Vegetable Summer Rolls with Chile Lime Dipping Sauce and Salt and Pepper Squid

What we have with these two dishes is a delicious mix of contrasts. With the rolls, the pale, white, chewy rice paper wrappers are filled with bright, colorful, crunchy vegetables, and they're mild tasting until dipped in the chile lime sauce. Meanwhile, the fried squid is crispy on the outside and coated with a riot of flavor after being stir-fried with garlic, green onions, and chiles. Under the crisp coating, the squid is pale and mild. These recipes came from an article about party food in last June's Food and Wine. I didn't actually make them for a party, but I can tell you they would have worked well for one. The summer rolls can sit in the refrigerator for a few hours after being assembled, and the squid can be kept warm in the oven after it's been fried. I did make one small change to the summer rolls. One of the filling items was supposed to have been rice vermicelli, but I was determined to use all raw ingredients and not have to cook anything for the rolls. So, I used shredded lettuce in place of the noodles. I made a slight change to the squid as well since I skipped the dusting with five spice powder that was suggested. Otherwise, I followed the instructions and was thrilled with the results.

For me, making summer rolls is one of those fun kitchen tasks like pitting cherries and rolling fresh pasta dough. You soften a brittle rice paper wrapper in warm water, lay it flat, and pile on the fillings before folding in the sides and rolling it up snuggly. It seals itself into a nice, little package. I think the self-sealing is possibly what makes it so fun. The fillings here were thin strips of red and yellow bell pepper, shredded lettuce instead of rice vermicelli, strips of avocado which I tossed with lime juice to prevent it from turning brown, julienned cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, Thai basil leaves from my garden, and I might have added a few thin strips of serrano chile as well. The dipping sauce for the rolls was made with fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, water, and a chopped red chile. The fried squid was breaded simply by dipping the cut pieces into egg and then into cornstarch. It was fried in batches and left to drain. Once all the squid was fried, it was then quickly stir-fried in a little oil in which garlic, green onions, minced red onion, and a finely chopped jalapeno had been cooked.

I actually really like squid, but I realize it might not be everyone's favorite ingredient. When it's fried though, it's hard not to like, and this version with the added flavor from the final stir fry was especially good. The salad in roll form was fresh and light while feeling a little more substantial than just a salad on a plate. These two dishes full of contrasts went together perfectly.

Peach Mango Chutney + a Giveaway

There are a few standard types of cookbooks. There are the ones that offer recipes for soups, salads, mains, and desserts. Then, there are ones focused on particular topics like sweets or appetizers or grilling. I just read a review copy of Plum Gorgeous by Romney Steele, and this cookbook doesn't fit any of the standard moulds. Instead, this book is a stroll through an orchard from season to season with memories, quotes, and recipes for fruits at their peak of ripeness. The chapters move from citrus to berries followed by stone fruits and fall fruits. There are recipes for preserving fruits, turning them into lovely desserts, and using them in savory dishes too. So, among the citrus recipes, you'll find orange marmalade and preserved lemons and ideas for using them along with kumquats and toasted couscous with halloumi and a rangpur lime mascarpone tart. I was taken with the idea of making a sweet, savory chutney, and I had a mango from my CSA waiting to be used. There's an apricot mango chutney in the stone fruit chapter, but since it's peach season here, I went with what was available. Local peaches, onion, and chiles with my mango from south Texas and a few other spices became an aromatic, spicy condiment. There are suggestions for serving the chutney with cheese and bread or stirring it into a rice dish with chicken. I've used it two ways so far. First, I topped some little pieces of homemade sourdough with Pure Luck chevre and dollops of the chutney. Then, I stirred some into whole wheat couscous with toasted pine nuts, parsley, spinach, and pulled pieces of roasted chicken. Both were sweet, savory bliss.

