Purslane Was For Dinner

Ok, I forgot to take pictures. But I'm still not used to having a smart phone at my fingertips, and I was hungry, dang it!

Last night, after going for a short run around the 'hood, I made Mexican't Eggs with Purslane. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture, but it wasn't all that purty anyway. It was tasty though!

What is purslane? Good question! I am still trying to figure it out myself. It popped up as a choice in my weekly produce box and since I had never heard of it, I ordered it. This is an awesome way to try new things!

From my weak google searches, I have since learned that Purslane is considered a weed by many in the US but is eaten around the world. I found Indian recipes with it, Mexican recipes, Greek recipes, etc. I decided to go with a simple sounding Mexican recipe since I knew I wouldn't have much time to cook after running and before trivia and because I had all of the ingredients already on hand (I even added a few extras.) I'm sure it's good for you, although I don't trust Wikipedia to be accurate, so I will not repeat that information here. But come on, it's green, it can't be bad. ;)



So what did I make?

1. I chopped half an onion that I had leftover from making tuna cakes the night before.
2. I chopped one piece of elephant garlic, which also came in my produce box. It was HUGE! But it was very mild. You can use regular garlic, minced garlic, garlic powder, or leave it out.
3. I chopped a banana pepper from my garden that I needed to use.
4. I chopped a hot pepper that one of Sir Cakewalk's co-workers gave to us to try.
5. And I picked the leaves off the purslane and rinsed them to remove any dirt.
6. I heated about a T of real butter in our BRAND NEW STAINLESS STEEL ALL-CLAD PAN that came yesterday as a belated wedding present. (Can you tell I'm excited about it???)
7. Then, when the butter was melted and slightly frothy, I added all of the chopped goodies except the purslane.
   
8. I stirred everything around and allowed it to cook for a minute or two and then added the purslane. I continued the sauteeing for a few more minutes until the leaves were slightly wilted and the rest of the items were a little soft and browned.
   
9. In the meantime, I cracked eggs and put them in a bowl with S&P and a dash of milk. I beat the eggs rapidly to mix and add a bit of air for fluffy scrambled eggs.
10. Then, we added the beaten eggs to the pan and carefully stirred to combine. Remember, don't overstir your eggs. Be gentle!
    
11. When the eggs still looked a little moist but weren't runny, we plated them and ate along with a piece of toast. (Toast was prepared in our new toaster, also a wedding present. It's nice to make toast without worrying about the house burning down, as was the case with our previous device.)

Note: In the above description, I said "I" when often it was really Sir Cakewalk or the both of us. We worked together to make this dinner so that it would be on the plate quicker. Plus, it's fun cooking together! I just said "I" to avoid confusion and wordiness. But props to Cakewalk, I gotta give him his due.

The eggs were tasty. They were a little spicy but light and fluffy. The purslane was very mild and not obtrusive at all.

My take home message for this post is this:

1. Don't be afraid to try something new. Just get it, google it, make something that sounds good to you and give it a try. If you don't like it, no worries. Don't eat it again (although I do advocate trying something with different preparations before you totally rule it out.) But you may find something new (and hopefully healthy) that you enjoy!
2. Eggs make an easy dinner. You can put whatever you want into scrambled eggs or create an omelet in a few minutes. I just wouldn't recommend eating them every day. And you can always use egg whites or egg beaters as a lighter alternative.
   

Have you tried something new lately???