Yesterday, as I was heading to the my usual farmers’ market, I noticed a separate cluster of tents 2 blocks away from the main market. I had never seen those tents before, and I thought it was a bit strange that only Asian people seemed to be flocking over there. To my pleasant surprise, it was a tiny area filled with Asian sellers! It was crowded, and everyone kept pushing me from behind, while I was minding my business picking my greens. I could hear other shoppers speaking the same rural Chinese dialect that my family speaks. It felt as if I was shopping in San Francisco’s Chinatown on a weekend. I was right at home. I bought these beautiful tomatoes from one of the sellers and decided to make a braised egg dish that is a riff off of the classic eggs in purgatory. Instead of braising the eggs in a tomato sauce, I made a quick vegetable sauté and dropped a few eggs just for the hell of it. To give the dish extra flair, I sprinkled in some sumac and ras el hanout (a North African spice). The whole dish meal came together very easily and the flavors were phenomenal! If you’re wondering where to get sumac and ras el hanout, Trader Joe’s sells a pretty inexpensive spice tower called “The Spice Route” that includes those spices. Okay, enough talk. Let’s dig in!
MASTER MY MISTAKES / COOKING NOTES
Cooking the Perfect Eggs: We all want those perfect sunny side up eggs. However, if you simply crack the egg into the pan and cover the skillet, your eggs may turn cloudy. I learned that the hard way. I’ve come up with a neat trick to fix that! When cracking the eggs, I separate the yolk from the whites. I drop all the whites onto the skillet first, then the egg yolk. Then, I finish cooking the eggs by covering the skillet with a glass lid. I constantly check the eggs to make sure that I turn off the heat right when the egg whites settle.
