EXOTIC EGGS

More than just a breakfast staple

Pause for a moment and reflect on how important the egg is.

If you eat traditional cakes, cookies or pastries, make your own ice cream, love French macarons, cream puffs, buttercream and soufflés, like to eat or crank out your own fresh pasta, brunch on eggs Benedict, put mayonnaise on your toasted tomato sandwich or eat scrambled egg whites for breakfast, you’ll realize that the egg is one of your best friends.

It’s a source of protein that keeps well in the fridge and, when hardcooked, is a neat and portable source of nourishment.

Eggs are a local source of protein. If you live in a large city, a pleasant drive for fresh, local eggs will get you out of the city. And many cities and municipalities now allow the keeping of laying hens.

When I want egg dishes that go beyond traditional Western cuisine, I look to the Middle East for inspiration. These dishes are fresh and herbaceous, creamy without being rich and heavy on the vegetables. I think of them more as dinner dishes because they’re multi-dimensional in flavour and texture.

Kookoo Sabzi from Iran is the most unusual, packed with fresh herbs and spinach. Fenugreek leaves are what give commercial curry powder its familiar fragrance. The leaves are used extensively in Iranian and Indian cooking. It’s listed as optional, though it gives a wonderful flavour and fragrance to the dish.

A Middle Eastern grocery store is the best place to get large bunches of fresh herbs, so if you’re making the trip, pick up a package, as well as some dried barberries. Also known as zereshk, these are tart, slightly bitter and often used in rice dishes.

I’m not going to make any claims as to the origins of the fried eggs with yogurt and spiced butter or the shakshuka. Many countries claim them as their own, so I’ll let them duke it out.

If you live in a large city, a pleasant drive for fresh eggs will get you out of the city.