Small Counter Dwelling Appliance Comes to Rescue

80 and I spent an unfortunate—yet joyous and drunk—less than 24 hours in New York City this past weekend. Unfortunate because of the lack of time in the city and joyous because of our friends’ wedding. Usually whenever we get the chance to visit we extend the stay in this city to the north but with 80’s last exam on Monday night before he graduates on Sunday, we had to get in and out so he could concentrate on macro economics. (And if anyone has any graduation gift ideas – let me know!)

Because we left early Saturday from DC and didn’t get to check out the inaugural opening for the year’s Mt. P far mar and then we got back too late to hit up any of the Sunday markets I was left with a fridge full of last weeks’ purchases for Sunday’s dinner. 80 invited a classmate over for a study session so I was charged with figuring out dinner. Of course it revolved around eggs.

So my new favorite way to incorporate lots of veggies and other ingredients into eggs is to first cook all of the other ingredients, then pour whisked egg over top and throw it under the broiler.

I recently resolved Passover’s matzoh dilemma when I incorporated the stale cracker into an omelet with swiss cheese, garlic and greens. The problem though is the quickness in which an egg cooks and an egg overcooks.

My parents’ kitchen is perfect. Stainless steel perfection. Except for one thing: the broiler.

The oven doesn’t have a separate, slide out broiler compartment; instead, it’s a setting within the oven. Although that is not a problem in itself, it’s just something I’m not used to. In my apartment I can decide to broil something and it will heat up in 60 seconds. Their oven/broiler option takes maybe 10 minutes. This is rough when I decide I want to broil something last minute and there’s just no last minute available in their kitchen.

There is, however, a toaster oven. It may look totally ridiculous sticking a pan into this small counter dwelling appliance, but it’s quicker than waiting for the oven broiler to heat up when there is >>thismuch<< time before the eggs turn dry. In the version pictured above, I basically followed the same recipe, but substituted rye bread for matzoh and added diced avocado on top.

Potato, Greens and Ricotta Broiler Eggs

For this past Sunday night’s dinner I pulled out the remnants of the last week’s market goodies and followed the same pattern. I diced two red potatoes and let that start to soften and brown in oil and butter. Then I added one whole diced onion. The potato and onion cooked together for a while (seasoned with salt, pepper and Bojangles seasoning) and I stirred them every once in a while over low heat. Once they were sufficiently cooked I added in 2 cloves of chopped garlic, then roughly chopped greens (a mix of kale, chard, spinach and other unidentifiable leafs). Oh, and this was re-salted and re-peppered throughout. Once the greens cooked down, I poured 3 eggs beaten with ricotta and more salt and pepper over top. A generous layer of grated parm cheese was added on top of the egg and then placed in the pre-heated broiler for about 3 or 4 minutes until cooked through and browned on top.