EGGS IN A NEST

Source: Animal, Vegetable and Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver. Harper Collins, Publishers, 2007. This recipe is a first for us; it is easy to make and will accommodate different kinds of vegetables and greens. We used five eggs and it made good portions for five.

2 cups uncooked brown rice. Cook rice with 4 cups of water in a covered pot while other ingredients are being prepared.

Olive Oil - a few tablespoons

1 medium onion, chopped and garlic to taste. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil in a wide skilled until lightly golden. Carrots, chopped.
½ cup sun dried tomatoes. Add and saute for a few more minutes, adding just enough water to rehydrate the tomatoes.

1 really large bunch of chard, coarsely chopped.
Mix with other vegetables and cover pan for a few minutes. Uncover, stir well, then use the back of a spoon to make depressions in the cooked leaves, circling the pan like numbers on a clock.

Eggs. Break an egg into each depression, being careful to keep yolks whole. Cover pan again and allow eggs to poach for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve over rice.

Good Ideas Come From Many Places. Mike is reading the Kinsolver book. We invited some friends who are vegetarians to have dinner with us on Sunday Evening. That morning I asked him if he could pick enough fresh broccoli for a couple of quiche. He suggested this recipe instead. I was out of brown rice, so used basmati. The guest who is a Veggie Coop Member always swaps his garlic for something else, so I substituted a few sprigs of dill instead, along with mushrooms and zucchini which I needed to use, three or four mushrooms., sliced and l/2 C. fresh zucchini, cubed. Other than this, I tried to follow the recipe, clipping several small green onions in first, next cutting chard stems crosswise and adding them early with the carrots, followed a few minutes later by the zucchini and finally the chard leaves which had been cut into wide strips. I made five depressions (nests) as suggested for the eggs. This worked out beautifully, served on individual plates along with the rice. It was like a picture from a magazine, poached egg in a nest of colourful greens/ carrots, with a fresh tomato wedge to add more colour. The Organic Farm Salad Mix was spread lightly in a large wooden salad bowl, then sprinkled with Alpine strawberries and cashews. A side dish of salad fixings offered such things as small green onions, sliced avocado, tomato wedges, fresh mandarin sections and sprouts. Later, in the evening after much conversation, the dishes were cleared and Mike brought out the rhubarb-strawberry ice cream he made earlier in the afternoon. Toby, our daughter, set out her chocolate brownies. Gourmet or what?