Poached eggs and greens on toast with wildflowers

 Mrs. Homegrown here:

This is a fancy iteration of one of our springtime go-to dishes: eggs and greens on toast. Today, Erik was inspired (perhaps by the spirit of Spring?) to sprinkle nasturtium blossoms and little arugula flowers over the plate.

It was dee-lish–so much so I had to blog it. I sincerely hope we haven’t blogged this before, but it seems like we would have, because we make this dish so often.

Anyway, it’s easy to make:


All you have to do is cook up a mess of greens of your choice: steam them, saute them, do whatever you like. The greens can be spiced up with onions, garlic, hot pepper, etc.–or absolutely plain.

At the same time, get some water going for poached eggs. While that’s heating, toast up some nice big slices of bread. Dress that toast how you like–with butter, olive oil, S&P, a rub of garlic, maybe a bit of some gourmet spread you’ve got in the fridge–whatever.

(And by the way, just because it’s not part of our plan doesn’t mean that some bacon or ham might not have a place in this scenario.)

When the water is simmering, crack the eggs in and cook until they’re poached and still runny–for us, that’s two minutes. This dish is all about runny yokes. When you carve into it, the yoke runs everywhere, coating the greens, soaking into the bread, and doing unspeakably yummy things with the cheese. If you’re no fan of yolk, this is not your dish. Without the yoke factor, it’s not half as good. (We know this because we sometimes overcook the eggs, and then there is much sadness as we pick at our dry toast.)

While the eggs are poaching, pile the greens on the toast. When the eggs are done, slide the eggs on the greens. Add some S&P.

The final stage is cheese. This time, Erik just dusted the whole thing with grated parmesean. You can go one step further and lay thin slices of the cheese of your choice over the eggs, then pop it under the broiler ’til the cheese melts.

Serve it fast, while it’s hot, and the yoke is flowing like golden lava.

Regarding the flowers: Nasturtium flowers are edible, mildly spicy to taste, and strong enough to be tossed in a salad. Arugula flowers (got by letting your arugula go to flower) are delicate white little things. They don’t keep at all–you have to deploy them as soon as you pick them–but they have a very pleasant, sweet flavor all their own. Sometimes I eat them off the bush, much to the consternation of the bees.

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9 Comments

  1. Oh yes, I love poached eggs and dandelion greens. Unfortunately dandelions don’t grow well here(I know,that doesn’t make sense but they don’t) so I have to hunt for them in the spring to get enough to make anything with.

  2. I love poached eggs. I’m also fond of nasturtium flowers. And leaves. And seed pods. I think I’ll sow some sprouting radish seeds so I’ll have early greens (they grow really fast, and taste like turnip greens) just so I’ll have the greens and can do this.

  3. Hey, ho! Just wanted to mention I’m doing a drawing for two copies of your book this week, the ones I ordered through your links a while back. Thought you might want to know. Maybe.

  4. Mrs. Homegrown,

    I like this post because I’m all about using “at least one slow food item in your meal” and I post my meals (irregularly) on that topic too.

    In your fine breakfast, I’m guessing you supplied chicken eggs from your chickens and nasturtium flowers from your yard–so you may have two locally grown items! Is that correct? Aside: I don’t need a prize, but I think your readers should know that because it’s important and unique.

    BTW: I haven’t commented since you changed your header name and got your own website–Fantastic changes! I enjoy the regularity of your posts and your topics from up here in Northern CA on our West Vista Urban Farm. I also really appreciate seeing photos of the Homegrowns. It’s nice to have a face to go with the perspective we’re reading–that and you’re good-looking folks.

  5. @Kristin

    You’re right. Those are our eggs, and our flowers, and our homegrown rare Italian greens, and Erik baked the bread using his sourdough starter. The flour was sourced from a small mill. It was a ridiculously righteous sort of meal–so much so that we didn’t want to brag about it. Sometimes we pull off a home run like that, other times we eat crap.

    And btw, we’re glad you think we’re cute;)

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