Making the chutney was actually easier than I expected even though it does simmer for about an hour and then sit overnight. A pound of peaches was pitted and chopped but not peeled, and the mango was peeled, pitted, and diced. The recipe also calls for dried apricots, and even though I was using fresh peaches instead of fresh apricots, I added a few chopped, dried apricots for the texture. Onion, garlic, a few chopped hot chiles, lime zest, grated ginger, a cinnamon stick, coriander seed, mustard seed, cloves, black pepper, raw sugar, and champagne vinegar were also included. Everything was combined in a stock pot and cooked until the liquid evaporated and the flavors came together. In the recipe you're instructed to leave the chutney covered in the stock pot overnight. I leave almost nothing out in my kitchen since I fear the house is too warm in the summer. So, I refrigerated the chutney overnight. The next day, it was cooked again to deepen the flavors, and I added a little salt and more black pepper. The finished chutney can be kept in the refrigerator for several months, but I don't think it will last that long.

This book is both a guide to each season's fruits and a collection of fond memories centered on food. It's a great resource for using what's available now at the markets, or in your own orchard if you're lucky enough to have one, and for daydreaming about next season. I've already tried the fig relish recipe as well, and I'll be mentioning that soon.

Now, regarding that giveaway, Back to the Roots has offered to send a grow-it-at-home mushroom garden to one lucky commenter. I recently received a mushroom garden of my own, and it's an amazing way to easily grow food on your kitchen counter. The garden is contained in a small box with recycled coffee grounds for soil inside it. You just mist the open sides of the box each day, and oyster mushrooms begin to grow after about a week. Read more about the mushroom gardens here, and you can receive a 10% discount on purchases with the code mushrooms4me10. All you have to do to win a garden is leave a comment on this post before Monday August 8, 2011 at noon CST. Include your email address with the comment so I can contact you. The winner must provide a US mailing address. Good luck!

UPDATE: The winner of the mushroom garden is Lola Lobato.

Poached Shrimp with Watermelon Curry and Masa Cookie

It’s time for summer fun, summer vacations, and summer food. To celebrate the beginning of the season, Tribeza has organized an event, the Summer Solstice Chef’s Table Series from June 27 to June 29, to showcase menus inspired by this time of year. At eight different Austin restaurants, guests will have an opportunity to dine with the chef and enjoy special dishes created just for this event. Trio is one of those participating restaurants, and Chef Todd Duplechan’s menu will include poached gulf shrimp with watermelon curry and a masa cookie, warmed loch salmon with braised market vegetables and lemon aioli, and bacon wrapped lamb loin with heirloom squash and black garlic custard. I had the opportunity to stop by the kitchen at Trio, talk with Chef Duplechan about the Chef’s Table dinner, and watch as he showed me how to prepare the poached shrimp dish. We talked about the Texas heat, spices and chiles, what grows locally, and he taught me a few interesting cooking techniques along the way.

Here in central Texas, Chef Duplechan likes to cook what grows nearby, and that fits with his idea of creating a new southwestern cuisine. He says “there’s more to southwestern cuisine that blue corn chips.” Rather than taking influence solely from Mexican cooking as most southwestern dishes do, his creations brings together elements of cooking from various hot weather climates around the world. By taking cues from Southeast Asia, his dishes have a lightness that’s especially welcome during our hot summer season. A perfect example of how these ideas come together is this poached shrimp dish. The shrimp are from the Gulf and as many of the other ingredients as possible were procured locally.

Watermelon, which is a well-loved Texas summer fruit, is taken in a new direction via Southern India for this curry sauce. Making the sauce began with mustard seed oil being warmed in a saute pan. Cumin seeds were toasted in the oil, ground coriander and ground mustard seeds were added, finely diced green chiles and ginger came next, and this mixture cooked just until the chiles softened. Next, turmeric and pureed watermelon were added, and the sauce was allowed to reduce and thicken. The watermelon was not strained, so it retained some texture. I was offered tastes as the sauce reduced and Chef Duplechan explained how the watermelon takes on a squash-like flavor when cooked. It also becomes sweeter as the water evaporates. Once reduced, lime juice and zest were added which cut the sweetness, and chopped cilantro was added. In the end, the sauce had an underlying sweetness, bright lime flavor, and nice notes of heat from the chiles and ginger.

