Eggs in coconut-cashew sauce

This dish uses a cashew chutney from Kerala that would taste good on floor tiles.   The chutney is based one in Yamuna Devi's Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, a wonderful but rather idiosyncratic cookbook.  It is not just vegetarian, but Vaishnava (followers of the Hindu god Vishnu), and avoids onions, garlic and mushrooms for a variety of reasons that I am too lazy to get into at the moment.  I also find a number of  weird undercurrents  in terms of the guru-disciple relationship and Hindu nationalism.  But perhaps I am too sensitive.  It is a great cookbook, with hundreds of recipes and lovely line drawings,  and you can just add onions and garlic wherever they seem to fit.

Over the years I have put this cashew chutney to a number of uses including many of which Yamuma Devi would certainly not approve.  It  is an excellent condiment for an Indian meal, a great dip for raw vegetables, and a versatile sauce starter for sauteed vegetables, fish, chicken and even hard-boiled eggs.  I developed the last dish to round out a meal of leftovers from a vegetarian Indian meal that we had a few days earlier.  It is a cinch, and quite delicious an is similar to a number of Indian dishes based on hard-boiled eggs in a creamy, spicy sauce. The recipe for the chutney comes first, and then the eggs.  I will write up a few variations in the coming weeks, all of which follow the same principles.

 

For the cashew chutney

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and diced
• 1-2 small green hot chili peppers, sliced,  with seeds if you want a kick (I used Serranos)
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 cup coarsely chopped coriander leaves and some of the stems
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4-2/3 cup water

Method:

1. Put the cashew in a mini-chopper and grind to a coarse powder.
2. Add ginger, chili and lime juice and process until pulverized.
3. Add salt and coriander, and process until ground.
4. With the motor running, slowly dribble in the water.  Use as little as possible until the mixture becomes a smooth paste.

Eggs in coconut-cashew sauce

 

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon-2 tablespoons oil (coconut or light sesame oil for authenticity, though I use canola for health)
• 1/2 tablespoon black mustard seeds
• 20 fresh curry leaves rinsed and dried (optional, if available)
• 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 of the above recipe of cashew chutney
• 14 ounce can coconut milk (I used light and it was fine)
• 8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halved
• Salt to taste

Method

• Heat the oil in a medium skillet until hot (lower heat is needed if you are using the coconut oil. Add the mustard seeds and cook until they begin to pop.
• Add the curry leaves if using and give them a few stirs.  Add the shallots and saute until soft, about 3 minutes.
• Add the chutney, the the heat down to medium low and saute, stirring ocassionally, until it looses its raw aroma.  This should take 2-3 minutes.
• Stir in the coconut milk until well incorporated, and simmer for a few minutes until you have a smooth sauce.  (I think the lite coconut milk actually works better than the full fat, since it will not break up as easily because of all the vile stabilizers that it contains.  If you use regular coconut milk, be very careful not to let it boil.) 
• Add the eggs, cut side up, spoon the sauce over them, and simmer on low for 3-5 minutes (depending on their starting temperature) to warm them through. Add additional salt if necessary.
• Serves 4-6.  The gravy is excellent spooned over rice.

Soft scrambled eggs with feta, pine nuts and roasted broccoli

We had this dish at Barleyswine when we visited Austin last month. As is evident from the name, the chefs have a passion for beer and pork, but there is lots of other stuff to eat, and to drink as well. This dish was one of our favorites. Soft scrambling eggs slowly takes a little more effort than cooking them fast on high heat, but every once in a while it is worth it. They should be cooked with plenty of fat and are remind me of the bad old days when people thought that eggs were bad for you. This is a great brunch or supper dish and can be a nice main dish on Pesach during the week for those who feel that they aren't eating enough eggs.

The quantity below serves two, and it can be doubled or tripled in a larger pan. The keys to the success are almost constant stirring, low heat, and  making sure that all the toppings, the serving dish and plates are warm before combining and serving so that the eggs don't cool off.

