Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Caciocavallo Cheese

I’m not much for breakfast fare. Let me clarify that statement. I am not much for what passes in Pennsylvania for breakfast fare. Here, it’s always the same tired menu items. Western omelette, eggs benedict, side of bacon, home fries, french toast, blueberry pancakes.

I don’t make it to the West Coast often. (If I’m gonna be cramped up in a plane for that long, I’m going across the pond.) But when I do, I take advantage of the one thing they really do well… breakfasts. A visit to San Fran nearly fifteen years ago still conjures memories of some inventive breakfast items using the bounty of California produce. And a more recent trip to Portland, Oregon, afforded what was probably the best breakfast of all time - Not surprising considering what is the best American farmer's market I've ever visited is right across the Willamette.

The difference, I guess, is simple. Whereas in Pennsylvania we like to appease the conservative old timers with comfort foods, the Left Coasters like to get inventive and adventuresome for liberal young folks eager for something different. I’ll take the latter any day.

In that spirit, here's a breakfast/brunch item that I made up after seeing something similar at the prepared food bar at the East End Co-Op in the ‘burgh. 

Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus and Caciocavallo Cheese

• 1/2 bunch green asparagus
• 3 eggs
  
• 1/2 cup caciocavallo cheese, grated (substitute another cheese as needed; milder seems best for this so as not to detract from the asparagus, which should be front and center)
• Chives, salt, pepper to taste

The recipe is self-explanatory... Cook your asparagus by either dropping in boiling water and blanching for one minute, or, if you like them a little charred, in a cast iron pan with a little olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until tender. Chop into one-inch lengths. In a non-stick skillet, add your beaten eggs that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup of cheese and make scrambled eggs adding the asparagus pieces midway through the process. Reserve some asparagus for the plate. Plate the eggs and add the remaining caciocavallo cheese, chives, and cracked black pepper. Serve with remaining asparagus on the side.

Simple, indeed, but two key points...

One: Make sure that the eggs are the absolute best eggs that you can find. It behooves me how many magazine articles, cookbooks, and food shows fail to emphasize the need for good eggs. A yoke should be bright orange; not dull yellow. And the cage-free chickens that bear them should have been allowed to eat scraps and bugs and other goodies of nature; not just manufactured feed. As a society, we need to strive for a world in which we can get our eggs from a person who raises his or her own chickens... not from a factory. As individuals, we should actively seek out this increasingly-common alternative in our own communities.

See for yourself in this telling photo from the blog of the Artisan Bakeshop, a neat bakery with several locations in Massachusetts. Bakers know their eggs...

Two: The secret to good scrambled eggs is LOW heat... high heat will render the eggs tough and rubbery. Keep the burner low and lightly fold the eggs working inward from the edges of the skillet. Make minimal use of your wooden spoon... you don't want to over mix them. Just as the curds start to form, remove your pan from the burner, fold the eggs once more, and they are done. The optimal texture is at the point that they are just to the point of not being runny.

The best side for this brunch/breakfast item is a fruit salad. Here, I used mangoes and kiwis.

If you can't get caciocavallo, a cow or sheep's milk cheese common in southern and central Italy that is shaped like a tear-drop and tastes of a milder provolone, use any cheese of your liking.