African Inspired Egg Sandwich

Another great recipe from Marcus Samuelsson's The Soul of a New Cuisine cookbook. I spent yesterday getting caught up on episodes of his show, Inner Chef, which I had recorded on Tivo. Marcus Samuelsson is a genius with seasonings.

An egg sandwich probably isn't the most glamorous recipe to make, but I really wanted to try this one just because it is Marcus Samuelsson's version. And also because I liked his story about egg sandwiches being breakfast street food in Africa. I made them for lunch, not breakfast.

I rarely make sandwiches. I firmly believe that I can get a much better sandwich at Quizno's than I can make. However this egg sandwich with all the fixing's, including the chili mayo that I made from scratch, was pretty impressive!

Egg Sandwiches (4 servings) Ingredients: 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced 1/4 head iceberg lettuce, shredded 1 small red onion, sliced 1 small red onion, cut into 1/4-inch diced 6 large eggs 3/4 cup milk 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons canola oil 2 tablespoons Chili Mayonnaise 1 baguette, split lengthwise and cut into quarters

Instructions:
Combine the tomatoes, lettuce, and sliced onion in a bowl. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs, diced onion, milk, chili powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add half the egg mixture and stir until the eggs are set, then flip and cook on the other side until golden brown. Transfer to a warmed plate and repeat with the remaining eggs.

Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the cut sides of the baguette. Divide the eggs in half, and put on the bottom halves of the bread. Top with the tomato, lettuce and onion and serve

Spiced Egg Salad

Oh man, this is ANOTHER really surprising recipe. I don't eat egg salad. And I surely don't make it. But I just cracked open The Soul of a New Cuisine by Marcus Samuelsson and this recipe for Spiced Egg Salad jumped out at me. This cookbook is filled with recipes for African cuisine. I am still very unfamiliar the spices, cooking techniques and even common foods. I think I have only tried African food one time and I let the waiter suggest something. It seemed like a perfect starting place for me because it is full of ingredients that I am familiar with (except for the bird's eye pepper, but I just used a jalapeno). There are no special sauces or spice mixtures I needed to make.

This is not your typical egg salad! No yellow creamy and tangy sauce. This is made with fresh global ingredients. The tomatoes make it refreshing. The eggs make it fulfilling. Peanuts add crunch and the spices add flavor. The cilantro and lime add the perfect finish. I hard-boiled the eggs the night before to save some time, but it is pretty quick to put together (buying fresh tomatoes and onions already diced would make it even faster). I love that it is served a room temperature. I think it's going to taste even better when I bring it for lunch tomorrow because the flavors will have been melding together a bit more.

I'm sure you can make a sandwich out of this, but I just ate it plain. I didn't want the bread to dull any of the flavoring. But I think it would go really, really well with a whole-wheat pita.

Since my first recipe turned out so well, I'm really excited for this book. Yesterday they announced that The Soul of a New Cuisine has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in the International category (I wrote an article listing all the nominees at PaperPalate.net).

Spiced Egg Salad (4 servings) 1/4 cup olive oil, divided 1/4 cup unsalted blanched dry-roasted peanuts 1 bird's eye chili, seeds and ribs removed, finely chopped 2 small red onions, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon paprika 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped 2 teaspoons chopped cilantro 1 tablespoon soy sauce Juice of 1 lime 1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large saute pan over low heat. Add the peanuts and saute until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chilies, onions, and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the paprika, ginger, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to bowl.

Gently fold in the eggs, tomatoes, cilantro, soy sauce, lime juice, the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and the salt. Serve at room temperature.

The Smart Egg

I can't decided if this is neat or strange. According to the UK's Times Online, the self-timing egg will become available in Britain this autumn. There are marks made with heat-sensitive invisible ink stamped on the egg shell. The stamps turn black as the egg heats, letting you know that your egg is soft, medium or hard-boiled.

A spokeswoman for Lion Quality Eggs, the service’s quality assurance scheme, said: “We had a lot of inquiries. We said OK, this is a big issue — people can’t even boil an egg.”

I will admit it. I am one of those people who doesn't know how to boil an egg. I use eggs mostly for baking. I can hard boil them if I must, but I only do that at Easter if I'm feeling nostalgic and I look up instructions online each time. My grand-mother used to make me soft boiled eggs when I was little, and I did like them, but I never make them now. I usually make my eggs sunny-side up (which I have perfected by the way). No recipes every call for soft-boiled eggs so why should I know how to cook them? I don't know how to microwave a hot dog either because cook them in boiling water on the rare occasion that I want to make one. So this novel idea of an egg (or a hot dog) that will tell me when it is done seems kind of fun to me.

What do you guys think? If something like this becomes available in the US (or wherever you live) will you buy them? I can see myself buying them once just so I can check it out. I supposed I will have to soft boil an egg then. . .