Next, we talked about the shrimp. These were big, fresh, gorgeous ten per pound, Gulf shrimp. They had been shelled, deveined, and skewered to make them straight. They were going to be oil poached but not in plain oil. This was one of those cooking tips that’s genius, that adds so much flavor, and that I never would have thought to do. The oil had been treated like a stock. The shrimp shells and some of the same spices used in the curry had been cooked in the oil and then strained out before the oil was used to poach the shrimp. I tasted the oil before the shrimp were placed in it, and it was so flavorful I knew the shrimp were going to be phenomenal. To gently poach shellfish in oil, the temperature needs to be no higher than about 125 degrees F. Duplechan checked the temperature and maintained the low heat by pulling the pan with the oil off the heat when the temperature climbed too high. He explained the good news about poaching shellfish is that you have a long window of doneness. You can watch as the shrimp turn from translucent to opaque white, and you want to pull them from the oil before the opaque-ness reaches the center of the shrimp. They’ll finish cooking from residual heat once removed from the oil.

One last element for this dish was a masa cookie. Masa is a typical southwestern ingredient, but it was given a new twist here. It was baked into a tuile after being mixed with sugar, and ground coriander and mustard seeds. No water was added. The dry mixture was spread on a baking sheet, and as it heated in the oven, the sugar melted and the tuile formed. The big, thin cookie then easily broke into pieces. It was a sweet, savory, corn-flavored bit of crunch.

The dish was plated with a layer of arugula, then the watermelon curry, the shrimp were pulled from the skewers and placed on the sauce, the masa cookie was broken into shards which were strewn about, and last, a little drizzle of the poaching oil was added. My reaction upon tasting the finished dish was a wow. That was perfectly cooked, juicy, plump shrimp, and all those wonderful flavors in the watermelon curry accompanied it nicely. The fresh, bright flavors and slight edge of heat, the mix of textures with the crisp masa cookie, and the lightness of it all made a stellar combination. And, this is just one of the courses offered at Trio for the Chef’s Table Series.

For more information about the menus, the locations, and the opportunity to sit and dine with some of Austin’s top chefs, see the Tribeza site.

Black Pepper Tofu

Over the last few months, I repeatedly heard great things about the new book Plenty by Yottam Ottolenghi. Then, I read an issue of Delicious magazine in which there was a story about the book with six recipes. Well, after that, I could wait no longer. I finally ordered my copy of the book, read it, and quickly realized I’d probably end up cooking everything in it. Seriously, every single thing looks great. The sweet potato cakes, mushroom ragu with poached duck egg, and crusted pumpkin wedges with sour cream will all be tried soon. First up, though, I made the black pepper tofu because that had caught my eye when I saw it in Delicious. This is a spicy, big-flavored kind of dish with great balance. When Kurt saw the sauce coming together in a saute pan, he said it looked like it was going to be really hot and spicy. It did look that way with the red chiles and generous amount of black pepper. But, the chiles used were mild, and the black pepper heat was tempered by the kecap manis, or sweet soy sauce, and some sugar. The result was a tangy, interesting mix of flavors enveloping crispy tofu chunks.