Soft-scrambled eggs with feta, pine nuts, and roasted broccoli

Ingredients

• Small head broccoli stem peeled and separated into long florets
• Olive oil or olive oil spray
• 5 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Salt and pepper (ideally freshly ground white pepper, but black will do)
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts roasted lightly in a dry skillet
• 2 ounces feta cheese, diced

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Beat eggs well in a bowl. Beat in cream and season with salt and pepper and leave at room temperature.
3. Toss the broccoli with oil or spray it (why would you spray it when you are already using so much saturated fat?), put on a baking pan, sprinkle with coarse salt, and bake for 10 minutes.
4. Broil until brown and slightly charred but not burnt, about another 5 minutes.. Set aside in a warm place.
5. Heat butter on low heat in a medium nonstick skillet until melted.
6. Add the beaten eggs and cook on low heat, stirring constantly. One you get the hang of holding them, two pairs of chopsticks work perfectly for this, breaking up the curds into small pieces. If you don't trust me on the chopsticks, you can use a whisk instead, a regular whisk with a conventional skillet or a plastic one in nonstick.
7. Meanwhile, set oven on the lowest setting, and put in  your serving plates, feta,  nuts and sour cream in separate heat-proof dishes.
8. Keep stirring the eggs, moving them around the skillet so they don't stick. The texture should be similar to that of a soft risotto.
9. When still very soft and slightly runny, mix in the sour cream and half of the pine nuts and feta.
10. Turn the eggs into the serving dish, and top with the remaining feta and then the pine nuts. Arrange the broccoli around the eggs, sticking the base of the florets under the eggs. If you have an extra floret, stick it in the center of the dish.  Next time I make this I will include a picture to this posting.
11. Serve immediately to two on warmed plates. Great with fresh baguette, whole grain toast, or matzah.

Israeli omelet

I am not sure if this is an "authentic" recipe for an Israeli omelet or even if it is a recipe at all.  It is more a series of choices and  is just how we make what we call Israeli omelets.  My son asserts that it is nothing like the omelets that he ate in Israel, but no matter.   It is related to a variety of Middle Eastern omelets and pancakes, but I think that this is by far the simplest and the best.  It leaves out the flour and other vegetables that sometimes find their way in, and is better as a result.  It is similar to an Italian frittata or Spanish tortilla, but thinner, crisper, and altogether more fun and makes a super-quick light dinner.  It is great served with pita bread, chopped Israeli salad,   and either a tahini or yogurt sauce-- recipes for both follow.  I have given directions to serve two, but you can easily halve or double it as needed. 

Israeli omelet

Scramble some eggs, or a combination of eggs and whites.  Mix in a handful of washed chopped flat-leaf parsley and a few chopped scallions, the whites and some of the greens. Season with salt and pepper.  Spray a non-stick skillet with some olive oil spray and heat on high.  Add a little olive oil if you want.  (The more oil you use, the crisper but more fattening the omelet.)  Make either many small pancakes (use a 6 inch skillet for this), with a scant ladleful of egg mixture for each, or one large one in a 10-12 inch skillet.  Cook about 3-5 minutes until the bottom is set and the edges a bit crisp.  Flip the small omelets, or put the large one under the broiler until the top is set and a bit brown.  Serve either whole or cut into wedges, hot, warm, or room temperature, with warm pita, chopped salad, and yogurt or tahini sauce. 

What about quantities?:  They are really very approximate, but for two people, two eggs and two whites, or three eggs will do it.  About 1/2 cup chopped parsley and 3 scallions.

Yogurt sauce:  Basically, any plain yogurt that you like will do it here.  If you want it a little more interesting, smash a clove of garlic with the side of a broad knife and peel.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and puree the garlic by working it with the side of the knife and the edge as well.  Put it in a bowl and stir in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of yogurt.  Add more salt if needed, and if you feel like it, some ground dried spearmint and either Aleppo or cayenne pepper (a 1/2 teaspoon of the former, a small pinch of the latter).

Tahini sauce:  Puree the garlic as above.  Put in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon tahini and the juice of 1/2 lemon.  Stir and drizzle in a little water.  The ingredients will seize up.  Slowly drizzle in between 1/2 cup and a cup of water, stirring all the while with a fork..  The tahini will thin out to a smooth sauce.  Stop adding water when it is the texture you want, which should be somewhere between a bechamel and heavy cream

Matzo brei with bananas, courtesy of Jeff Segall

I find that I generally make more matzo brei after Pesach that during the holiday.  During I may get around to it once or twice, but after you have to use up all that matzo.  Last year I found myself eating Sri Lankan style matzo brei several times a week until our home was matzo-free. So I was very happy when Jeff Segall, language teacher, sailor and musician, emailed around the variation that he makes which contains mashed bananas.  It makes a nice weekend breakfast, and will make it easier for me to finish the final boxes.

