There’s an open air farmer’s market in Dupont Circle in Washington every Sunday morning, and my husband and I love to walk down there to take photos and load up on the fresh produce glowing in rude good health. After fighting our way through the crowds, we sometimes stop at a small café nearby that serves a fresh veggie farmer’s scramble that is the gustatory equivalent of what we’ve just seen at the market. Packed with almost as many vegetables as eggs, it could probably be called a warm breakfast salad; some of the veggies are raw and some are barely cooked, so they’re all bursting with color and flavor. Note to self: a post on the etiquette of the farmer’s market may be in order one of these days. Farmer’s markets are supposed to be FUN – genial strolls through lovely piles of plentiful food, with music coming from somewhere and the smell of roasting meat filling the air. Where did all these unsmiling shoppers who blow past the lines and tread on people’s toes come from, anyway? Be nice to the farmers standing at the till, please! They’re not fast food clerks, they’re farmers, and they deserve some respect for getting up at 3 am to drive 2 hours, set up a stand, and sell you the tomatoes for your penne alla’ amatriciana.
I made this scramble at home, using the fresh vegetables we had on hand, and I often eat it for dinner when I’m alone because it’s fast, filling, and nutritious. I’ve paired it with some mild sausage patties, to which I’ve added roughly-grated Granny Smith apples. If you love your sausage patties red hot, you won’t be able to taste as much of the flavor of the apples over the heat of the peppers, but they do replace some of the sausage meat with a healthy fiber.
These eggs and veggies are so good together it makes me wonder why we haven’t all been eating them all our lives. Another thing for which to thank the farmer!
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 1 medium tomato, seeds removed, and diced
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 2 scallions, finely diced
- 1 small zucchini, skin left on, and diced
- ¼ cup Romano cheese, grated
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Whisk the eggs together in a bowl with the cream, salt and pepper until they are bubbly and frothy.
- Spray some cooking spray into a nonstick frying pan.
- Sauté the zucchini lightly for one minute.
- Add tomatoes and sauté together another minute.
- With heat on medium low, add eggs and cook slowly, allowing the eggs to set and gently pushing them around with a spatula until they’re beginning to get firm.
- Add the spinach and cheese and stir to combine.
- It will take about a minute for the eggs to set. Sprinkle with scallions. Serve immediately.
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 pound mild pork sausage
- 1 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled and roughly grated
- ¼ cup panko crumbs
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking spray
Directions
- Combine the sausage, apples, panko crumbs, egg yolk, and salt and pepper.
- Form sausage into small (3 inch) sausage patties.
- Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and cook the sausage, about 4 minutes per side, until they are well browned.
- Drain sausages and serve immediately, or keep warm in a low temperature oven until ready to serve.
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