Eaters and Feeders and Spanish Eggs
Julia Child once said that the world could be divided into eaters (Those who truly love food: start to think about dinner as they put the fork down for the final time at lunch; relish every morsel; embrace new flavors; search out interesting, untried dishes; walk by a shoe sale to spend hours in the gourmet shop...in short - those who live to eat.) and feeders (Those who eat to live. Food is, primarily, sustenance. They may truly enjoy food and rave about a good meal but it's secondary to cost, opportunity and convenience.) I discovered something in Paris. I am an 'eater' but come from a family of 'feeder's. Fortunately, there were four of us, so while I and mon mari went in search of gustatory heaven my sis and s-i-l had each other to enjoy their pizza and lasagne with (which, they said, were excellent....but so was my 'Wild Boar and Mushrooms in Red Wine').
That bit was just a teaser. I'll give all the details of the wonderful places we found on Wed. Right now I am up to my eyeballs in the French paperwork (quelle surprise!) that arrived in our post box while we were playing, so.... I'll just share a starter recipe I came up with before The Visit:
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
1/2 large green pepper
1 can (15 oz, 450 gr) whole tomatoes, drained
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs fresh snipped oregano
1 tbs olive oil plus 1 tsp
2 eggs
Finely chop onion and celery, mince garlic and chop green pepper. Drain tomatoes and roughly chop. Heat 1 tbs oil in medium nonstick skillet. Add chili powder and sauté 1 minute. Add onion and celery; sauté until onion starts to turn golden. Add pepper and garlic and sauté until tender (onions will start to brown). Add tomatoes and Worcestershire, reduce heat and simmer until tomatoes turn into thick sauce, about 10 minutes. In separate nonstick skillet ( I have one just big enough for 1 egg - cute!) heat 1 tsp olive oil. When hot add eggs and fry, trying to keep a nice shape, just until the whites are set; they're meant to be 'sunny-side up'. Divide onion/pepper mix between two flattish soup plates. Put an egg on top of each, salt and pepper and serve.
This is the cute, little frying pan I found in one of those gourmet shops! Isn't it darling? Perfect for this dish. (It's sitting inside a 12" skillet.) It's also good for making garlic chips, clarifying butter, all of those 'little' jobs.
Comments