dates, fried with eggs

Author Notes

my dear friend mary, who once was miss egypt, gave me her mother’s recipe the year we offered a week of “king tut, funky tut” egyptian cooking in my kid-chef classes. the combination of dates and eggs may startle you, it does seem surprising, but why? eggs are abundant and available. a plethora of dates are natural too. i am told this dish can be found as street food, served most often in pita bread with a bit of harissa, a spicy pepper conflagration drizzled on top. believe me, despite your initial hesitation you will love it - the butter is all important (isn’t it always?) as is the sweet fried flavor of the dates combined with the soft scrambled eggs. —sauteail