Frying The Coop
Farm Fresh Eggs | Fried Egg over Marinated Portobello Mushrooms and Arugula | Omelet with Marinated Portobello Mushrooms, Red Onions, and Parmesan
EVEN US FOODIES HAVE by cultural design, been pulled away from many foods in their natural state. And though we are now "hip" to the benefits of non-processed foods—as the ever-growing wave of pro-organic ideology proves, we are still in general still very much unaware of what many food items taste like in their "natural" state.
Some may ask if it makes a difference. I invite you to look through your own history; we all grew up drinking supermarket orange juice, but have been since youth been aware that fresh squeezed has different taste and "fee" properties than that from a carton, regardless of pulp-or-no-pulp, or whether or not it is made from concentrate. And although restaurants have gone out of their way to provide us with parts of unprocessed beef and pork—and from parts of the animals that had heretofore never commonly appeared on most menus—most of us have never had a glass of pre-pasteurized milk straight from a cow.
So it was with bated anticipation (trepidation) that I was about to try some chicken eggs straight from a farm. My friend Missy, over the weekend, offered to deliver to me a dozen eggs from a her friend's backyard barn in Huntington. Talk about farm-to-table, these eggs were going to be coop-to-plate!
After being instructed to wisely scrub some of the hen's physiological detritus from the eggs' shells, I set upon making a dish that would highlight what Missy claimed would be these eggs richer flavor, especially in their yolks. Upon cracking a couple of eggs (of varying colors, sizes, curvatures), I first discovered that the yolk-to-white ratio was noticeably higher than what we are used to, with the yolk having a slightly deeper color to it.
I first set out to do a nice sunny side egg with a warm silky yolk, placed over some arugula and balsamic-marinated sliced portobello mushrooms with a small drizzle of soy sauce. Indeed the flavor of the yolk was amplified slightly, with slight hints of verdant grassiness, and the yolk made for a more flavorful warm dressing for the peppery greens, the earthy and acidic sliced mushrooms, and the salty partial umami of the soy sauce. The dish was yummy, yet interesting with this "tweeked" flavor profile of the egg.
Not content enough with just the one prep, I decided to scramble two more eggs for an omelet, using leftover arugula and mushrooms as well as adding some diced red onion and shaved parmesan cheese. The omelet cooked as an omelet would, rendered just a little darker in color thanks again to the higher yolk content, and tasted closer to what I'm used to omelets tasting like, if only a bit more concentrated. By this point my palate had adjusted and I found the omelet quite enjoyable as well.
The flavor is so greater defined with these eggs that the taste of them remained in my mouth for several minutes after I finished both plates, surprisingly novel, yet not unsettling. And I look very much forward to using the rest of the eggs—all now fully scrubbed!—in other preparations. Maybe a quiche, or some deviled eggs? How about a cake? Anyone have any fresh cow's milk...? ;)
Farm Fresh Eggs | Fried Egg over Marinated Portobello Mushrooms and Arugula | Omelet with Marinated Portobello Mushrooms, Red Onions, and Parmesan
