What the World Eats

What the World Eats, Part II

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1645016,00.html?xid=rss-photos

Thanks, Aaron.

A New Kind of "Flat Bread"

For about a year now, I've begun most days with two eggs, over easy. I slide two delicately cracked, golden yolked eggs into melted kerrygold butter in my small, two-egg pan. Over medium heat, the white sets until it doesn't slosh when I shake the pan, and with a gentle thrust I toss the eggs into the air and catch them on the way down. Face down, they cook for just a moment more (it's a sad day when I touch the yolk and feel it hard beneath my fingers) and I jostle them into my pyrex carry-out bowl. On a good day, these go above or below slabs of bacon, steamed, diced zucchini or wilted spinach or chard. Frequently, all they get is a sprinkling of salt and pepper before they get thrown in my bag to be taken to work and eaten, coldish, at my desk.

I started eating them this way when I learned how very good for you runny yolked eggs are.

In "30 Minute GET REAL Meals" (a low carb-ish cookbook; not a bad reference for eating grain and sugar free), Rachel Ray makes a salsa topped, egg and cheese roll up. I read the recipe, imagined the endless filling options, and resisted...but never completely forgot.

A month ago, Heidi posted this skinny omelette recipe; and still, I resisted.

I resisted... until I had a jar full of swiss chard surprise (what to do when your friend sends you home with two pounds of chard, and you don't feel much like cooking? You wilt it all... then wait a week, and turn it into a food processor pesto of sorts. This time, it was garlic, ginger, kaffir lime, one and a half chicken breasts...but mostly garlic. And salt.), but no rice pasta on which to eat it. Since that fateful day, I've made a ton of these. They're delicious... and a great way to use up leftovers.

Tonight, after finally exhausting my jar of chard pesto (there's another container of it in the freezer, where it's going to stay for a while), I ventured into new ground: the pound of crimini mushrooms I'd been wanting to sautee for days. I chopped these in the food processor (I think I just decided I'd be using that gadget more often. Cutting and cleaning the machine together took less time than chopping all of those 'shrooms by hand would have) and threw them into a pan of melted organic butter to do their thing.

Then, I made one of these egg roll ups and stuffed it full of mushrooms. I sprinked salt and pepper, cut in a bit of chives and sprinkled on some plain chevre. Oh, so good. This is not the news, though. The news is that I left the bottom end of my mushroom burrito open, and lost a lot of my filling as I ate. The egg wrapper tore just like injera bread would have, and cleanly picked up my morsels to deliver them safely--and cleanly--to my mouth. Oh, the possibilities!

Egg "Flat Bread"
I've done this with two eggs or three, and with butter or olive oil. Three eggs was overkill.

Crack two fresh, cage-free organic eggs into a bowl. Beat them with a fork to a uniform pale yellow. Put fat in your largest frying pan (mine's 12 inches in diameter) and bring to heat. Slip your beaten eggs into the pan. Tip the pan gently to swirl the eggs around and around until they coats the bottom evenly and completely. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired. I usually don't. At this point, you can cover the pan for a second, or leave it uncovered and wait only a few moments longer. The egg will set quickly. It's up to you how dry you let them become; I usually take them off the heat just as soon as the egg is set enough not to run when I tip the pan. A few firm shakes should release the "flat bread". If it doesn't, release the edges with a spatula, and peel the egg out on to a plate.

Then, get as creative as you'd like, ladling your filling down he middle of the wrapper. Fold one edge across your filling, and use it to pull your mixture into a tight log. Then roll and enjoy. I haven't had any problems with breakage, so I can imagine that the egg would hold up to being rolled burrito-style, with the bottom in, to contain your filling. I can also imagine that these would cut into appetizer-friendly pinwheels pretty nicely.

I want to try pigs in a blanket, with a tasty breakfast sausage link and maybe a drizzle of maple syrup. Hummous, sheep's feta, olives and spinach would be brilliant, too. Or mustard, turkey, sprouts and goat jack cheese; salmon with dill; refried beans and salsa--the possibilities are endless. I would only warn against something super rustic, like a caesar salad on iceberg lettuce: the lettuce would probably rip right through the roll-up.

I'm most thrilled for the next time my dinner calls for flat bread: the next time I'm eating Indian or Ethiopian (note: Ethiopain injera is traditionally made of teff, and is usually wheat-free), or anything else I want to pick up with my fingers. Sturdy enough to tear, thick enough to hold up, delicate enough to not add any strong flavor--I'm pretty excited about all the options!

Also exciting is that, unlike with a tortilla-based roll-up, the filling does not have to be protein based: two eggs is a good 14 grams of easily absorbed animal protein!

Game Night

Deviled Eggs, with homemade mayonnaise, stone ground mustard, diced onion and celery, salt, pepper and paprika

Baba Ganoush from two firm, farmer's market eggplants, fire roasted under the broiler and blended with tahini, lemon and not quite enough garlic, served with olive tapenade and sheep's feta

Peeled, cooked, medium shrimp, heated through in a bath of olive oil, butter, garlic, and habanero pepper flakes, tossed with lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley.

Four pepper chevre and savory rice crackers.

Rice Pasta Pasta Salad, a la Toby

Mojitos for a crowd.

Games enough to go around.

No wheat, dairy, sugar (okay, maybe a little in the drinks) or soy. All good stuff.