Hi Everyone,
After declaring last week that I had not given up any food or beverage for Lent, and that I tend to be a weekday vegetarian and weekend meat-eater, I received several emails, asking for vegetarian meal ideas from persons who have given up meat for Lent. They have opted to eat more seafood and to include things like eggs in their meals as part of their protein intake.
This week I’m sharing them and you, something that I made up on the fly. A hearty vegetarian dish that’s good at anytime and it is certainly attractive and wholesome enough to be the main course when having company.
When I wandered into the kitchen, I was looking for something quick and easy to make. I retrieved from the refrigerator things I knew would take little time to cook – pumpkin and eggs. I stood there staring at the pumpkin and eggs for a long time bussing my brains how to combine them. I could fry-up de pumpkin and boil de eggs. I could curry the eggs with pumpkin. I could make soup with the pumpkin and don’t bother with the eggs. I could make egg-salad and don’t bother with the pumpkin. I could… and so it went on for a good 10 minutes. I knew that frying-up (sautéing) the pumpkin would take no time but I wanted the eggs to somehow be incorporated into the dish and then it hit me – nested eggs! I could nest the eggs in the fried pumpkin!
Nested eggs simply mean eggs cooked encased in something or nested in something. Here are various ways eggs can be nested. You can take a slice of bread and use a large cookie cutter to cut out the centre; put the bread in a pan with some oil or melted butter, break the egg into the cut out centre of the bread and cook the egg while the bread is toasted at the same time. Or you can take a whole slice of bread, put it into a small ovenproof dish, crack the egg into the centre
and bake the egg. The ingredient in which to nest eggs can be anything – slices of ham, fried potatoes, tomato sauce, vegetables… Really, the possibilities are many. I chose to nest mine in sautéed pumpkin. Here’s how I did it.
Sautéed Pumpkin with Nested Eggs
Yield: Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
● 2 lbs pumpkin, cleaned and skinned
● 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
● ½ cup finely minced onion
● 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
● Minced hot pepper to taste
● ½ cup chopped tomatoes
● 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (cilantro/coriander would work well too)
● Salt and pepper to taste
● 1 teaspoon sugar
● ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions (divided in half)
● 4 eggs, room temperature
DIRECTIONS
1. Grate the pumpkin on the large-hole side of a box grater. Set aside.
2. Add the oil to an ovenproof skillet (if you have one if not a regular one will do) and place over medium heat.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F is using an ovenproof skillet.
4. Let the oil get hot but not smoking. Add onions and immediately season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to low and let onions cook until softened. You don’t want the onions to colour.
5. Add garlic, hot pepper, tomatoes and thyme and let cook on low heat for 2 – 3 minutes or until softened.
6. Raise heat and add pumpkin, season with salt and pepper and toss to mix everything. Cover pan, reduce heat to low and let cook until pumpkin is almost melted.
7. Halfway through the cooking process, add the sugar, stir the pumpkin and use the back of your spoon to mash it smooth.
8. When the pumpkin is almost finished cooking, remove it from the heat and stir in half of the green onions and using your spoon make 4 half-cup size indentations in the pumpkin. You can choose to make these one at a time.
9. Crack one egg at a time and drop it into the little crate you made. Repeat until all of the eggs have been cracked and added to the pumpkin; season the eggs with salt and pepper.
10. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until the eggs are set to your likeness. If you like your eggs runny, bake for 5 minutes, just set, 10 minutes, fully set 15 minutes.
1. If you do not have an ovenproof skillet, return your pan to medium heat, covered, and cook until the eggs are set to your likeness. You can test them by removing the cover and poking the eggs gently with your finger, the back of a spoon or rubber spatula so as not the break the yolks.
12. Garnish with remaining green onions and service with rice, roti, ground provisions or some hearty, crusty bread.
Enjoy!
