Breakfast for Dinner, Sam I Am

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Dr. Seuss classic, Green Eggs and Ham. We decided to celebrate the occasion with our own version of the titled dish. Ever obnoxiously, I wondered aloud while cooking....Will we have them here or there? Will we have them anywhere? Will they grow back our hair? Um, anyhoo.....




After a delicious lunch of Chinese black pepper and orange chicken from Panda Express, we headed home to bust out out KC Fresh Connect goods to plan our breakfast for dinner. We went with recipes from the Food Network Kitchens to best utilize all of our produce. We started off making salsa for freezing with our Fresh Connect tomatoes. I then made Salsa Verde for the recipe that sounded most intriguing: Baked Eggs with Salsa Verde. We accompanied this with Provencal Summer Squash and Potato Gratin and country ham leftover from Burgers Smokehouse. The zucchini, squash and potatoes all came from KC Fresh Connect.

I admit, I was wary of the egg dish. As of yet, I haven't written much about my food issues, but, oh yes, I have them. I'm funny about eggs...love them scrambled or as an omelet, but struggle with them in other forms, particularly runny. I was surprised to learn that I truly enjoyed this dish....the texture worked and the taste was great, especially accompanied with the Salsa Verde. We also have plenty of the salsa leftover for future use. The squash and potato dish was wonderful and the fresh rosemary was the savory kicker. The other surprise for me was that the Food Network website rated the Baked Eggs as easy and the summer squash dish intermediate. The squash dish was easy....slice. layer. bake. The egg dish, on the other hand, had us making "wells" with the salsa Verde to break the eggs into. The "wells" didn't hold the eggs for long and thus, the eggs ran amuck. The taste was still very good, but one of the eggs looked a tad mutated when done. It might be best to make the salsa much earlier so it has time to sit and firm up a bit.....needless to say, we found this dish a bit higher on the difficulty scale.

Breakfast for dinner was a success and I think we paid sufficient tribute to the good Dr. Seuss. Keith indulged this meal to allow this tribute and was briefly relieved I finally stopped calling him Atticus.....so that I could now refer to him as Sam I Am.

Happy Anniversary, Green Eggs and Ham.

The recipes:

Baked Eggs with Salsa Verde

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, as needed
• 1/3 cup Salsa Verde, recipe follows
• 4 large eggs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese (about 1/2 ounce)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly oil a medium nonstick skillet with an ovenproof handle. Spoon a heaping 1/3 cup of salsa into the pan. Lightly press down the salsa to make 4 evenly spaced shallow nests and break an egg into each. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until the egg whites are cooked and the yolks are still runny, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the eggs and continue baking until just melted, about 1 minute more. Top with the cilantro. Serve immediately.

Salsa Verde:

1 pound tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1 clove garlic

1/4 medium onion

1/4 jalapeno chile, with seeds

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 sprigs fresh cilantro

Put the tomatillos in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain.

Puree the garlic, onion, jalapeno, and salt in a blender until smooth. Add the tomatillos and cilantro sprigs and puree until smooth.

Yield: About 3 cups

Provencal Summer Squash and Potato Gratin

Notes

This dish is based on a traditional Provencal dish called a tian, the perfect baked dish for showcasing summer vegetables. Try swapping rosemary for thyme or oregano, or adding thinly sliced summer eggplant to the mix.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 medium yellow summer squash (about 8 ounces)
• 1 medium zucchini (about 8 ounces)
• 1 small Yukon gold potato, about 4 ounces, scrubbed and thinly sliced
• 1/4 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Manchego cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly mist a shallow 2-quart baking or gratin dish with cooking spray.

Thinly slice the squash, zucchini, potato, and onion 1/4-inch thick with a mandolin or by hand. Shingle the vegetables in the prepared baking dish in one layer. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the rosemary leaves and drizzle with olive oil. Cover with foil and bake until the potatoes are tender, 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove the foil; sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the cheese is browned and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 45 minutes more. Let stand at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.