Experiments in food: "Eggs in a Nest"

[trombonish]

For our first post-farmer's market food experiment, I tried one from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle called Eggs In A Nest. Largely, this was due to the acquisition of late-season Swiss Chard at the market. This is a leafy green plant that can be used a lot like spinach - early in the season it is tender enough to eat raw, but this late you have to cook it or it is too bitter (or so I have read).

Link to Recipe on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle site

Basically:
Saute carrots, garlic, onions, tomatoes in a pan
Add chopped chard, cover to steam
Poach eggs in the chard
Serve over rice (I skipped this step, I don't have a very good history of successful rice)

Results: not very good. The chard was done about when I added the eggs, so was very stringy and overdone by the time the eggs were cooked (especially my eggs, because I can't stand runny yolks so my eggs were more thoroughly cooked til the yolks didn't run).

I added ham croutons on top, which helped some- I think it was mostly the salt. This recipe doesn't call for any spices, which I think is the cause for some of the blandness (that, plus over-cooked chard, mentioned above). I added sage and basil and that helped some. Still not particularly tasty. And I still have most of a big bunch of chard in the refrigerator. More experiments with that to come!