Friday, June 11, 2010

restaurant style

We usually serve our food family style, being, you know… a family. However, the recipe I followed (ish) said individual plates, so I went with it and the result was rather breathtaking. Tell me you wouldn’t be stoked to go out to a restaurant and receive THIS beauty.

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It all began with these beautiful little spudlets from the farmer’s market.

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I hit up The Google for some new potatoes inspiration, and came up with any number of delicious ideas. Tonight’s dinner was inspired by this recipe for Fried Eggs with New Potatoes, Bacon, and Spinach, except without the bacon. Er, or spinach.

Obviously I’ve been meh on meat in general lately, but am actually specifically not eating it for religious reasons at the mo (Apostles Fast, for anyone who’s curious).

Eggs with New Potatoes, Chard, and Mushrooms

12 ounces new potatoes, washed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
4 oz. mushrooms
2 tsp. white wine vinegar
2 tsp. minced garlic
chard leaves, chopped
2 large eggs

Steam potatoes until tender, about 9 minutes.

Heat 1 t. olive oil in a skillet on medium high. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender and aromatic. Remove from pan, set aside.

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In the same pan, add remaining t. of oil and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Then add chard and toss until wilted. Put half of the chard mixture on each of two plates, and sprinkle with tsp. vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

If you are using rainbow chard, make sure to pause to admire its beauty.

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In the same pan, heat another teaspoon of olive oil. Add potatoes and sauté five minutes until lightly brown. Remove from pan, sprinkle with the remaining teaspoon of vinegar and salt and pepper.

Cook eggs in the manner of your choosing [They said fry them but I never do it successfully and already had my double boiler out for the potatoes, which also has a poacher attachment for eggs. So I poached ‘em].

Top each plate of chard with mushrooms, potatoes, and one egg.

Pre egg, looking lovely:

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Post egg, perfectly composed:

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Broken yolk, most beautiful of all holy goodness.

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Lunch was yet another celebration of farmer’s market bounty. Loooooooovely salad. Farmer’s market lettuce (Annandale Farmer’s market), farmer’s market green beans (Falls Church farmer’s market), farmer’s market pickles (! more on that in a moment. This from yet another farmer’s market, in Ballston. Had I mentioned how I loved summer? HAD I?), and what I’ll call… lentil patties.

Dressed in tahini and lemon juice, one of the greatest mixtures there is.

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I don’t know if it’s that whacky lentil recipe contest everyone has been blogging about but I had a craving reallllll bad for a bean patty. Er, this ensued.

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I was trying to do my usual method for faux-lafel but I couldn’t find the lid for the pan so I cooked the lentils all wrong and didn’t feel like using breadcrumbs so I used crumbled bread and… hot mess. But they tasted good, despite being crumbled. What’s not to love about mushy spiced lentils?

However, I have to say the star of the salad was found in this:

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After some slight accent-related confusion at the farmer’s market, it was revealed that the vendors were selling not “peacocks”, but homemade local PICKLES! And what goes better with falafel (or faux-lafel) than pickles?

Ohhhhhhh my God they are so good. Mammoth and tangy and garlicky and firm and fresh and amaaaaazing. I actually went years hating pickles (it’s so silly- it was related to not liking the pickle slices on a McDonalds burger! Nothing tastes good in that context!) and now they are one of my faaaaaaves.

And being slightly gross, I ate some of the salad like salad but did some “lettuce wraps” (really just eating with my fingers!) of the yummy crunchy lettuce, sour pickle, and lentil mush.

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Lunch was rounded out with my sweet love.

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My favesy. Put cinnamon in anything and I’m a happy camper.

In other news, we currently have some beauteous flowers! Also from the farmer’s market (Ballston)

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I love hydrangeas. The bouquet also included catnip and Sheila was rolling around in the little leaves that fell off when we trimmed the flowers and was HIGH AS MARS. Is there anything funnier than cats on drugs?

11 comments:

Kelsey Ann said...

mm i had potatoes too! they didnt look as fabulous as urs tho!! but sure tasted yummy :)

awe beautiful flowers and a beautiful lele <3

MelindaRD said...

hat potato dish looks awesome. Since my neighbor always gives us potatoes I am always looking for something to do with them. When he gives us eggs and onions too we will do scrambled eggs with onion hash browns because it just makes sense.

The pickles look great too! I love pickles.

Anonymous said...

That potato dish looks so good! And no shame in eating with your fingers, I do it all the time.. hehe. I actually read that it's good to eat with your fingers because it allows you to connect with the food.

My kitty doesn't like catnip so I have never been able to see a high kitty. :(

Janelle said...

That looks great. I love swiss chard, and ours is just about ready to eat...

Heather (Where's the Beach) said...

I love hydrangeas too. So pretty. I'm a huge fan of new potatoes too. Something so much softer about them.

Jess said...

I LOVE roasted potatoes--those look AMAZING.
<3 jess
xoxo

runnerforever said...

That dish does look fabulous!
Cats on catnip are funny, but cats on real drugs like antidepressants are just embarrassing.

Megan D said...

Love your spudlets! That dish looks awesome, I would just never have the creativity to think of it on my own. Good thing I read blogs like yours!! =P

fittingbackin said...

Nice - love the look of that! haha I know what you mean - making it for individuals (rather than "family") is different, and to me a bit more work!

Chef Aimee said...

Ok these potatoes look so delicious, and the cracked egg on top is like the icing on the cake! :)

Rebecca said...

That's so great that you have so many local farmer's markets! I definitely miss having fresh produce. The stuff that's "fresh" here, really isn't all that "fresh".