I’m not sure why, but the version of the recipe in Delicious is slightly different from that in the book. The quantities of ginger and the different soy sauces are just a little more or less, but I don’t think those slight changes would even be noticeable in the finished dish. To start, drained tofu was cut into chunks, coated with corn starch, and fried in hot oil. I’ve finally learned a better way to fry tofu. Rather than heating oil in a wide saute pan and adding tofu only to watch it pop and splatter and cause oil to end up all over my stovetop, countertop, and floor, I now use a small saucepan instead. Heat an inch or so of oil in the saucepan, and the sides will be high enough to contain the splattering business. You’ll need to fry in batches so as not to overcrowd, but you’ll use less oil and spend less time cleaning. The fried tofu chunks were left to drain on paper towels while the sauce was made. Now, this was destined to be delicious because making the sauce began with melting a good bit of butter in a large saute pan. To the melted butter, chopped shallots, red chiles, garlic, and ginger were added. It instantly smelled amazing. Next, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and kecap manis were added. I learned from The Perfect Pantry that I could make kecap manis by simmering soy sauce with molasses until thick which I did. Then, sugar and lots of coarsely ground black pepper were added, and the tofu was stirred into the sauce with big pieces of green onions.

The flavor of the sauce was bold and exciting, and the tofu somehow magically remained crunchy and firm on the surface even though it had been warmed in the sauce. It really was not a tongue burning kind of hot sauce. The spiciness was there, and the black pepper was prevalent, but the sauce brought together an interesting mix of the whole flavor spectrum. I'm already deciding what to make from the book next, and I may not even bother finding room for it on a shelf since it’ll be spending most of its time in the kitchen.

Sri Lankan Sweet Potatoes with Cardamom and Chiles

Sweet potatoes keep coming in our CSA bushels, and they are a welcome site. My favorite use of them is making oven fries seasoned with various chile powders. I’ve taken to dipping those oven fries into harissa instead of ketchup which brings another layer of smoky, spiciness. It’s not that I’ve gotten tired of that routine. In fact, I’ll probably roast some wedges and serve them exactly like that later this evening, but with last week’s sweet potatoes, I felt the need to try something new. I found this Sri Lankan dish in Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. It’s made with an aromatic and spicy mix of ingredients that accommodates sweet potatoes like it was meant to be.


First, peeled and chunked sweet potatoes were boiled with ground turmeric added to the water. Next, oil was heated in a large frying pan, and dried red chiles were added followed by whole cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick. Then, I ran into an issue with needing curry leaves. I can never find curry leaves, and I’ve considered growing my own plant, but a suggested substitution was holy basil or any basil. I do have Thai basil and opal basil and Genovese basil plants and they're all still doing well, so I used Thai basil here. About 20 leaves were added to the frying pan with the spices, and the amazing smell of those ingredients cooking together was a happy moment in the kitchen. It got even better when a big pile of sliced onions was added. After the onion slices browned, the drained sweet potato chunks were added and cooked for five minutes or so until tender but still holding their shape. Last, crushed red chiles, salt, and lime juice were added just before serving.

The alluring cooking smells translated into a very flavorful dish. The sweetness of the potatoes and the sweet savoriness of the browned onions were met with chile heat and warm spices. Of course I’ll continue to make my regular oven fries from time to time, but now there’s a new sweet potato dish to add to the rotation.

Nyona-Style Spiced Fried Chicken, Long Beans in Coconut Milk, and Celebration Rice

Fried chicken, stewed green beans, and rice could have just as easily been a typical Sunday dinner menu from the American south. Instead, those were the first three dishes I tried from the book Cradle of Flavor, by James Oseland, which explores the cuisine of the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. This chicken was marinated in coconut milk with lots of spices and shallots before being fried. The green beans were long beans that I had received from our CSA, and they were stewed in coconut milk with red chiles, tomatoes, garlic, and shallots, and the rice was turmeric-seasoned jasmine rice steamed with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. I had just finished reading this book which is a great source of information on the variety of spices and vegetables, the cooking styles, and the way of life of the islands mentioned, and I couldn’t wait to get cooking.

