Everyday Cooking

A Different Sort of Egg Salad

July  4, 2013

Each Thursday, Emily Vikre (a.k.a fiveandspice) will be sharing a new way to love breakfast -- because breakfast isn't just the most important meal of the day. It's also the most awesome.

Today: Sometimes, a girl's just gotta feel French.

Breakfast Egg Salad

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It’s one of those facts of life – sometimes a girl’s just gotta feel French.  There are assorted means for accomplishing this, including wearing designer jeans and heels even though you’re taking out the trash or looking annoyingly elegant while eating a flaky, messy pain au chocolat. But when I need a fix, the one I use most often is eating a lunch of frisee salad topped with lardons and a poached egg, accompanied by a glass of wine. (Because of the whole wine at lunch thing, I don’t get my fix as often as I’d like, sigh.)

During one of these lunches last year, I had the sudden realization that if a salad makes a good vehicle for an egg at lunch, then a salad could also be my breakfast. Just switch the wine for a cup of coffee!  Not only this, but salad as good egg vehicle holds true for other types of lettuce, not just frisee.  Thus, a different sort of egg salad swiftly became a staple of my breakfast table.  

I vary the lettuce and veggies according to what I have, but my current favorite is this one.  I’ve been eating it weekly for about two months now and I plan on stopping only when I can’t get any more radishes. Lemony arugula, crisp rounds of radish, salty feta, and lots of sliced avocado turn out to be particularly delicious once coated in runny egg yolk. I may not feel French after I finish it, but I feel full and ready for my day.

Arugula, Avocado and Radish Salad with Poached Egg

Serves 1

3 handfuls of arugula
2 small radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
½ Tbs. lemon juice
¾ tablespoon olive oil
¼ of an avocado, sliced – at least.  You can use more if you’d like, I won’t judge. 
1 ½ tablespoons crumbled feta
1 large egg
Splash of vinegar
Salt and pepper 

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

 

Photo by Emily Vikre

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I like to say I'm a lazy iron chef (I just cook with what I have around), renegade nutritionist, food policy wonk, and inveterate butter and cream enthusiast! My husband and I own a craft distillery in Northern Minnesota called Vikre Distillery (www.vikredistillery.com), where I claimed the title, "arbiter of taste." I also have a doctorate in food policy, for which I studied the changes in diet and health of new immigrants after they come to the United States. I myself am a Norwegian-American dual citizen. So I have a lot of Scandinavian pride, which especially shines through in my cooking on special holidays. Beyond loving all facets of food, I'm a Renaissance woman (translation: bad at focusing), dabbling in a variety of artistic and scientific endeavors.

4 Comments

Greenstuff July 4, 2013
Salad Lyonnaise! One of my very favorite salads in all its iterations. Of course, no one in France would look at it as breakfast, but I've been pleased for years that Venus, a restaurant here in Berkeley, California, has had various versions on their breakfast menus for years.
 
fiveandspice July 5, 2013
Oh, I'm sure a French person would shudder at the idea of eating this for breakfast! But that doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy it in good conscience. :)
 
gingerroot July 4, 2013
Yum! I'm really loving your column, Em! Makes me want this right now. Lucky for me, it's time for breakfast!
 
fiveandspice July 5, 2013
Thank so much Jenny! It's always a lucky time when it's time for breakfast.