Braised Eggs with Zucchini, Feta and Lemon

This dish is striking. I can look and adore the beauty of it all day. The zucchini blossoms open up their interior anatomy for all to study and to admire nature’s flawless creation. The image of the braised eggs with zucchini, feta and lemon dish says it all. Or does it?

Beauty may be skin deep, however, there is more to this dish. There are half a dozen eggs and quite a good deal of vegetables and herbs to boot. Over a pound of zucchini and some rainbow chard are spread throughout the pan. The feta is hiding amid the white canvas of the egg whites. That’s what you can see. What you can’t see but hit your taste buds in no uncertain terms are the aromatics: garlic, lemon and chili pepper plus all the herbs. They add a punch of flavors. This is a case where beauty, nutrients and flavors coexist in one happy harmonious pan!

If that’s not enough, I sprinkled more chives and fennel, fresh from the garden, on top of the finished dish.

This is a dish to prepare for a weekend brunch in the summer, when zucchini blossoms can be found. The blossoms may be hard to find, but it’s well worth the hunt. This is what Ottolenghi, the writer of this recipe, says: “Although the zucchini blossoms make this look particularly bright and festive, the recipe would work just fine without them.”

I really enjoy cooking with the everyday zucchini and the blossoms. The dish not only highlights the beauty of the zucchini blossoms. It illustrates and celebrates the impressive work of nature, in all its wonderful form and evolution.

Serve the braised eggs with zucchini, feta and lemon with freshly baked sourdough bread and a hot cup of latte. That’d put a smile on your face and get ready for a glorious start of a day. Don’t let the summer slip away without making a dish like this!

Sunshine yellow of the zucchini blossoms and the runny yolks

Print Recipe

Braised Eggs with Zucchini, Feta and Lemon

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 lemons
• ⅓ cup/70 milliliters olive oil
• 3 small garlic cloves, crushed with the back of a knife
• 1 red chile pepper (such as serrano), roughly chopped (and deseeded if you don’t like heat)
• Flaky sea salt
• 1 ⅓ pounds/600 grams zucchini, thinly sliced on a mandoline
• 2 leaves rainbow chard (about 3 ounces/80 grams), thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped chives
• 2 tablespoons dill
• ⅓ cup/40 grams roughly crumbled feta
• 6 eggs
• 6 zucchini blossoms, stemmed, halved lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon/15 grams unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes)

Instructions

1

Take one lemon and use a vegetable peeler to remove 4 strips of zest. Squeeze the lemon to get 1 tablespoon juice, then set aside.

2

Add the oil, garlic, chopped red chile pepper, lemon zest strips and 3/4 teaspoon salt to a large, preferably nonstick sauté pan (for which you have a lid) set over medium heat. Gently fry for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the oil begins to bubble. (Turn the heat down to medium-low if the oil bubbles too quickly.) Decrease the heat to low, add the zucchini slices (not the blossoms) and continue to cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the zucchini slices are very tender and beginning to brown. Stir in the chard and cook for another few minutes, until wilted.

3

Drain the zucchini and chard over a saucepan to collect the oil, then return the vegetables to the sauté pan. Stir in the herbs, reserved lemon juice and feta. Create 6 hollows with the back of a spoon and carefully break an egg into each hollow (take care not to break the yolks). Lay the zucchini blossoms around the eggs and drizzle them with a teaspoon of the reserved frying oil. Cover the pan with the lid and cook for 4 to 5 minutes over medium-high heat, until the whites are almost set and the yolks are still runny (the eggs will continue cooking once uncovered and taken off the heat).

4

While the eggs cook, add the butter to the reserved oil and gently heat until beginning to brown and bubble, then drizzle over the eggs when they’re done. Sprinkle with the Aleppo chile and a good pinch of salt and serve hot with juice from the remaining lemon squeezed on top.

Notes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019417-braised-eggs-with-zucchini-feta-and-lemon