Simple Made Fancy – Roasted Vegetables and Eggs with Sriracha Caviar
My wife Marci and I had a wonderful trip to Scotland last fall. Wandering around Edinburgh one morning, we searched out Pantry, a well-regarded breakfast, brunch, and lunch spot in Stockbridge, a high-end neighborhood with stately stone homes. The plates on neighboring tables were spectacular. Massive waffles piled high with fresh fruit. Basil pesto toast with artichokes, brie, and charred broccoli. Eggs with avocado, tomato, and salsa. Everything covered in a colorful shower of pea shoots, greens, and fresh herbs. It all looked beautiful, and while we knew we’d found the right spot, ordering was going to be difficult.
Surprisingly, Marci went traditional, having eggs and thick slices of sourdough toast, with breakfast chips (outrageous hash browns) on the side. I decided to go fancier, ordering Sunshine on Stockbridge – roasted sweet potato, smoked paprika tomato, grilled zucchini, smashed avocado, sriracha, and free-range poached eggs, with fried Halloumi cheese on the side. I was impressed.
Our breakfasts starkly contrasted with each other. Marci’s, while delicious, was relatively modest and unfussy. And even though mine was not much more than eggs and vegetables, it was combined and presented in a way that made it shine. Simple made fancy. We ate lots of good food on our trip to Scotland, but this was a meal that will always stick with me…and breakfast, at that. And as a memorable meal always does, it got me thinking.
Eggs and home fries, a typical breakfast; delicious and satisfying, but nothing extravagant. Available at diners everywhere. A brunch spot may take the dish a step further by adding additional vegetables to the potatoes – red peppers, sweet potatoes, maybe broccoli – serving the eggs on top and calling it a skillet, replacing the ketchup on the table with homemade salsa and serving it in its own cast iron pan. I make my own version of a skillet – I call it skillet vegetable hash – especially on weekends in winter. I love it. Minimizing the potato and adding other vegetables to breakfast only makes it healthier.
But sometimes it’s fun to take things to an extreme to really make them stand out. To do that I recreated my Scotland breakfast as Roasted Vegetables and Eggs with Sriracha Caviar. In my late summer garden, I’ve got eggplant, zucchini, and vine-ripened tomatoes on hand. Along with a sweet potato from the pantry, a supply of eggs in the refrigerator, and fresh-picked herbs, I was all set. I even decided to make it top notch by replacing the jarred condiment with sriracha caviar, little gelled balls that burst in your mouth with flavor and perfectly complement the rest of the meal.
The result – I ate it for dinner, not breakfast or brunch – was divine. It was the perfect example of taking basic ingredients, adding a twist or two, and creating something more than the sum of its parts. Simple made fancy.
Roasted Vegetables and Eggs with Sriracha Caviar
The variations here are endless and should be modified to your liking and what you have on hand. Eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onions, sweet potato, asparagus, broccoli, butternut squash, and other vegetables all work fine. But be sure to watch them carefully in the oven as they all demand different amounts of time in a hot oven.
Of course you can also cook the eggs to match your preference. Eggs fried in olive oil with a runny yolk are perfect here, but the restaurant from which I modified the recipe served them poached.
As for the sriracha caviar, recipes for which are all over the internet, I’m not convinced it is worth the time and effort, and to be perfectly honest, I have yet to perfect the technique. So just add a drizzle of sriracha right from the bottle if you want or use your favorite salsa in its place.
serves 2, about 45 minutes, plus 3 hours to chill the oil
¼ cup olive oil, divided
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut lengthwise into half-inch thick planks, scored in crosshatch
1 small eggplant, stem removed and cut lengthwise into half-inch thick planks, scored in crosshatch
1 medium summer squash, stem removed and cut lengthwise into half-inch thick planks, scored in crosshatch
1 red or sweet onion, peeled and quartered, root end intact so pieces stay together
1 red bell pepper, seeded and internal membranes removed, cut into four pieces
2 to 4 eggs
Halloumi cheese for frying, optional
10 cherry tomatoes cut in half or tomato wedges
avocado for serving, optional
cilantro, or other soft herbs such as parsley, dill, basil, or tarragon, for garnish
toast for serving, optional
salt and fresh pepper to taste
For the sriracha caviar:
1 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. sriracha
2 Tbsp. water, plus more as needed
1 tsp. agar powder
- Place the 1 cup of vegetable oil for the sriracha caviar in a tall jar in the freezer and allow to chill for three hours.
- Preheat oven to 425 oF, and place a sheet pan on the bottom rack to heat up.
- Prepare the vegetables, coating each lightly in olive oil. Place each piece of vegetable flat on preheated sheet pan and return to the bottom shelf of the oven. Roast until the bottom of each piece is caramelized, 10 to 20 minutes. Note that different vegetables may take different amounts of time, as will varying thicknesses of the same vegetable. When caramelized, flip and allow to cook on the other side for an additional 10 to 20 minutes. Remove each vegetable from the oven as it becomes soft inside and it finishes cooking.
- While vegetables are roasting, make the sriracha caviar. In a saucepan heat sriracha and water to a simmer, stirring constantly. Add the agar and whisk in, adding more water a tablespoon at a time if it gets too thick. The sriracha mixture should be thin enough to take into a medicine dropper and release it drop by drop. Quickly fill the medicine dropper and squeeze to release drops one at a time into the chilled vegetable oil. When done strain out the sriracha caviar by pouring the oil and spheres through a fine mesh strainer, collecting the oil in a bowl below. Place the sriracha caviar spheres in ice water and drain before use. Oil can be reused.
- When ready to eat, heat a frying pan over high heat and add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When hot, crack the eggs and place them in the pan, being careful not to break the yolk. Tilting the pan, spoon hot oil over the whites of the eggs to baste them, while the yolk stays runny.
- If using, fry Halloumi cheese on both sides in a teaspoon of oil in a hot frying pan until golden.
- Arrange vegetables, as well as Halloumi and avocado (if using) on two plates and top with eggs. Add tomatoes, use a spoon to scatter on sriracha caviar, and sprinkle chopped herbs over the top. Add salt and pepper to taste.
