Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Almost Eggs Benedict

 The pile of veg waiting for me at home
I wasn't all together pleased to be leaving Washington and heading back to the east coast.  I was sad to leave my friends and Bellingham with all it's cafés, friendly people, and glorious produce.  The blow was softened - at least in the produce department - however by the box of fresh vegetables from my family's CSA membership waiting for me when I arrived home.  * I should also perhaps mention that it was wonderful to see my family again too! *
So my first morning home, as I saw it I had two options for breakfast: massive pile of vegetables in a heap OR massive pile of vegetables in the form of a something.  It speaks to the comfortableness of my bed and the 14 hours of sleep I had just gotten that I didn't skip all thought and creativity part all together and go for the former.  It also speaks to the fact that I had been on the road for the past 7 days that this was the best I could come up with... but armed with very little else in the refrigerator I set to work deciding what the something would be that the vegetables would take the form of.
I can't in good conscience call this any kind of eggs benedict because really the only resemblance it shares with a benny is that there are both eggs and english muffins involved.  Most of all, the lack of any kind of hollandaise sauce, disqualifies it entirely from the benedict category, at least in my mind.  It doesn't fit neatly into any other category either though, because its certainly not a sandwich.  It's really more a pile of good things in something of a deliberate order.  Anyway, regardless of what you call it, this is what I made:



Eggs for Benedict's Hippie Cousin


Ingredients:
1 medium zucchini/summer squash
a heep of chard or kale
2 egg whites
1 whole wheat english muffin
splash of olive oil
salsa

Cut up the summer squash into thick chunks and cook them in a pan with a little bit of olive oil.  When they have gotten soft enough to eat, add a little bit of water to the pan and the add the heep of leafy greens on top. Steam until cooked, mixing it around a little every once and a while.  Meanwhile fry your two egg whites and toast your english muffins.
To assemble, drizzle a little bit of olive oil onto each english muffin.  Pile greens and summer squash on top of each half of the english muffins in any way that seems to work. Cut the egg whites in half and place on top. Add salsa and enjoy!



This could really be done with any vegetables. The more the merrier!  If they had been available I probably would have added chopped tomatos to the mix.  Additionally, if I'm being honest, I think whole eggs would have probably tasted better, I was just trying to counterbalance the road food I had been eating the last couple of days. Next time...