Matzo brei is a very personal thing, of the same order as pizza or bagels.  Just like it is hard to argue with people's taste in pizza and bagels, it is pointless to dispute their taste in matzo brei.  Some like it like a single cake, others scrambled.  Some like it soft, some crunchy.  Some salty, some sweet.  And some all of the above. For the record I am a scrambled crunchy person who likes his matzo brei with salt, pepper and something sweet.  Jeff uses a different soaking method than I do, and makes his like a large kugel.   His recipe is included at the end.  I tried to soak the matzos following his instructions, but I just couldn't do it.  I fell into default mode. So I don't expect you to follow my directions either.  But do try adding the bananas -- it is a real treat.

Banana Matzo Brei --Basic Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 matzos
• 4-6 eggs
• pinch salt
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1-4 tablespoons of butter
• cinnamon

Method

1. Soak matzos according to your preferred method.  Mine is to break them into more or less equal quarters and put them in a large bowl.  Fill the bowl with cold water, and let the matzos sit about 30 seconds.  Drain them while they are still crunchy,  cover them, and let them sit aside to absorb the water and soften.  It takes about 5-10 minutes, and they will soften further when you add the eggs.  I find that this way you don't have to squeeze out the excess moisture, because there is none.  However, as I said above, matzo brei is a very personal thing, and I don't expect anyone to change their preferred method on my account.  
2. Beat the eggs, add a pinch of salt (or a bit more if you are like me), and mix into the matzos.  If they have not softened all the way, let them sit for a few minutes more until they do.  
3. Slice, then mash the bananas, and mix them into the matzo and eggs.
4. To make like a single cake:  Heat a 10 inch nonstick skillet, add as much butter as your conscience, your cholesterol and your spouse allows, and pour in the mixture.  Spread it out and cook on medium heat until well browned.  Flip and cook until well browned on the other side.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with honey, date honey, or maple syrup. 
5. To cook as pancakes:  Heat a 12 inch or larger nonstick skillet or griddle and add butter.  Drop about 1/2-3/4 cup of batter to make large pancakes.  Cook until brown, turn and brown on the other side, and serve as above.
6. Serves 3-4, depending on appetite. 

Middle eastern variation:  Omit the cinnamon. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the batter.  This is best served with date honey.

For the kid in all of us:  Mix in up to a cup of chocolate chips. Serve this with whipped cream. 

Jeff Segall's recipe in his own words:

Fill a large bowl about 1/3 of the way with lukewarm water. Take about 4-5 sheets of matza and break them along the natural fault lines. Each piece should be about three or four fault lines wide and be about 1/3 the length of a matza. Break them into the bowl. Soak them for at least a minute. Be sure they're completely soaked and soft. Then holding the matza with one hand, pour the water out. Press the matza gently to squeeze out the excess water. Into the matza pour 4-6 eggs that you have already completely beaten so that the yolks and whites are thoroughly mixed. (For a lower cholesterol version, use 4 eggs and 2/3 cup of liquid egg whites). This serves 3-4.  With a fork, pick up the slices of matza so that both sides of every piece are infused with the eggs. 

To this mixture add two thoroughly mashed sliced bananas. Stir the mixture together. Pour this mixture into a hot pan greased with butter or margarine. Let it sit and fry for less than a minute. Then Flip. Cook 2 minutes. If using a smaller diameter pan, flip once more, let sit as it bubbles away, and flip yet one more time.  Serve with cinnamon sprinkled lovingly and sparingly from above. If you want it even sweeter, add maple syrup to your portion.  Invite your friends.  They'll love you.

Cheese souffle two ways, and a paen to ricotta

Souffle has been called a sauce holding its breath. Conventionally, you make a very thick bechamel sauce, beat in some egg yolks, and then add cheese or another flavoring ingredient.  You then fold in beaten egg whites which trap air bubbles expand in the oven , causing the souffle to rise.  It always seemed like too much of a patschke (Yiddish for production) to me, until we were eating at Picnic, a local restaurant with our friend Louise who was in from Chicago.  She ordered a cheese souffle which we all swooned over, and said, "You know, you can make this easily for yourself.  I do it for dinner all the time and it's a cinch."  When she got home she sent us her recipe and she was right, it is a cinch.  Her recipe is below, and has become our go to Sunday night dinner.  It isn't much more difficult than an omelet, and so much more satisfying.  I include Louise's recipe at the bottom.

