Cooking David Smith Cooking David Smith

Breakfast doesn't get any fresher

It's hot on the lakeshore this morning, 84° before 10:00am. Some of the greens are beginning to bolt, so I cut a handful of sweet spinach and peppery arugula, and went around all of the pots pinching basil flower heads off, before things turn bitter.

I also pulled one nice, 6" or 7" yellow squash, the first of the year, from one of the vines. It was fat and juicy. The zucchini and yellow squash vines are putting out a lot of beautiful yellow flowers now, so I plucked a few of those as well. 

With a countertop full of colorful and fresh garden bounty, some big duck eggs, a bowl of fresh peaches Kim picked up the other day, and a bottle of black truffle oil I've been eager to open I decided to make something fun for breakfast.

With two iron skillets heating up I sweated an onion and the spinach stems in butter while crisping a few slices of whole wheat chia seed bread I made the other day in some of the truffle oil (as soon as I opened the bottle - really a metal can - an earthy truffle aroma filled the room...happiness!). When the bread had browned I sauteed the zucchini flowers in the same skillet, added the handful of spinach and the sliced yellow squash to the other pan and began to toss until the spinach wilted. 

Once the vegetables were ready I pulled them from the skillet and added some large chunks I cut from one of the peaches. Then, a little more truffle oil into the pan to fry the duck eggs. Duck egg yolks are so large that I cook them over-easy and let the yolks harden just a little around the edges, otherwise our plates are swimming in yolk when we cut into them. We finished by sprinkling some of the purple Thai basil flower heads on top.

There you go...savory with a little sweet, an underbelly of earthy truffle, fresh greens picked minutes before, and crusty bread. And coffee, of course.

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