Egg Foo Yung, anyone??

 No silly, this isn't the egg foo yung. This is the salad that accompanied it for tonight's supper. You can click the picture to biggify it...it was awesome.  Many of the ingredients came from my yard and garden. Many of the ingredients for the egg foo yung came from here as well.  It was all around a very economical meal that was tasty and very satisfying. 

  The salad greens consisted of the two lettuces growing in the garden,  bronze mignonette and a red romaine. I added some young kale leaves and some young chard.  Then I looked around and spotted some beautiful new chickweed growing in the old kale bed and next to that was some pretty wood sorrel. I grabbed some parsley and the tops from some of the Egyptian walking onions.  I brought them in and washed them and laid them out to dry. Then I chopped it into bite sized pieces.  I sliced a very small Honey Crisp apple onto it, put the last of the gorgonzola on it, threw in a tiny last bit of walnuts (need to put that on the grocery list) and finished it off with some great pecan halves.  I dressed that bad boy with fresh squeezed lemon and olive oil right before supper. Mmmmm....

  The egg foo yung is yet another tasty way to use up eggs when they start accumulating. I only have 7 hens, but they lay from 4-6 eggs per day, and that starts adding up.  I keep hard boiled eggs on hand all the time too. A tasty snack that's high in protein and good for you...and a quick egg salad sandwich for lunch. A lot of time it's my breakfast too.  For the egg dish, I started with a small skillet full of carrots, celery, baby bella mushrooms (sliced thin), a can of mung bean sprouts (I often have my sprouting jar going, but not today..so I always try to keep a can or two of those sprouts in the pantry), onions and green onion tops.  I sauteed them just a little, to bring out their flavors, then I dumped them in a bowl to cool.  I got out my 2 cup glass measurer, and cracked 7 eggs into it. I beat them lightly with a fork and set them aside.

  Next I made a light mushroom and onion gravy to go over the egg foo yung patties. It's not like that thick brown goo that comes over them in the restaurant...more of a delicate gravy that I saute thinly sliced mushrooms and onions, season, add soy sauce, and  hot water, then thicken with cornstarch. I usually put a little Kitchen Bouquet in too, and that turns it a rich brown.  I make this and set on the back burner.

  The sauteed vegetables have cooled down enough by now...I season them with a little salt and pepper, maybe some garlic granules.  I mix it up again, mix up the eggs again too, and combine the whole thing until the veggies are good and covered by the egg. This gets ladled into a skillet with a small amount (or more, lol) of vegetable oil, my big cast iron skillet will fit 3 patties at a time. Make sure the oil is hot before you ladle in the egg mixture.

Fry them until they are a delicious golden brown on both sides, then drain on paper towels. Keep them warm, and put on a plate with a ladle of gravy across the top.

Served with a salad, this makes a wonderful Thursday night supper.  The Irishman had seconds...but you could serve him a bicycle tire, if you put gravy on it.  lol   I'm trying to do a better job of eating out of my pantry and gardens as long as I can. We still have quite a bit of stuff out there, so it's still relatively easy.  

  I started making pear butter with the riper pears I have...so my kitchen is a disorganized chaotic wonderland.  A new friend gave me about 3 bushels of pears from the trees in her yard, all in various stages of ripeness. I was able to use up all the softer ones, the ones with spots and the less pretty ones in the pear butter. I have a 7 quart crock pot full of it, bubbling happily away. It makes the house smell grand, all cinnamon-y, nutmeg-y and clove-y.  Perfect trio of autumn smells.  But--that's another post....try the egg dish if you like that sort of thing.  It was really good, and I think the leftover patties will make a great breakfast sandwich, with a little melted cheese and sliced rip tomato on it!!


Bon Apetit!