Years ago I read a recipe for an "easy" souffle, which uses ricotta rather than a bechamel sauce as the base.  The results are pictured below.  It is a little easier, since you don't have to make the sauce.  On the other hand, it is more difficult to work the whipped egg whites into the ricotta mixture, and you need to use a few more whites to compensate for the heaviness of the ricotta.  I actually think that it tastes better.  I urge you to try both.

Both can be varied by adding about 1/2 cup duxelles, chopped spinach sauteed in butter, or for something wild,  Indian green cilantro chutney.  My favorite of all, however, is chopped fresh chervil -- use a generous 1/4 cup, chopped in either of the recipes below.  If you are using the spinach or mushrooms, you can keep in the nutmeg but otherwise, leave it out.

Cheese souffle, ricotta version

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup ricotta (the better the ricotta, the better the souffle:  see below)
• 3/4 cup grated cheese -- we used an aged Gruyere, but any full flavored hard cheese that melts well could be used; Comte or a good aged cheddar would be nice as well
• 2 egg yolks
• salt, freshly ground white pepper, paprika, cayenne and nutmeg
• 6 egg whites
• butter for the casserole
• additional   grated Parmesan or Grana Padano 

Method

1. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees.
2. Push the ricotta through a sieve into a medium bowl, or if you are too lazy, break it up the ricotta with a fork until smooth.  Mix in grated cheese and egg yolks until smooth.  Season with a pinch each of the salt, pepper (freshly ground white preferred), paprika, cayenne and nutmeg.  (The nutmeg is optional, but nice, and should ideally been freshly grated.)
3. Butter a one quart casserole very thoroughly, and add sprinkle with the Parmesan.
4. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat them in a large bowl with a balloon whisk, or with an electric mixer, until soft creamy peaks form.  This is emphatically not a patschke.  By had with a whisk, it takes about 5 minutes.  If you have a copper bowl, so much the better, but who has a copper bowl?
5. Using a rubber scraper, fold about 1/4 of the egg whites into the ricotta mixture to loosen it. 
6. Pour the mixture back into the rest of the egg whites, cutting and folding gently from the bottom until well mixed.  Do not over mix, it does not have to be smooth and uniform.
7. Pour into the casserole, and sprinkle the top with a bit more Parmesan.
8. Place casserole in the oven and bake for about 23 minutes.   (Exact times are a bit difficult to determine, and depend on size of dish, temperature of ingredients, and the actual temperature of your oven.  The top should be light brown when done, and the inside somewhat liquid.  If it is slightly over or under cooked, it will still be delicious.)
9. Serve immediately.  You wait for a souffle, it does not wait for you.  When you cut into it, the top will be a bit crusty, and the bottom a light cheesey sauce.
10. Serves two with salad and a glass of wine for special, easy every-night dinner.

In praise of ricotta : If you have only had supermarket ricotta out of a plastic container, you never have had ricotta.  The first time I had the real thing was when Amy was a visiting nurse in the Bronx.  Her territory included Arthur Avenue, famous as the Little Italy of the area.  It is now more of a Little Albania, but most of the Italian businesses are still around.  She brought home some fresh ricotta from one of the local dairy stores.  The owner warned her that she had to rush straight home and not make any other stops, because it would not last long in the car.  This was obviously serious stuff.  When we got it home, it practically floated out of the paper when we unwrapped it.  We ate it for dinner with a salad and bread from the Terranova bakery with just salt, pepper and olive oil.   Mark Bittman published a recipe for toasted peasant bread topped with ricotta, sliced peaches, and arugula salad, which kicks this up a notch, so to speak.

Ricotta literally means "recooked."  I prefer to think of it as milk stopped in its tracks, concentrated, and raised to a higher level of consciousness.  It is made by boiling the liquid whey which is leftover when certain kinds of cheese are made and the solids are removed.  The remaining proteins coagulate and are strained out, and you have ricotta.  This may not sound that appetizing and whey is not all that physically appealing but it is wonderful stuff, far to good to feed to animals which is a traditional use.  It is tart, sweet and milky, and in India is used for drinks, makes a terrific rice when used as the cooking liquid, and is the real secret in an excellent mattar paneer (peas with cheese).  However, ricotta must be its greatest use.  Although we are used to the creamy ricotta, it may also be salted, pressed and smoked.  I remember being served several kinds of ricotta in hotels in Naples and Sorrento, each in a different state of solidity and seasoning, and one better than the next.  Fairway stocks a creditable fresh ricotta from Joe Calabro's in West Haven, Connecticut.  I urge to you seek out some good ricotta for your own happiness.  It also adds a lot to this particular recipe.

