QUICK FIRE CHALLENGE

Last night was a banner night in the kitchen thanks to my sister's stroke of genius. After a few gin and tonics our friend J revealed that he hadn't eaten dinner. The sis and I had of course eaten (hobo dinner: sausage with sautéed peppers and onions), but rather than pull out some leftovers for Hungry Man, we fused Iron Chef and Top Chef to turn our kitchen into Kitchen Stadium for a Quick Fire Challenge. The task: use whatever ingredients we had on hand to make a series of small plates for our taster. Luckily, being obsessed with food, we had some good ingredients: basil oil, homemade ice cream, homemade ancho chili jam, herbs, fresh berries. What began on a whim morphed into a 6-course meal, and we had a great time doing it.

The Menu:
Dilled Goat Cheese and Ancho Chili Jam on Toast with Tamari Pumpkin Seeds
Chicken Nugget with Melted Cheese, Barbeque Sauce, and Fresh Parsley
Manchego Cheese with Blueberry Gastrique and Dill on a Rosemary Cracker
Green Eggs and Ham: Basil oil Sautéed Egg with Turkey Bacon
Tarragon Turkey Lettuce Wrap with Red Pepper Aioli and Sour Cream
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce and Fresh Raspberries

Guess who made what!
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Bi-coastal no more!

Hilary and I are no longer separated by a continent. Now we share a kitchen, but that is no reason not to continue the adventure.

My latest food obsession is breakfast-related: sautéed leeks with eggs. This morning I sliced up a whole leek (bulb and some of the green part), locally grown of course, and threw it in a pan with some olive oil. The fragrance of cooking leeks, onion-y but greener, is intoxicating. Once the leeks softened and began to brown, I made two little nests in the middle and cracked 2 eggs into them. Then I turned the heat down to medium and threw a lid on the pan, leaving the eggs to poach in the leeks themselves.

I was inspired by a recipe in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," writer Barbara Kingsolver's record of a year of eating only locally produced food on her farm in Appalachia. I like the simplicity of only using one pan, a practicality that underlines the elegance of the dish. Don't overcook the eggs! While the whites cook into the leeks around them and hold everything together, there is something satisfying about breaking the yolks with your fork, making a delicious and simple sauce.

Yum.
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