When I was in college, my favorite roommate (and often the only roommate I ever refer to, I’ve had five roommates) used to go home on the weekends, but she always brought back food!
She is originally from Jordan and her mother would prepare the most FABULOUS Arabic dishes. My favorite was when she would send fresh tabouleh, hummus, grilled chicken, mujadarah (a rice dish, I think it was mujadarah), labneh and pita.
I’m from Hawai’i and growing up we didn’t really have any authentic foods outside of Asian and Hawaiian cuisines! The closest thing to Mexican food was Taco Bell… I’ll put it to you this way, we didn’t even have an Olive Garden (and, no offense, but I DETEST Olive Garden–sorry folks)!
I’d always been interested in foods of the world, “exotic” compared to my own culinary upbringing… So when I went away to college in Los Angeles, it was a welcome experience, especially to my palate.
Getting back to my point… My “roomie’s” influence on me introduced me to spices, flavors and eating habits that I had never experienced and/or heard of prior. When I had spent a week with her at her family’s home we ate very well, but very simply.
For the most part, breakfast consisted of a couple of hard boiled eggs with hummus and/or labneh on a piece of pita (with fresh brewed espresso, of course). Her mom would prepare fresh hummus for us and let… me… tell… you… there is NOTHING like freshly made hummus–especially from “mom”!
With that said, when I woke up this past saturday morning and tried to figure out how to start my day (as an accompaniment, of course, to my ‘usual’ mini acai bowl with flax, seeds and whatever else I feel like adding in), it came to me… Something SIMPLE. Something LIGHT.
I don’t particularly like to start the day off with a heavy breakfast anyway, but today I had made plans to meet up with a friend for a late lunch/early dinner… So I didn’t want to eat a big, or even medium sized breakfast if I was going to end up devouring a ‘gourmet style’ turkey burger (no bun, thanks) with cheese and condiments later on in the day.
This is what I came up with…
The Perfect 7-Minute Egg with Olives, Walnuts & Tahini
A single, gorgeously boiled, 7-minute egg with a few beautifully bright green olives, a heaping tablespoon or two of walnuts and a decadently luscious dollop of tahini on the side. I LOVE the tart and almost unctuously rich and yet light flavor of tahini. With the diet that I’m on, I am not eating starches yet so full fledged hummus is out of the question. But no matter, I prefer straight up tahini to hummus any day!
I thought of what I had in my fridge and it started with eggs and tahini… Which I knew would work, but how lame would it be to eat JUST an egg and tahini? So I opened the fridge, saw the olives, rifled through my box of goods and saw the walnuts–perfect! Somehow, in my little foodie heart, I knew that these four ingredients would pair perfectly for me… and they did. The perfect balance to my simple breakfast.
I love balance. I love the simplicity of this meal… I mean really, it took less than 10 minutes to put together, what more could you ask for?
If one egg isn’t enough, have two or three! Perhaps have 1/4 cup of walnuts instead of 2 tablespoons and/or add in a slice of Etorki cheese or even better, Comte. But since I was pairing my savory start with a small acai smoothie, one egg was plenty. How could you not marvel at how lovely this dish is with those simple, basic, one-ingredient, “whole food” items?!
I know I did… I marveled alright… and then I ate every last morsel of it.
