….This past week, on a random Tuesday morning, I went to breakfast with family and sat back just watched how each member’s eye read the menu and fixed upon an individual dish. They each asked others opinions/advice – “what do you think of this…?” or ” did you see that…?” No matter the talk that occurred, there was always a discussion of eggs and how they “are” to be prepared for each person. As this was answered around the table I heard all sorts of answers:
“I only like egg whites.”
“Hard Scrambled.”
“Over Medium”
“I don’t like eggs.”
So let me share with you what I got for breakfast that morning, and one morning as I was traveling in Oregon…and how I was inspired by them to make one of the million’s of dishes you can make with an Egg.
– The Maltby Café –
Then 1st breakfast dish: Tuscany Scramble – (but this is how I ordered it) – A sautéed hash of – Cascioppo Brothers Italian Sausage (made locally )mushrooms, onions, Fresh spinach, & Red Potatoes – with two Basted Easy Eggs on top drizzled with tabasco, cottage cheese on the side, with a side of homemade wheat toast & marionberry jam.
The Instruction – I work a half of the dish at a time; starting with breaking the yoke, and allowing it to mix with everything below it. Then, as it is melting through the hash, dress a quarter slice of toast with the jam and use it as an utensil against your fork to insure that every component gets in the bite…ending with a single bite of the toast with jam, and a couple sips of the hot black coffee, then a small bite of cottage cheese – to clear the pallet and start the next bite again. Then proceed to work your way through the dish. This might seem a bit analytical, but trust me…from the soft/crunch of the potato, to the creamy spinach that grounds the bite, to the chew of the mushrooms & flavorful onion, to the freshness of the herbs in the locally made sausage…the key here is the egg – because it acts like a melted condiment that marries every component in the single bite. It was a Tuscan Heaven in a single bite.
Mallard’s Café & Pub
The 2nd breakfast dish – Salmon River Scramble – a soft over easy or loose scrambled eggs, with smoked salmon, dill, chives, leeks and house made Boursin cheese, and a touch of green tabasco (smoked chipotle tabasco) – No toast…just coffee and water.
The Instruction – The dish will come out already prepared, just drizzle the tabasco on it and start with a couple sips of coffee. This will start your pallet off with a bitter flavor from the coffee, and as you eat the dish the creamy scrambled egg will be the vehicle to the rest of the components of the dish will travel on: the tart/earthy dill, the soft oniony flavor of the chive & leeks, the roundness of the Boursin Cheese, and finally you’ll be amazed how well the smoked tabasco enhances the flavor of the smoked salmon. End with a couple sips of water to clear the pallet and go back through the same bite. This dish is pretty light, but very flavorful…so the water is critical not to tire-out your taste buds.
Here is my dish that I created taking from the inspiring food above – I am sure I don’t I have to set the stage any further:
Basted Easy Egg -Prepared over a Smoked Paprika Honey Ham Chip, Lemon Garlic Spinach Sauté, Seasoned Julienned Oyster Mushrooms, & Toasted Yukon Golden Browns.
- 1 – Egg
- 4 – slices of ham
- 2 – handfuls of baby spinach
- 1 – squeeze of a quartered lemon
- 1 – clove of garlic
- 1/4 tsp – smoked paprika
- pinch of red pepper
- 2 – small yukon gold potatos
- 4 – medium oyster mushrooms
- salt & pepper to taste
- Start with the potatoes. Dice them up, season them with S&P, and crisp them up with some refined coconut oil to start then as you flip them add a little olive oil and as they finish cooking a very small amount of butter.
- The Ham. Cut it into 1/4″ strips and sauté it with a little refined coconut oil, & the paprika. The goal is to make it turn in to a Chip, of sorts…kind like how bacon works in a breakfast, ya know? Then take that out and allow it to rest on a paper towel.
- Next, put in the spinach, season it with salt, the red pepper flake, & chopped clove of garlic. Allow it to wilt down and become a true spinach sauté.
- The oyster mushrooms. Cut it into long vertical strips, sauté with the residual from the spinach, season with S&P and a little of the chopped Garlic.
- Now the Egg. With the refined coconut oil – brush a formed stainless steel 3″ food ring and pan, set the food ring in the pan and fill it half way with the yukon gold hashed browns, allow it to get hot and crisp the potato on the bottom. Just before you put the egg on the potatoes put a little water inside the ring, put a splash of water to create some steam – then crack the egg on top of the potato. Season it with S&P, and then baste the egg to easy. It will cook really fast with.
- On the bottom the Ham Chip and Spinach Sauté go at the bottom – squeeze the quartered lemon on top of the spinach.
- The oyster mushrooms go on the side, but kind of on the top of both the ham and spinach.
- The directly from the pan take the potato/egg food ring and place on the top and the middle of the 3 components.
The Egg is a fun food to cook. It is a very personal item and loves to customized to the individual’s preference. Don’t read much into it….just be inspired by the iconic isolated interesting individual introspective impish edible Egg!
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