Eggs with Purslane & Garlic Scapes

And cheese. Don't forget the cheese.

This made a nice change from our usual, uh, egg cheese and bread breakfast. This is, oddly enough, a traditional Mexican dish although purslane is eaten enthusiastically all over the world and one of the first things it seems everyone does with it is cook it with eggs. I've made some changes. The Mexican version seems to involve onions and perhaps peppers, but neither of those are ready yet and meantime I have all these garlic scapes sitting in the fridge. If you don't have them, onion greens will do very well.

I always feel like this is a difficult time in the garden and this year is particularly bad. The lettuce is so done with us even though we would really like to continue the relationship, the first peas are finishing up and the next wave hasn't really gotten going, and I can see baby zucchini but they are still a few days away. Purslane to the rescue! It's not one of the early weeds go get going - it likes hot, dry weather - but once it starts it grows very rapidly. I used to grumble about it but now I have smartened up and am diverting it to the kitchen with a smile.

Purslane does take careful picking over. Those little leaves can hold some debris, and there is some kind of leaf miner that likes it very well. Also, stems can get tough. It took me about 4 cups of loosely packed plants to provide about 1 1/2 cups of cleaned leaves for our 4 duck egg breakfast.

Traditionally, this is served with tortillas and salsa. I had one last jar of green salsa in the cold room, but the bread was mini pitas. No hay problema - deliciosos. 

per serving
20 minutes prep time, mostly fiddling with the purslane

1/4 to 1/3 cup purslane leaves and stems, washed and picked over
1 garlic scape
1 large duck OR 2 large chicken eggs
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 to 2 tablespoons crumbled feta or cotija cheese
2 teaspoons mild vegetable  oil

Wash the puslane well, then pick them over, discarding any damaged leaves, tough stems, or roots. Drain well. Trim and mince the garlic scape.

Whisk the eggs with a spoonful of water per egg, and season with salt and pepper to taste - go lightly with the salt; the cheese will provide quite a lot. Crumble said cheese, and have it standing by.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat; just enough to cook the vegetables and keep the eggs from sticking. Add the garlic scapes and cook for a minute or two, stirring occasionally. Add the well-drained purslance leaves and mix them in and cook until just wilted; another minute or two. Add the eggs. Sprinkle the cheese over them. Let cook for a minute to partially set, then gently stir them to break them up and allow raw egg to flow to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and gently mixing until the eggs are just set. Serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Zucchini & Ricotta Phyllo Roll. We are definitely one, if not two, weeks behind the expected schedule this year.

Posted in: Ontario Food