Cheesy Scrambled Eggs with Veggies and Toast

I'm a big fan of eggs for lunch. Combine that with an urge to be better at eating vegetables, and an insatiable hunger after a (lousy) 10.5 mile run, and you have this meal. If you can, get the toast crispy enough so you can eat it like an open-faced sandwich (which I suppose it is), without a fork.

1/2 a bunch or so asparagus, quartered
A little white onion, chopped
Olive oil
3 eggs, beaten with dill
1/2 a small tomato, chopped and salted
Shredded cheese, to taste

Saute the asparagus and onion in olive oil over medium/medium-high until both have softened. Pour beaten egg into pan and slowly shift the mixture around, letting the egg turn and cook on all sides. Pour in the tomatoes, and mix them in in the same fashion. Near the end, add the cheese and stir gently to incorporate as it melts. Serve over toast.

Lemon Chicken

(adapted from my father, SPQR)

We should probably find another name for this dish that more adequately captures how unbelievably delicious it is. Chicken Scallopini with Lemon? With Lemon-Butter Sauce? Getting closer. Anyway, growing up it was lemon chicken, so lemon chicken it shall remain.

This was one of my most frequent requests for birthday meals at home. And it very nicely fits our current meal requirement: low-budget. Got flour? Lemon? Butter? Done. Plus, check it out - I actually made a balanced meal, with sides and veggies and everything! It's not just pasta!

So, here's what you need for two people:
2 decently sized/thick chicken breasts (or 3 smaller ones, or 3 if you're just really hungry), thawed
Flour
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp butter, divided
Olive oil
1 large lemon

(Sides: I made the rice and asparagus first so I could focus on the chicken. If you're better at timing things than I am, you could of course do them all at once. I blanched the asparagus, drizzled it in olive oil, and sprinkled it with a little salt.)

The first step is to turn the chicken into scallopini. The key is really to have a good, sharp knife. Place a chicken breast on a cutting board, put your hand on top of it, and slice it sideways to make very thin filets. You'll end up with some small pieces, some long, some large - this is fine. Just make sure they're thin.

When that's done, put some flour on a plate and dust each filet with flour individually on both sides. You want it coated, but not thick - just a thin layer of flour around each filet. Set those aside.

Take a large frying pan, nonstick preferred, and drizzle a couple/a few tbsp of olive oil into it along with 1 tbsp of butter. Turn the heat to medium-high and let the pan get hot. Add a little salt and black pepper.

When the pan is good and hot, use tongs to cook batches of the filets/scallopini. They will cook FAST. Flip them so they cook on both sides. Remove the cooked filets from the pan and set them aside on a plate (in the winter, to keep them warm, you can put them on a plate in the oven).

Once all the chicken is cooked, squeeze the juice of one lemon into the pan you just used - keep the heat the same. Also add another 1 tbsp of butter. Stir around to combine and melt, then add all the chicken back to the pan and stir around to coat the chicken on both sides. Transfer to a serving plate, add more salt if you want, pour the sauce from the pan over it, and garnish with parsley.

Risotto with Saffron, Asparagus, and Prosciutto

(adapted from Loukie Werle's "Italian Country Cooking")

Ooh, saffron - fancy. This is the first time I've used saffron, and it's pretty neat: add water to the saffron threads and the water immediately turns bright yellow, and just a 1/4 tsp is enough to turn two cups of rice yellow, too. Food science!

The original recipe leaves out the asparagus and the prosciutto - and I think it'd be plain, or just with the asparagus, or, in this case, with all three (it was a tiny bit salty). Regardless, it was extremely satisfying, fun to make, and a big hit with the husband.

1/2 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed and chopped into 3-4 sections
1/4 tsp saffron threads
3 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock, reduced sodium, simmering
1/4 lb prosciutto, thickly sliced
2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Start the broth boiling; when it comes to a boil, add the asparagus and cook it for 2-4 minutes. Remove it from the boiling water and run the asparagus under cold water. Turn the broth down to a simmer.

Place the saffron in a small bowl and cover with 1.5 tbsp hot water (this is the part where it turns bright yellow!). Let it sit for about 20 minutes, or until needed.

Combine the oil and onion in a large, deeper sauce pan and stir over medium heat until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir another minute. Add the rice and stir until all the grains are coated, about 2 minutes.

Add the wine and stir into the rice until it's been absorbed. Add a ladleful of the simmering stock and stir that in until it's been absorbed. Continue this process for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is al dente or the stock is used up (do reserve a few tablespoons for later). About halfway through, add the saffron and its liquid along with a ladle of stock. Season lightly with ground black pepper after you add the saffron. Add the asparagus and the prosciutto with the last ladleful of stock.

When the rice is cooked/you're done with the stock, add the parmesan and the remaining couple tablespoons of the stock. Stir it over the heat. Done!

(Serves 4-6)

Gnocchi with Lemon and Asparagus

(adapted from "Italian Country Cooking" by Loukie Werle)

Yes! I was really happy with this dish - particularly since it didn't get off to such a great start. It called for homemade breadcrumbs (almost broke my food processor on that one), my store-bought breadcrumbs were, well, just a little old, and I wasn't sure how it was going to work with gnocchi rather than spaghetti. Turns out the answer is: pretty dang good! In fact, I'm fighting the urge to eat my tomorrow's-lunch-portion right now.

So, to continue the carb fest:

1/2 bunch asparagus, bottoms snapped off and cut into 2-inch pieces
3/4 lb gnocchi
1/4 cup olive oil...maybe less
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tbsp or so chopped parsley
Freshly-squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
Grated cheese (parmesan or romano) for serving

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it lightly, then add the asparagus. Cook until it's bright green, about 3 minutes, then drain and run under cold water (this apparently preserves the color).

In a saucepan, combine the oil, garlic, and parsley over medium heat, and let it get fragrant - about 2 minutes. Then add the asparagus and stir until it's coated with the olive oil. Since the gnocchi cooks really fast, you can add them back into the water you boiled the asparagus in at the same time you add the asparagus to the olive oil. You may want to turn the heat down on the asparagus a bit, and you can add a squirt of lemon, if you want.

When the gnocchi is done, drain it and add right to the pan with the asparagus, keeping the heat on low. Add the lemon juice and toss for about a minute.

Serve with breadcr- grated cheese!