The mottled quail egg looks like earth from space, except instead of oceans of blue, oceans of pooh.
Good thing we didn’t eat the shells then.
Instead, said shells were gently cracked, allowing gooey albumin and yoke to decant into thumb-pressed depressions in the breakfast stratta, which was then returned to the oven to bake for an additional five minutes or so. While we waited we talked about the morning news, and were saddened to learn — fearful really — that J. J. Cale had died. Fearful, because when artists you came up with start passing it’s like hearing the whoosh of the Reaper’s scythe overhead, your own head. Finally, with coffee in one hand and a bowl of stratta in the other, the five of us repaired to the sun-splashed deck. The morning was still and quiet, save the last boats of the day’s fishing fleet departing Seward harbor.
Only two forkfuls into the stratta and a collective Mmm went up. When food is good nobody speaks.
Earlier last week I made dinner for Happy Wife. I started with a potentially award-winning bloom of broccoli I picked from our garden, and stir-fried a mighty nice (if I don’t say so myself) beef & broccoli dish. Served over rice dusted with sesame seeds and sliced shoots pruned from our Walla-Walla onions. Our neighbor recommended the pruning; said doing so would redirect the plant’s energy into growing the fruit and not the shoot. Because it rhymed it seemed like wisdom.
We ate outside on the deck in the warm evening air, unpestered by mosquitoes!
Rod, the broccoli beef looks tasty, but I’m wondering if you put some grated ginger in the dish, along with some red pepper flakes. If you didn’t, give it a try next time. At least a tablespoon of grated ginger, and a teaspoon, plus or minus, of the red pepper flakes.
John,
Per the recipe, both those ingredients were added to the sauce, along with hoisin, soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar (a must!), garlic and honey. I substituted Agave nectar for the latter.
I’ll have to add that Chinese black vinegar the next time the Lovely Melis and I stir fry up a batch of broccoli beef. We’ve never tried that before, but I know right where to procure it.
Be careful around those bears.