It will be an ongoing challenge to locate some of the ingredients as I cook dishes from this book, but it will be worth it to learn about this cuisine and experience at least most of the intended flavors. One challenge that I had right away was finding kaffir lime leaves. A few years ago, I could never find them, then they suddenly appeared with the packaged fresh herbs at Central Market, but last week they were gone. I asked if they would be back soon and learned that due to a pest problem on the trees in California, they’re not able to ship the leaves out of state right now. Maybe we’ll eventually get some again, or maybe I’ll have to grow my own kaffir lime tree. As for daun pandan leaves, which I learned impart a vanilla-like flavor, and daun salam leaves that have a subtle spicy woodsy flavor, I haven’t seen them yet, but I might get lucky and find them in a freezer case one of these days. Both of those are always listed as optional in the recipes in this book, and most of the other ingredients are findable in well-stocked grocery stores or Asian markets. I should point out that throughout the recipes, there are menu suggestions for what to pair with what and how to build a meal. There are also photos of some of the spices, herbs, and vegetables, and a few of the finished dishes.

So, I had those fresh, local, long beans, and decided to cut them into short lengths to use them in the green beans with coconut milk recipe. Shallots, garlic, and chiles were cooked in oil in a medium saucepan, and if I had found daun salam leaves, they would have been added. The cut beans along with tomato wedges were added and cooked briefly before coconut milk and water were poured over the vegetables. This was left to simmer for about 20 minutes until the beans were thoroughly cooked but not mushy. In the menu suggestions for this recipe, celebration rice is mentioned, so that’s where I turned next. Turmeric was stirred into a mixture of coconut milk and water, and that was poured over rinsed and drained rice. Lemongrass, salt, and kaffir lime leaves, of sorts, were added. Daun pandan and daun salam leaves would have been added if I had them. Regarding the kaffir lime leaves, since I had no chance of finding fresh ones, I resorted to the pre-chopped, jarred variety. The flavor was ok, but I hope we get the fresh leaves here again soon. The rice was cooked and then left to steam off the heat for a bit.

Then came the fried chicken, and who can resist fried chicken of any kind? In this case, the first step was making a spice blend from cinnamon sticks, dried red chiles, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorns, ground turmeric, sugar, and salt. One option is to use a mortar and pestle, and another is to use a food processor. Even if I owned a mortar and pestle, that would not have been my choice, and happily Oseland agrees and suggests a food processor for efficiency’s sake. My little mini prep didn’t seem to enjoy the seeds and cinnamon sticks, and I ended up transferring the spices to my coffee grinder that I use just for spices. It took a lot of shaking and rearranging of the seeds and sticks, but it was eventually ground into a paste. Then, chopped shallots were added. That mixture was stirred into coconut milk in a wide bowl, and the chicken pieces were placed in it to marinate for several hours. Just before frying, the chicken was patted dry with paper towels so that it didn’t sputter in the oil. It was served with a dipping sauce made with Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, and sliced red chiles.

The beans in coconut milk is a straightforward dish, but the mix of garlic, shallots, and chiles added great flavor. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed leftover green beans as much as I did these. And, the rice was no simplistic starch on the side. Of course, I’m wondering what I’m missing by not having located all of the ingredients, but with the ones I was able to include, the rice was fragrant and lovely. I would tell you all about the layers of flavor and how the marinade left the chicken tender and the frying crisped it well, but I think I devoured it too quickly to give it much thought. I haven’t decided what I’ll cook from the book next, but it might be a satay, a fish curry, or maybe a potato rendang unless I jump to the sweets chapter for the Indonesian spice cake.

