Poached Eggs Over Kale and Quinoa
Like any healthy adult, I hate going to the grocery store. It’s tiring, especially with two kids in tow, and it means a lot of waiting in lines, lifting heavy things and dealing with parking lot traffic. So about once a week, I find myself pawing through my refrigerator and pantry, looking for anything that I can put together for dinner that gets me out of a grocery run.
We always seem to have eggs on hand. They’re cheap and they’re tasty and they offer an easy protein for a quick meal. So when I found had kale in the fridge that was about to go slimy recently, I decided to make it into a meal with some eggs and some of the quinoa that’s been sitting patiently in my pantry for months.
In the past, Neko has never shied away from greens or quinoa. But as she gets older and pickier, this is becoming the case less and less. I have to get extra creative, beg and bribe to get her to eat her greens these days. Usually some soy sauce or Greek yogurt does the trick, but lately the girl is way into runny eggs.
Poaching is one of my favorite ways to prepare eggs. In the past, when we’ve had poached eggs, I’ve cooked Neko’s until the yolks were hard. But once I got bored and pulled them a bit early and oh my goodness. The girl was all over the little bit of soft yolk left in the middle. So I’ve started leaving her eggs a bit runny and that oozy yolk can go a long way to getting her to eat whatever lucky food item is resting beneath the egg, soaking up all the yellow stuff.
Neko has started to become resistant to me taking photos of her eating (Good thing I had that second kid. His time in the spotlight is coming soon! He ate salmon and bacon for the first time this week!), but at this meal, she posed giving the dish two thumbs up. But trust me, she ate more than you’d except for a three year old when faced with a plate of dark, leafy greens and an ancient Peruvian grain.
Poached Eggs Over Kale and Quinoa
Serves 3
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup red quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 bunches of fresh kale
¼ cup water
½ tsp. smoked paprika
6 fresh eggs
1 Tablespoon vinegar
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the quinoa and stir, toasting the quinoa for just a couple of minutes. Pour the broth over the quinoa, cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook the quinoa until it is tender and has absorbed all of the water. Let it rest.
Wash the kale, remove the stems and slice the leaves. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the garlic for a minute, until you can smell it. Add the kale and the water, cover and cook for just a few minutes until the kale wilts. Set aside.
Fill a pot with water and heat it over medium-low heat until the water is almost simmering. You should see just a few bubbles forming at the bottom and sides of the pot. Pour the vinegar into the pot, then crack two eggs and drop them into the water whole. Cook the eggs for 2 to 4 minutes, until the whites look fully cooked. Watch that the water doesn’t start to boil, keep it barely simmering. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and repeat with the other eggs. You can do more than two at a time if you have a big pot.
Serve by placing a heap of quinoa on a plate, topping with the kale and two poached eggs. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the top and eat it warm.