Ricotta Eggs

I love me my morning smoothie. I love a good brunch. (And these options for brunch too). I even occasionally just have coffee. But when I don’t have those things for breakfast, I’m all about the wonderful egg.

I can, and often do, eat eggs for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Not all in the same day, of course. But eggs are so versatile. I love that I can make vegetarian dishes hearty with eggs and not feel like I am missing anything.

I had recently bought some ricotta to use in a recipe that I never ended up making. Alas, the other ingredients went to other recipes, and there was the lone container of ricotta. I like ricotta in lasagna, but beyond that, I don’t use it too much.

I became inspired to use it in eggs. After perusing some recipes on the web, I figured out what I had on hand to make my own version of ricotta eggs.

I always have onions, often tomatoes and capers, and occasionally greens. So that is what I used. Let me explain a bit about how the ingredients work well together.

In order to make a dish sing, you need some salt, you need some fat, you need some acid and you need some heat. I learned all this piecemeal, but nowhere else was it explained more beautifully than this book.  Get it. It will change how you cook for the better.

So in these ricotta eggs I added salt to the eggs before I whisked them. I also sprinkled some on top to finish them. For the fat I used olive oil, ricotta and egg yolks. The acid came in the form of tomatoes and capers. The capers are super important because they impart delightful flavor when you take a bite. Sometimes you get three capers, sometimes one in a bite. It makes the dish more interesting. If you don’t have or don’t like capers, you can sub minced anchovies, chopped olives or lemon zest. The heat came in the very mild form of black pepper ground on top of the finished eggs.

I loved these eggs and was a little sad when I used up the ricotta. I will buy it again just to use in eggs.

This recipe serves one. You can double it to serve two, but use a medium sized pan. If you’d like to scale it up to serve four, just quadruple the ingredients and use a large pan.

2 eggs

1 cup loosely packed greens, tough stems removed (I used beet greens, but kale, collards or chard would all work well)

1/4 of a medium onion, sliced thin

1/3 cup ricotta

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs (such as rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme)

1/2 teaspoon capers (can sub lemon zest or anchovies, or 1 teaspoon chopped olives)

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1) Heat a small pan to medium heat. Add olive oil.

2) Saute onions. If they start to brown, turn heat down a notch. Let them soften, about 5 minutes.

3) Add greens and tomatoes until they soften, about 3 minutes.

4) Crack eggs into a small bowl, add a pinch of salt, and whisk until well blended. Pour over vegetables in the pan, tilting the pan if necessary for the eggs to be evenly distributed.

5) Let the eggs cook for about 3 minutes, uncovered, still over medium heat, but lower the heat if necessary to prevent eggs from burning on the bottom.

6) Dollop ricotta evenly on top and sprinkle capers. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes longer.

7) Slide a spatula gently around and underneath the eggs and slide onto a plate. Add more salt (flaky sea salt is amazing) and fresh ground black pepper.

And, it never disappoints: Eggs and toast