Something has been happening lately in conversation with friends and family.  I’m talking about food that I have been eating or cooking, or I’m feeding someone I love something and they say,  “That recipe is on you blog…right?”  For years and years the answer was “Yes!  Everything I make is on my blog!”  The entire purpose of this blog at the beginning was for my sister and I to record the things we were making so that we could continue cooking together even through we were living on opposite ends of the continent.  It became a nice way to stay connected to my entire family and all of my friends who live far away.  Then it was mostly a space where many, many people I didn’t know found recipes….and then I started to loose steam.  I have a full time job and when I do put energies toward cooking its often for large, extravagent parties that I’ve been hired to cook for.  I enjoy documenting these adventures here as well but it is not super likely that my family and loved ones are going to cook complicated food like that.   So now when a friend says “That recipe is on you blog…right?” my answer is often no.

I’m going to try to catch up this coming year and post all of the things that I have been cooking lately….not just the impressive complicated things that I cook for jobs but also the kind of food my friends and family would like to cook along with me. 

My husband and I call this “Skillet Breakfast” because we make it in our giant cast iron skillet and usually eat it directly out of the pan. We also eat it sometimes for dinner. It evolved directly out of the need to process as much of our farmshare as we could on the weekend, so that the vegetables were prepared and ready to eat with as little fuss as possible later in the week. It is a wildly adaptable “recipe”. I suppose it would work in a different kind of pan, but the vegetables get wonderfully crisped up on the edges in a cast iron!

Make in Advance

Roasted Vegetables

This can be any kind or mix of root vegetables although I personally would not use beets or turnips here. Potatoes, Yams, Sweet Potatoes and Rutabegas are all wonderful. Aromatics like fennel, peppers onions, whole cloves of garlic and herbs like rosemary and thyme are all optional additions. I’ve also done this breakfast with roasted cauliflower and it was great. Sometimes I add beans. Use what you have and what is in season!

1. Preheat an oven to 425.
2. Scrub the root vegetables and peel them if you feel it necessary. Cut into cubes (about 3/4 of an inch)
3. Toss the prepped vegetables onto a baking sheet with a bit of oil, salt, pepper and any aromatics you are using
4. Roast until the veg is soft and getting some caramelized edges. Start checking them after 20 minutes.
5. These can be stored for up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Sauteed Greens

This can be any mix of hearty winter greens (kale, collards, Swiss Chard, turnip, mustard, radish, spinach, rabe). However, I wll admit that flat black kale (also known as Tuscan or dinosaur kale) is by far my favorite Green to use in this dish. Black Kale develops wonderful crisy bits when reheated! Sometimes I add leeks or lots and lots of minced garlic to the greens and sometimes I skip it.

1. Wash about 4 large bunches of greens.
2. Remove any woody stems. For kale, turnips and mustard greens, I do this by grasping the stem with both hands.and running one hand, down the stem to pull the leaves off while the other one grabs firmly. For Collards and Swiss chard I cut the leaf off of either side of the stem with a pairing knife. I chop up swiss chard stems and add them to the sautee first. I save kale stems to us in soup stock. I discard collard, mustad and turnip stems.
3. Roughly chop the greens. If you are using a mix of greens seperate them into tougher greens (kale, collards, turnip, mustard, rabe and swiss chard stems) and tender greens (swiss chard leaves, radish and spinach)
4. Heat a glug of olive oil in a wide pan with high sides (I use a cast iron dutch oven). If you have leeks and or swiss chard stems, add them now and let them soften before adding the greens.
5. Add the still damp, tough greens to the pan with a generous sprinkle of salt (I use smoked salt). If there are too many greens to fit wait for them to wilt and then force more in. Once the tough greens have wilted add the tender greens.
6. If you are adding garlic, smash, peel and mince it while the greens are wilting and cooking. Once the greens have become tender, the liquid has evaporated and the greens have just started to sizzle a bit, toss in the minced garlic, give a few stirs and turn the heat off. The garlic will cook as the greens cool.
7. These can be stored for up to a week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Finishing the dish

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 cup of roasted vegetables per person
• 1/2 to 1 cup of sauteed greens per person
• 2 eggs per person
• 1 cube of marinated goat cheese per person (I like Meredith Dairy)
• Chili crisp, hot sauce or chili flakes that you like (I’ve used Aleppo chili flakes in this one)

Instructions

1. Start a kettle of water boiling
2. Heat a bit of olive oil in a wide cast iron skillet
3. When the oil is hot, arrange the greens and roasted vegetables in a ring around the outside of the pan.
4. Crack the eggs in the center and crumle the goat cheese over them.
5. Pour about 1/3 cup of boiling (or nearly boiling) water around the edge of the eggs and put a lid on the pan (I use a large roasting sheet)
6. Check the eggs after about 2 minutes. Serve as soon as the whites are set drizzed with a bit of chili crisp or hot sauce.