Louise's Souffle

This is the recipe that Louise sent us, which is made the more conventional way, with a very thick bechamel sauce. If you use the lesser quantity of butter, which is what the original recipe called for, the roux will be difficult to work with and the sauce will be a bit lumpy.  It will not affect the final product, and the caloric content will be much lower.    I used skim milk, Louise uses unsweetened almond milk -- feel free to use whole milk, half and half, or even soy milk.

Ingredients

• butter and grated Parmesan or Grana Padano for preparing the casserole (and to sprinkle on top) 
• 2 teaspoons to 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 tablespoon  flour
• 1/3 cup milk (skim, whole, soy, half and half or almond milk -- make sure they are unseasoned)
• salt, white pepper, paprika, cayenne and nutmeg
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 3/4 cup  packed grated cheese, as above

Method

1. Butter a one quart casserole and sprinkle with Parmesan.
   Line a rack in the middle of the oven with aluminum foil and preheat the oven to 425
2. Melt the remaining butter in a small pot and stir in the flour.  Let cook over low heat for a minute, stirring then remove from the heat for a moment's rest.
3. Now pour in the milk, whisking vigorously, and return to low heat to simmer for 1 minute, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens.
4. Season with the salt and spices -- just a pinch of each..
5. Again remove from the heat, and whisk in the egg yolk.
6. Put the egg whites in a clean bowl, and beat until they form soft peaks.
7. Add a dollop of the egg whites to the sauce, and mix in with about half of the cheese.
8. Now fold in the rest of the egg whites and the cheese.
9. Transfer everything to the prepared casserole. 
10. Bake for 21 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the soufflé has risen.
11. Serves two for dinner with a salad.

Spinach with eggs

It is CSA (community supported agriculture) season, and we find ourselves eating a lot of vegetables with eggs. Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but there really is nothing like very fresh veggies cooked with farm fresh eggs. Today for breakfast, it was spinach with eggs: more spinach than eggs, and very tasty and easy. The hardest thing about it is washing the spinach, but worth it since good fresh spinach is some much better than the bagged prewashed stuff. See notes below on spinach, washing etc.

Spinach with eggs

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium-large finely diced shallot
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 pound spinach, large stems removed, washed well, and cut into shreds
• nutmeg
• 4-6 eggs, the fresher the better
• large handful of grated grana padano cheese (about 1/2 cup or more to taste, see note below)

Method

1. Melt butter in a very large nonstick skillet. ( The spinach may shrink, but it takes up a lot of room at first. ) Add shallot, sprinkle with salt, and saute until soft but not brown.
2. Add the spinach and cook over high heat until wilted and most of the liquid is evaporated.
3. Season with pepper and a few scrapings of nutmeg.
4. Beat the eggs until well combined, and add a pinch of salt.
5. Add to the spinach, and cook over medium heat until done to your liking. Mix in the cheese and serve warm.
6. That's it. Serves 2-4 depending on the number of eggs and your appetite.

Grana padano!?: This runs about $2-3 dollars a pound less than good Parmesan, and I always looked down my nose at it as a low quality knockoff. However, eating at the Savoy in Soho, the waitress informed us that their chef has been experimenting with using Grana instead, and has even come to prefer it. So a few weeks ago I started buying Grana, and it is quite good, with a nutty, caramelized aroma. Besides, the savings helps when my daughter, the cheese wizard, is at home. I think she can go through 2 pounds of Parmesan or more a week, but likes the Grana well enough, and this adds up to significant savings. But, today she just informed me that she doesn't find it as nutty. It was nice while it lasted.

Spinach: There is no question that the pre-washed bagged spinach is convenient, and if you want to use it for this dish, go ahead. I have made it before myself with the baby leaves straight out of the bag. But the real thing is much tastier, and not that much more effort. They key to washing spinach and other greens is not to run water over them, which doesn't do much good since it just leave the grit trapped in the crevices, but to soak the greens in a large bowl, tub or sink of water and swish them around and leave them sit a bit. Lift them out of the water, drain and rinse your receptacle, and continue until there is no more dirt. This year, the farmer at our CSA seems to be doing something so that the greens and veggies are cleaner and take less time to wash. This is a relief, because washing our share was almost a part time job. (Interestingly, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago about the spread of supermarkets in India, and how one obstacle was the tendency of the markets to wash their vegetables, while the consumers considered the dirt a sign that they were farm fresh!)

