Poached Eggs

Last Saturday was my first brunch hour at Palio. As the whole menu was completely unfamiliar to me, I just preferred watching closely and try to remember all the steps. I couldn't wait for an order for Eggs Benedict to come in. And finally my prayers were answered. Juan Carlos (he calls himself JC) made the poached eggs and it looked to simple to do.

Lettuce topped with Poached Eggs, Cranberries and Croutons. Dressing was a mix of
Lemon Juice, Wine Vinaigrette and Olive Oil.

On Sunday, for lunch I came up with this salad. Well, it is not a salad that you would eat everyday, but it is the salad that you come up with when you can barely wait to make poached eggs. And not only 1, but 4 and no broken yolks!

آش ماست

Aash is a very thick soup that we usually eat in Iran when the weather is cold like now. Ash is very traditional specially when someone leaves country or town for a long time. They make the aash after they are gone and usually the family or friends throw a party for that. I made this aash simply because I miss home and even now thinking about it I am on the verge of crying. I am far away from home and I miss every single bit of it. My mom usually makes this dish for us in winter. It is by far my favorite. Eating it here all the way across the world from home made me travel back in time to 15 years ago sitting in our cute kitchen in Tehran at the round table with my brother eating aash.

I used the recipe from Najmieh's book, but I also was on the phone with my mom so she gave me some good tips. Najmieh says that the aash is ready an hour after you add the last ingredients, however, to me aash is ready whenever it smells right. So for us it took 2 hours on a very low temperature an let it cook slowly.

 

 This is after I added the chick peas, lentil and rice. I don't like the Basmati Rice here. It just doesn't taste like home.

Now I added chopped Parsley, Dill and Green Onion. Since working at Palio I have become an expert in chopping Parsley or onion. Danny showe me the trick. Before it would take me for ever to do either, now it takes couple minutes to have it all ready:)

While I was waiting for aash to get ready I made some tea to just make the whole theme right:).

And it is ready.  This kind of aash you usually eat with yogurt! Well I did forget making mints to top the aash with and decorate, but imagine my impatience after waiting hours for this deliciousness to be ready.