Friday, June 8, 2012

Chive Blossoms and Wet Egg Willies

One of my friends makes a mean frittata. His are always just perfectly set. Mine on the other hand are always slightly overcooked, because wet eggs give me the willies. It's not that I worry about eating raw eggs ('cuz I know my farmer), it's the texture of undercooked eggs that does me in.


During our last family trip to England it seemed that every B&B owner upon hearing that I was a vegetarian would eschew their standard breakfast. It was somehow not acceptable to serve me the standard English breakfast sans meat, they felt like that had to come up with something else. Now why not eating meat translates into not giving me a fried egg is beyond me, but they'd all exclaim, "Ooh, I'll make you scrambled eggs!" Nothing is worse than scrambled eggs so undercooked that they glisten and have jiggly white bits in it, which is how they always arrived. Shudder. I've never been happier that my step-dad is an indiscriminate eater.

Anywho. Frittatas. I made one recently and it was good. Asparagus, mozzarella and chive blossoms. No glistening eggs in sight, just a nice firm (slightly overcooked) frittata dotted with green and white morsels and topped with a scattering of tasty purple flecks. It was picture perfect. But it was also 8:30 pm, and I was really hungry. So you can get a glimpse of my chive blossom vinegar instead.


Purty, right? Easy too. Just pick a bunch of chive blossoms, soak them in water to get out any dirt or buggies, dry them and put them in a jar. Fill up the jar with a vinegar of your choice (a light colored one will highlight the subtle purple tint that the blossoms impart) and let it sit for a week or two in a cool dark spot. Then you can strain out the blossoms and enjoy your creation on salads or any other dish that could use livening up.


Not a vinegar lover? No problem, you can still put your chive blossoms to good use! Sprinkle those little blossoms on a pizza, some risotto, anything that would benefit from little chivey pick-me-up.

Anything other than wet eggs that is.