Italian baked asparagus with Spanish fried eggs

What's my favorite dish? Who's my favorite child? It's an unfair question.

But, if pressed, for both my wife and I, our favorite dinner may be baked asparagus with fried eggs. It is a very popular Italian dish (it may have been the first think I ever ate in Italy, arriving in Milan around lunchtime in April 1982) and can be found in most Italian cookbooks. We make a few changes when we make it, which I think partly simplify and partly improve the dish. Rather than steaming or boiling the asparagus, and then baking it with Parmesan cheese, we just bake it. It is certainly easier, and if anything, better, since the roasting concentrates the flavor of the vegetable, while steaming or boiling can dissipate it. Also, rather than serving it with conventional sunny side up eggs cooked in butter, which you can get better in any diner, we shallow fry them in olive oil, following the method in Penelope Casas' The Foods and Wines of Spain. These eggs can stand on their own and if you have never had them, it is a transformative experience -- crisp rather than slightly rubbery. With the asparagus, especially with locally grown asparagus available in the NY area for a few more weeks, it is a marriage made in heaven.

Ingredients

• Asparagus -one hefty bunch or two small ones makes a meal for two
• Butter
• Parmesan cheese (the good stuff)
• Eggs (one or two per person)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Snap off the woody bottoms of the asparagus.
3. Butter a large baking dish, and put in the asparagus, ideally in one layer but no more than two. Dot with a little butter (about a tablespoon total), season lightly with salt and more generously with freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle with a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan.
4. Bake about 15 minutes until the asparagus is as tender as you like (it should not be really crisp). It may take longer if the asparagus is thick or the pan is crowded.
5. When the asparagus is done heat at least 1/4 inch of olive oil in an 8 or 9 inch skillet, ideally cast iron. Nonstick doesn't work well here. (1/2 inch or more of oil is better but this often freaks people out the first time they do this.
6. Put the asparagus on 2 serving plates.
7. Break one egg into a cup and if this is important to you, check for blood spots.
8. When the oil is shimmering and almost smoking, slip in the egg. Leave it for about 15 seconds, and if the oil is hot enough, the white will start to form bubbles. Baste the top by spooning some hot oil over it (the easier safer way), or my tilting the pan around so oil slips over the top. The white will blister and brown, and the yolk should stay soft. The whole think takes a minute or less.
9. Remove the egg with a slotted spatula, let the oil drip off, put the egg on the asparagus on one plate, sprinkle the egg with coarse salt, and repeat with another egg.
10. Serve with good crusty bread, dipping the bread and the asparagus in the egg yolk.

Serves 2.

Cooking fat: Don't use super expensive condiment quality olive oil here. The intense heat will take away much of the aroma. Use your every day olive oil, which you can even cut with a little vegetable oil if expense is a concern. The olive oil should dominate, and more oil is better than less to get the right result with the eggs.

Roasted cauliflower and eggs

If you haven't discovered it yet, roasted cauliflower completely blows boiled or steamed out of the water. Instead of mush, you get a beautifully caramelized vegetable. It is also a cinch, can be varied in interesting ways, and combined with eggs in various forms, makes a nice main dish.

All you do is:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Wash the cauliflower and separate it into medium florets. Dice the center stem as well, and if you want it, the thick ribs from the leaves, pulling off the strings like you would do for celery.
3. Oil a large baking sheet or jelly roll pan with a peanut or olive oil, or spray it with oil spray. (If you want to make clean up a lot easier, line it with foil first. Sprinkle it with coarse salt --we usually use Maldon sea salt for this and much else.
4. Put the cauliflower on the sheet, spray and sprinkle with salt.
5. Bake. How long does it take? It depends (on the density of the cauliflower, how hot your oven really is, the type of pan and how crowded it is, etc.), so taste, but about 15-20 minutes should do it, until the cauliflower is lightly browned. If you are going to cook the cauliflower more later and like it on the crisp side, less is more.
   
6. Broil for a about 5-10 minutes more until done how you want it. Well browned is nice, carbonized is excessive.
7. Serve hot, warm, room temperature or cold. It is great dipped into tahini or hummus, and is even better in one of the following egg dishes.

Variation #1: instead of spraying, toss the cauliflower with oil.

