Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Fertility Symbols in My Mouth

Cranky blurted out: "When did 'crumby' get to be a negative word?"
We've been recycling bread into crumbs a lot, and saving them in the freezer. It's pourable toast. You can just grab a little containerful, let it thaw, and you've got a super substitute for toasted slices of day-old bread. You don't have to work your knife and fork through a tough slab.
And when you're eating something as tender as eggs and asparagus, you want the pourable toast.
We're pushing spring here by a couple of weeks, but the eggs and asparagus couldn't wait.
I like to cook asparagus like this. In a buttered pan, slowly, until brown spots appear. Judging from the comments on that post, everyone has his own favorite way, but couldn't you at least try mine?
The egg is over-easy. Poached would be nice if it weren't all drippy with water. Don't want to get the crumbs soggy.
Finally, what is it with the ineffable affinity between eggs and asparagus? I know. The return of the growing season is here, and we want to celebrate by eating fertility symbols, heavy on the graphic imagery, with pourable toast on top.

15 comments:

limoncello said...

Oh,happy day! Bored Saturday morning, I headed out West Marin way and picked up, among other things, a dozed pastured eggs from the honor system farm stand in Bolinas...and a loaf of Brickmaiden bread. I see a taste of spring in my week!

Anonymous said...

Jaysus I am still trying to get over Cranky's V-day gift for you: are you really telling me you've got asparagus at the ready now in CA? I am moving if you do. I've had it with this winter.

What's extremely (whatever) is that just tonight I made a huge batch of breadcrumbs to pour atop our entirely predictable pasta-with-our-tomato-sauce because, well, some garlicky toasty breadcrumbs *rock* as you know. And I gifted a friend some goose and chicken eggs today and told her that "well nothing says love like an ova" and golly, you've got this post up.

Happy spring of coincidence!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I like it your way, but without the egg blood - Hollandaise is good though

cookiecrumb said...

Limoncello: Doesn't Brickmaiden bread rock?! I should really find this Bolinas honor farm... Hints?
Spring's a comin'. Except for that thunder and lightning we just had.

El: It's a food blog! We put things in our mouth.
Truly, yes, the asparagus season began the Sunday before last. It's fun to get the very first sample of the very first harvest.
Come on out. We'll set up the airbed.
I like your idea of breadcrumbs on bisketti. Will try.
Egg, egg, baby. I can't get ova them.

Morgan: Hollandaise is very good. Hm! That'd be awesome. Merci. (Oh! Orange hollandaise; my orange tree is teeming.)
And... You can always cook the egg into occlusion.

Brittany said...

I would be DELIGHTED to try your method.

I can't wait until the Washington spears arrive.

Oh- and pourable toast. Brilliant.

Zoomie said...

Clicking madly on links, I found your post about making salt by boiling sea water. You two are amazing to me.

michael, claudia and sierra said...

pourable toast atop runny eggs over asparagus... it will happen soon.

cookiecrumb said...

Brittany: My cooking tends to be really simple, so when I find a combination like this -- restaurant worthy -- I stick with it. I wish you asparagus, soon!

Zoomie: What? What wormhole did you fall into? :D

Claudia: (Bagna Claudia) -- It always flatters me that you like my dumb ideas. But yeah, try it, it's good.

Anonymous said...

I do the same thing but I never thought of it as 'pourable toast' I love it!

Sweet Bird said...

This is good. I like asparagus and eggs - especially when the eggs are in the form of fresh hollandaise.

limoncello said...

Hi, CC
I've gotta say...I think Brickmaiden is THE best bread in the Bay Area. I'd picked up some Umbrian salami at Fatted Calf the day before, then got that bread and Sampietrino cheese at Cowgirl on Saturday. What's not to be happy about when you've got great bread, tasty salted pig parts, and a delicious Italian sheep's milk cheese?

The farm stand is easy: just turn off Shoreline at Bolinas and go to the "Y" -- town is to your left, the old Catholic church is to your right. And the farm stand is right before you have to make the critical choice of "Hooch or Host?".
Recommended prices are written out, and the box is there for your payment.
I bought lovely red Boston lettuce, rich red and green chard, and those funky brown, yellow, green, and blue eggs. Not dozing eggs, of course (oops, typo) but 12 of them. The last dozen. I soft-cooked 3 of them (they're little!) and had toasted Brickmaiden bread, and bacon I'd picked up at Marin Sun Farms. Hadn't had "breakfast for dinner" in a long time, but it felt so right!

(And I tip-toed out later and made Ruhlman's mayonnaise for the artichoke I'd also picked up in my travels. Sometimes there's no point quitting.)

limoncello said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
cookiecrumb said...

EB: It came to me a month or so ago. I was making a chicken divan recipe, which called for toast on the bottom of the casserole. We had crumbs. Viola.

Birdie: I'm inching ever more closely to hollandaise. (Not.) Eggs alone are good if you let them be tender. Still... I do love some hollandaise.

Limoncello: I'm wondering if you might be *thisclose* to activating your blog. (I haven't checked for a while; maybe you already have.) Thanks for the info.

limoncello said...

No blog, extant or expected, but thank you. You made my day!

cookiecrumb said...

Limoncello: xoxo
(You ought to, you know.)