Salads

We are loving the spring vegetables in the market. Asparagus from the Delta this year is especially good: they are very thick and tasty.

The simplest preparation of all is simply asparagus topped with prosciutto.

Cathy found a recipe for a topping for asparagus that we have never tried before: Fried Eggs in Bread Crumbs. It was in the Zuni Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. I really liked this topping for the asparagus. We can apply this on several other salads in the future.

We have been eating a lot of Smoked Salmon. We had left over Potato Gratin and it was a perfect topping for the re-heated potatoes.

We also made one of our favorite salads that we call "The Hungry Cat Salad". We first saw it made at The Hungry Cat Restaurant in Hollywood and asked them for the recipe, which they were nice enough to give us. We don’t use a lot of avocados and that might be the reason I like the salad. You can get the recipe, such as is on from our blog of: Nov. 21, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

Fried Eggs in Bread Crumbs

Zuni Café Cookbook – Judy Rodgers

I like these crunchy eggs for dinner with a salad of bitter greens. At Zuni, they appear on the Sunday lunch menu accompanied by house-made sausage or bacon and grilled vegetables or roasted mushrooms. This is a very easy dish and fun to eat when you are alone, so I provide proportions for one person. For more people, make it in a larger pan, in batches of four to six eggs.

FOR 1 serving:

3 tablespoons packed, fresh, soft bread crumbs made from slightly stale, crustless, chewy, white peasant-style bread

Salt

About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

A few fresh thyme or marjoram leaves or coarsely chopped fresh rosemary {optional}

2 eggs

About 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, or sherry vinegar

Sprinkle the crumbs with salt, then drizzle with enough of the oil to just over saturate them.

Place the crumbs in a 6- to 8-inch French steel omelette pan or nonstick skillet and set pver medium heat. {If you like your fried eggs over easy, reserve some of the oiled raw crumbs, to sprinkle on the top of the eggs just before you flip them over.} Let the crumbs warm through, then swirl the pan as they begin drying out-which will make a quiet staticky sound. Stir once or twice.

The moment you see the crumbs begin to color, quickly add the remaining oil, and the herbs if using, then crack the eggs directly onto the crumbs. Cook the eggs as you like.

Slide onto a warm plate, then add the vinegar to the hot pan. Swirl the pan once, then pour the drops of sizzling vinegar over the eggs.

Note: If you are preparing the eggs for more than a few people, it is a little easier to toast the seasoned, oiled crumbs in advance in a 4250 oven instead of in the skillet. In that case, toast them to the color of weak tea. Then scatter them in the skillet, add the remaining olive oil, and proceed as described above.