Fried Eggs with Sage, Chile, and Garlicky Yogurt

Have you seen the book My Favorite Ingredients? I saw it mentioned a few times here and there, and then when I finally had a look at a copy of it, I had to bring it home. The book is by Skye Gyngell, and she is the head chef at London’s Petersham Nurseries Cafe. She describes her cooking as produce driven in that she takes inspiration from what is at its freshest and what flavors would complement that ingredient best. Her intention is to not interfere with the ingredients too much, to let them taste of themselves. That results in recipes that are very doable and very delicious when made with produce at the peak of its season. Each chapter in the book focuses on one ingredient, and it is shown in several different types of dishes. In the asparagus chapter, there’s a beautiful dish involving a tomato dressing and creme fraiche, one simply prepared with ginger and garlic, and a gratin of white asparagus. I’m really looking forward to cherry season, because the chapter about cherries has a cherry cordial and brandied cherries I want to try. There are chapters for tomatoes, nuts, fish and shellfish, vinegar, apples, cheese, and more. I currently have six pages marked, and those are just the recipes with ingredients that are in season right now. The dish you see here today is from the garlic chapter, and I had locally-grown garlic to use from my CSA. It was minced and then mixed with yogurt to make a tangy, flavorful sauce for a spicy, fried egg.

First, the yogurt was mixed with the minced garlic and salt and pepper, and that was left to sit so the flavors could mingle a bit. Next, butter was browned with a few sage leaves in it, and I used leaves from my new sage plants in my garden. When I read this recipe with browned butter with sage and garlic yogurt, I knew this was going to be good. The browned butter was used to fry the eggs, I used some beauties from a local farm, and sliced red chiles were added as well. To serve, a dollop of garlic yogurt was placed on the plate, the egg and some chile slices were added, and that was topped with the sage leaves and a little drizzle of brown butter.

This couldn’t have been simpler, and the flavors couldn’t have been more right. Rich, nutty, brown butter with earthy, herby sage and cool, savory, garlicky yogurt all to accompany a nicely fried egg with a hint of chile heat was, well, a pretty good breakfast to say the least. I’ll probably be mentioning this book a lot, and since I’m eyeing the crab cakes with corn puree and chili oil as I type this, that just might appear next.

BlackBean Waffles with Tomatoes, Chiles, and Eggs

I started with a Michael Chiarello recipe and took it in a whole Bobby Flay direction. I hope they don’t mind. You see, the other day on Twitter, Chef Chiarello posted a link to what he prepared that day on the CBS Early Show, and that was white bean waffles with heirloom tomatoes and olive oil basted eggs. I thought it sounded great, and then I remembered the leftover black beans in my freezer. I started mentally re-engineering this into a southwestern-influenced dish. I have to explain right up front that although this is a savory waffle, the flavor isn’t beany. The beans are pureed into the batter and lend a nice texture while not affecting the taste in any negative or even noticeable way. The original dish was suggested as breakfast for dinner, but I served it as breakfast for brunch.

I also cut the recipe in half and still ended up with enough waffles to store some in the freezer for a future use. To begin, I weighed out 15 ounces of thawed, fully cooked, black beans. I brought them to a boil with a half cup of water, a big pinch of cumin, a smaller pinch of cayenne, and a generous sprinkling of ancho powder which made me think of Bobby Flay. The beans simmered for a few minutes, and then they were removed from the heat and allowed to cool. Once cool, they were blended with eggs, milk, and olive oil. That blended mixture was whisked into flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, waffle production began. I always let just enough time pass between waffle preps that I forget if it’s five minutes, six minutes, or seven minutes. Five is definitely not quite long enough to get a nice toasty surface on both sides. Six is ok, but seven seems to be just right for my machine. Once the waffles were finished and placed in a warm oven to wait, I fried some eggs as suggested in the recipe. Chopped chiles were added to olive oil in a saute pan, the eggs were placed in the hot pan, and the oil was used to baste the egg whites as they cooked.

To finish the dish, I strayed again from the Italian flavors intended. I left out the prosciutto and used cotija cheese and some crema instead. The waffles were topped with the eggs, a mix of chopped fresh yellow tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, sliced red and green serrano chiles, and some cilantro. A nice, runny egg provides a sauce of sorts, and the fresh, juicy tomatoes and crema work in that way as well. It was a plate full of contrasting textures and colors. Of course, the waffles didn’t turn out at all black from the beans, but I wondered if their color would have been more interesting if I had used some blue corn meal. I’ll try that next time. I’m always a fan of spicy toppings with eggs, but this melange was above and beyond my usual southwestern breakfast fare.

