Wednesday, December 1, 2010

something fishy

The most beautiful things are so often the simplest.

Gorgeous, am-I-really-in-my-house-and-not-at-some-gorgeously-opulent-hotel brunch:

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The ingredients were beautiful:

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Blue and green (!) pristine and fresh farmer’s market eggs, purslane (!) which I had never tried before (tastewise it’s a more intense spinach; but nutritionally holy crap it has more omega 3’s than fish oil); leftover crab from an appetizer that my mom made for Thanksgiving; and a mere sliver of the gargantuan scone we got at the farmer’s market.

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Bitter green goodness of purslane on the top. Oh so sweet and rich crab. Wonderfully rich, flowing yolked egg (seriously, I know at a certain point I will stop posting other things and just make poached egg dishes. Apologies).

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Plus butterlicious scone. Tell me you wouldn’t squeal for joy if someone at some seaside, sun-drenched bed and breakfast with white linen tablecloths deposited this brunch in front of you.

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Dear Martha Stewart: Sometimes I read your cookbooks in bed for fun. I am scared of your perfect table arrangements. Also, your poached salmon salad with parsley and capers is exquisite.

And Martha probably would not approve but I halfed it and didn’t have celery…. or carrot… so my poaching liquid was water with half a lemon and half an onion.

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I made a flavor paaaaaaaacked dressing with red wine vin, olive oil, capers (<3) and parsley.

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That is a tiny amount of fairly simple ingredients and yet this was seriously one of the best salmon dishes I’ve had. Martha, you’re where it’s at. And though I lacked any fancy centerpieces or anything, this was a nice centerpiece.

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My accompanying dish was inspired by my Thanksgiving gratin creation.

Like any good recipe, it began with butter (and olive oil. And fresh rosemary).

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Then I chopped up the last of some lackluster potatoes and apples…

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And plunked those in the oil.

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Let ‘em brown up in fatty goodness. Tossed in a splash of milk, covered it, let ‘em steam til the taters cooked through.

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Yum. mers.

Finally, to reconnect with my (1/4) British roots, I broiled some tomatoes (only, obviously, you’d say tom-ah-toes).

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2 comments:

Rhea said...

dude. it's 1130 and im laying in bed and i just housed some popcorn, but that breakfast is HYPNOTIZING. i don't even eat crab... AND IT'S HYPNOTIZING ME.
also, now i really want to try purslane. and poached green and blue egg.
come cooooook for meeeeeeee!

Sarah @ The Smart Kitchen said...

WOW! That egg is beautiful! I keep meaning to re-attempt egg poaching and yet, I never seem to. My eggs keep finding their way into baked goods...

PS- I'm getting closer to my East Coast return...are you ready? :)