Variation #2: after tossing the cauliflower with oil, sprinkle it with curry powder. (I use a sieve for this to make it a bit more even.) After Madhur Jaffrey's Invitation to Indian Cooking came out in the early 1970s, I did not use curry powder for over 20 years. My loss. Although her opposition to prepared curry powder was a useful corrective to what passed for Indian food inthose days, I hope we have all moved beyond the ostentatious attachment to authenticity.

Cauliflower with eggs, North-Indian style

1. Heat 1-3 tablespoons fat of choice in a very large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Peanut or vegetable oil or ghee would be nice.
2. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of whole cumin seeds.
3. When they begin to sizzle and darken a few shades, add a dried red chili or two if you like and then add add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and stir.
4. Add one large onion, cut in half and sliced thin. Salt lightly and cook until soft and at least lightly browned. The more fat, the easier the browning, but you don't necessarily want them crisp here.
5. Add ginger, garlic and green chili to taste. (For example, a 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped fine, 5 cloves of chopped garlic, and a chili or two, seeded if you want the flavor without some of the heat. You can use more, less, or none at all of these).
6. Stir for a few minutes, and if you want add 1 tablespoon ground coriander and 1 teaspoon ground cumin. If you add these spices, you might want to also add a diced tomato or two (canned is better than OK), which will round out the dish and give the spices more time to loose their raw flavor. Stir and cook a few minutes more, lowering the heat so the spices don't burn.
7. Add the cauliflower (or as much of it as you want or can fit) , and if you have any roasted potatoes lying around, add them too (they are worth making for this) and fry together, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are well blended and the cauliflower is hot.
8. Make a well in the center, add a little more of your cooking fat, and add 1-4 eggs, beaten lightly and salted.
9. Cook until the eggs are set, stirring a bit, and then break them up and mix with the cauliflower. Sprinkle lightly with garam masala (Indian mixed roasted spices) or ground roasted cumin.
10. Turn into a serving dish and garnish with a handful of chopped fresh coriander.
11. Serve with flatbreads -- chapatis or parathas best, good pita more than acceptable. This makes a great main dish with a salad (esp a yogurt and cucumber salad). It is often my wife's main dish of choice.

Cauliflower Kookoo (Iranian fritata)

We had this the Friday night for dinner when we were having Persian Jewish food and a number of the guests were vegetarian and therefore missed out on some of the best Chicken with Quince we have ever made (not our skill, but the quince were incredibly flavorful). It is extremely simple.

1. Brown a medium-large halved sliced onion in olive oil.
2. Mix the onion, 6 or seven beaten eggs, and a handful of chopped fresh together. Stir in some cauliflower -- we used about half a head here.
3. Heat a 9 inch nonstick skillet on medium high heat.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Heat until it shimmers.
5. Add the egg mixture and shake the pan to even it out.
6. After about a minute, when you start to see sizzling around the edges, turn the heat to low and cook about 20 minute until the eggs are almost set.
7. Broil 5 minutes to finish cooking and brown the top.
8. Good hot, warm cold, and reheats well.

Shakshuka with Cauliflower

Shakshuka is a Tunisian Jewish dish served in a lot of Israeli restaurants. It is just eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce. We found that it is very nice with roasted veggies, cooked the sauce before you add the eggs. Here is our variation with cauliflower:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat in a 10-12 inch skillet with a cover.
2. Add 5 or more cloves of chopped garlic. Do not brown.
3. When soft, as a chopped jalapeno, leaving seeds in if you want it hot and stir a bit.
4. Add a handful of chopped flatleaf parsley and stir a bit, then add 1 tablespoon tomato paste and stir.
5. Add a 15 oz can of chopped tomatoes -- I am partial to the chopped cherry tomatoes from Italy under the del Valle label. Add salt to taste.
6. Cook about 15 minutes until the oil begins to separate, adding a bit of water if it is too thick.
7. Add a cup or two of roasted cauliflower and heat through.
8. Turn heat to medium low, make 4 depressions, and add 4 eggs. Cover the skill. Cook gently about 4 or 5 minutes. The white should still be set but the yolk soft.
9. Serve with pita bread for dipping. (I like thick pita with this -- the kind produced by Pita Express in Brooklyn in excellent here.) It tastes best when you eat it together from the common skillet, but these days of H1N1, you may want to serve it on plates. Use a spatula to take the eggs out so they don't break.