Chilli Rice Paper Rolls

The next meal from Donna Hay’s Flavors was Asian influenced and came from the chilli chapter. Her chilli rice paper rolls and chilli tofu in coconut broth both looked so irresistible I had to give them a try. I’ve been candid about my inabilities in the realm of preparing Asian cuisine, so I treaded cautiously into these recipes. I took my time, made sure I mostly followed the instructions, and guess what? Everything turned out fine. Better than fine. These shrimp rolls were definitely the best I’ve ever made. That’s not saying much, but the chilli salad filling in these rolls was really fantastic.

Shrimp was sauteed with ginger and thinly sliced chillis which were supposed to be red. Oddly enough, there were no red chillis, which I usually spell chiles but I’m going with the spelling used in the book, at the store so I used green. The salad filling consisted of very thinly sliced green onion, cucumber, mint, lime juice, and fish sauce. Because the chillis were green, and everything else in the salad was green, I added some tiny carrot matchsticks just to contribute a little color variety. The mixture was tart, fresh-tasting, and crunchy. For a dipping sauce, I used soy sauce with some green onion and ginger.

The rolls can sit in the refrigerator covered with a damp towel, so advance preparation is a definite possibility. We didn’t have leftovers, so I don’t know what they would be like after overnight refrigeration but a few hours would be fine. The cool, crisp lightness, the combination of salty and spicy flavors, and the fresh, sweet shrimp made these addictive. And, then they were gone, and I’m already craving them again.

Eggs with Chiles and Tomatoes

A few weeks ago when I was picking up my CSA share, I found myself in a conversation about cooking. Strange, huh? Ok, I find myself in such conversations all the time. When someone at the grocery store is buying a lot of one vegetable, I have to know how he or she is planning to use it. On that particular day, I was going on about what I’d been making with my fresh veggies and what I had planned for that week. My friend from WCOF said “here’s what you have to try: eggs with chiles and tomatoes.” He described to me in general terms how the dish comes together. I had an immediate, happy flashback to a brunch at Fonda San Miguel and their eggs poached in stewed poblanos. I enjoy eggs just about any which way, but eggs with hot chiles are outstanding. The delicate, subtle egg is never lost; its flavor just gets sidled right up to by the chiles’ earthy heat. One of my favorite frittatas is one with green chiles and monterey jack cheese. As 'eggs with chiles and tomatoes' was described to me, it also reminded me of a Martha recipe for poached eggs in tomato sauce. This would be a little different since the sauce would be pretty chunky from fresh tomatoes and lots of chiles. Here’s how I threw it together.

2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1/4 c finely chopped red onion
2 anaheim chiles, seeded and roughly chopped
2 mild chiles such as hungarian wax or cubanelle, seeded and roughly chopped
3 jalapenos, roughly chopped with or without seeds and membranes
1 jalapeno, not seeded, sliced for garnish
2 serrano chiles, seeded and roughly chopped
1 large heirloom tomato, chopped into 1” chunks
5 eggs
1/2 c shredded monterey jack cheese
2 green onions, sliced for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

-pre-heat broiler; in a medium sauté pan over medium heat, heat oil and melt butter; add onion and chiles, season to taste, and sauté until just softened; add tomato chunks and cook until starting to break apart and juices escape, about seven minutes
-break eggs into stewed tomatoes and chiles and cook for two minutes; sprinkle monterey jack on top and place under broiler for about five minutes or until eggs are just set and cheese has browned slightly
-garnish with sliced green onion and sliced jalapeno and serve in bowls

The eggs don’t exactly poach since there isn’t room for them to be completely immersed. Instead, they’re sort of soft fried. The spicy chiles, the melted cheese, and the crunchy garnishes make this dish a satisfying morning meal. Next time, I’ll have some warm corn tortillas ready as an accompaniment. In fact, now that I’ve thought of that, I can’t wait to make it again.