I can fry eggs!

ON TOP OF WORLD right now. Job! I have one! Will report!

Also, I have finally learned to fry an egg without making a hot mess (hint: you just need more fat in the pan). So I’ve been eating them like it’s my job. It helps that I have oh so tasty oh so nutritious farmer’s market eggs. And that eggs are warm and comforting (since it’s fall… and not summer anymore… ugh) and thus very appealing.

Savory oats! It had been awhile and this mix was GREAT.

  

With a key component being, as today’s title would suggest, a PERFECTLY FRIED EGG!

Absence definitely made my heart grow fonder on the savory oats, and it was also just a really delicious mix. Oats, half milk half water (which, come to think of it I usually don’t do with the savory stuff—I do all water—and milk made it way creamier!), a handful of spinach, nutmeg (key!) and Parmesan (just a wee sprinkling made it SO rich!).

I think the thing that made this particular batch so delicious was the balance of flavors. I usually load up on the spinach in my savory oats and it kind of swamps it, both texture and flavor wise. I did this because as the nutrition nazis tell us, 1 cup of raw greens only makes 1/2 a cup cooked so you have to eat a lot more veggies in the day. But this particular day I just did enough green stuff for color/mild flavor and had the rest of my veggies on the side.

 

That would be beautiful fresh local summer squash (the last of it sob sob sob) sauteed in a bit of olive oil, with salt and pepper and tons of fresh oregano. One of my signature summer recipes.

We conclude this with the mandatory flowing yolk shot. To demonstrate the true skill of my egg frying. There have been times I have managed to overcook the yolk and undercook the white. Which is actually an accomplishment, since that seems like it should be impossible.

  

Delicious nutritious comfort food lunch.

And now it’s time for Equipment Corner here on Lele Lurves Plants! Well okay there has never been an Equipment Corner but I wanted to wax poetic about my cast iron skillet cause I”m super in love with it these days.

Cast iron is great.

1. It beautifully conducts the heat.
2. It is much less inclined to have stuff stick to it than other metals- you don’t need a ton of metal.
3. It’s tough! I put my pans through a lot. It never gets charr-y on the bottom and it’s nice and heavy and it’s just… tough! If some sort of arm intruder came into my kitchen, I could just whack them with it.
4. It’s made of iron! Cooking with it puts iron in your food! Which is great if you’re always sort of borderline anemic like me.

I used it to fry my egg and like I said earlier, the key is really just adding enough oil. Or butter, I guess, but I always burn butter. I actually used nonstick spray (fact: I would really like an oil mister cause I hate all the junky stuff in Pam but it’s nice when you want an even coat over the whole pan) and just used a lot. Worked like a charm!

This next fried egg concoction was comfort food at its ultimate.

 

I pulled out my first orangey squash of the season, a beautiful, miniaturized butternut.

Then I got a saucepan going with oil, onion, and red pepper. While those hung out, I peeled and cubed the squash. Then I added the squash to the now-golden onions and peppers, along with some cinnamon and a touch of chili powder. I deglazed the pan with some water, just an inch or so to steam up the squash, put a lid on the pot, and reduced heat to low. Let all those guys simmer away til the squash was super tender. Then I mushed it down.

Put a fried egg on top.

It. was. delectable.

And holy fiber, FILLING!

 

Squash and egg isn’t the most familiar combination, admittedly, but I’m telling you it was great. They both have a great… richness to them that went together beautifully. And it was just warm and comforting and heavenly. Stuck to your ribs. Tasted bad for you like all those noodle and cheese and cream winter comfort concoctions—but wasn’t!

It’s that egg yolk-y rich creamy sauce. (I guess some people are scared of runny egg yolks, but I smugly and brattily point out that I get my eggs from Mennonite farmers who have happy, clean chickens and I have no salmonella fear whatsoever). It’s so nice that eggs are back in good repute. Lookit all the iron and choline I’m ingesting!

 

Finally, I would like to report that I watched TV this morning for the first time in MONTHS. The reason? Bill Clinton on Rachael Ray.  It felt right.