David Lentz's Tweety Scramble

I figured it was only fair, after trying and loving all those Suzanne Goin recipes, to give her husband's food a try as well. I mean, if she can cook the way she does, some of that must rub off on the old ball and chain, I figure. In addition to their kitchen prowess, I have to also say, could they be any prettier? (Single-girl night, TBS, "Friends" reruns, forgive me.) Check out the April issue of Vogue (like you don't want to know how Jen is doing) - there's an Annie Leibovitz photograph of Suzanne and David Lentz on a rock, and holy wow, they are good-looking folks. They seem awfully nice, too.

Anyway, back in the fall, the LA Times published a piece on slow-scrambled eggs and their superiority to the regular flash-in-the-pan scramble most of us are used to. The recipes included methods for cooking eggs in a double-boiler, which just seemed unusually fussy, and David Lentz's way, namely in a nonstick pan over a very low flame while stirring clockwise. Since I was going to be cooking a single-girl dinner last night, a plate of eggs and a few Ryvita would hit the spot. I think Ben would have revolted if I had served that little plate up there to him and said "Eat up! That's all there is." But for me, it was perfect.

I halved the recipe (12 eggs serve 4 to 6 people, but as it was going to be my dinner, I calculated 3 eggs for one serving), and used my cast-iron pan (clean-up was a proverbial bitch: I had to resort to coarse salt and now I have to re-season my pan, sigh). I was surprised at how much the eggs cooked down: that serving you see up there is three eggs (and that plate is tiny). Stirring the eggs clockwise felt a bit silly at times, but as the minutes ticked on and the scramble slowly began to come together, I figured David must have had a point. I made sure to err on the side of moistness and when the eggs were scrambled but still trembly and wet, I turned off the pan (having stirred in the herbs and cheese - I substituted Parmigiano for Jack) and let them sit for a minute before piling the fluffy curds onto my crackers.

I dolloped a little bit more creme fraiche on top of the eggs, then drizzled them with olive oil and dug in. They were delicious. Soft and creamy, with character and bite from the barely cooked herbs, and a grassy quality from the olive oil (Portuguese, on sale at Murray's, fantastic). I left off the herb salad that David piles on top of the eggs - it seemed like too much feathery, frondy busy-ness. My heart sort of stopped when I realized I'd be eating six eggs in the course of 12 hours (breakfast!), but then I read the insert that came with my organic eggs ("I don't worry too much about eating eggs. I love them and try to eat two a day. My father loved them and ate two a day, and lived to be 81; and his mother, Mrs. Zitella Bass, ate two eggs per day and lived to be 105!" - www.countryhen.com) and kept eating. After all, er, wouldn't the Ryvita balance everything out?

Comments

[David]

Suzanne is as nice as she is adorable. And you did a fine job with her husband's recipe. I'm sure she was happy to share...he husband's recipe, I mean.

[Molly]

Oh MY. That looks like my kind of single-girl dinner - and what serendipity that we should both put up posts about eggs only a few hours apart! I first had slow-scrambled eggs like these in Paris, at Cafe Beaubourg, and they were fantastic - so creamy, and almost the consistency of oatmeal. Yours look and sound glorious, what with cheese and herbs too...

And okay, okay, I haven't even finished the Natalie Portman Vogue, but now, in the name of chef ogling, I've got to go after the Jennifer Aniston one! If you insist...

[Lindy]

These sound lovely, delicate and soothing. Maybe I will make myself some for supper, too. It's very pleasant cooking things slowly until they are just so, like carmelizing onions..quite relaxing-especially when you aren't trying to do anything else at the same time.

[Grant]

I just so happen to have some eggs in my fridge that I was wondering what I ought to do with. I might just have to make this. It sounds fantastic. I love good scrambled eggs but I am reluctant to order them out because more often than not they are over cooked to my taste. My grandmother used to make me scrambled eggs that were great. She would always stir them with a splash of cream. Although I LOVE the idea of creme fraiche and fresh herbs.

[Lindy]

I did make them for supper.(No Ryvita, don't much like it..had a thin sliced German pumpernickle toast instead.) The eggs were lovely. No more quick scrambled eggs for me. Thanks.

[s'kat]

That is such a steaming pile of eggy-goodness! I could definately see eating this on 'poker night'.

[Gustad Mody]

mmm, love eggs. i like them wet just like that

[steph]

Between the Vogue article and what you posted about Suzanne Goin I bought her book for my Mom and she just loves it. Thank you. Love your blog. I'm visiting often and cooking more.

[Grant]

So I made this recipe on Saturday and it was fantastic. I just kind of threw it together with what I had but I think next time I'll actually go out and get some nice bread and cheese and maybe make some potatoes or something to go with it. Who wants to come over for brunch?

[Tanna]

Gosh, I guess I hadn't found you then. Great post, lush looking eggs.

[carrie]

this looks absolutely delicious!!!! I. love. eggs. completely. i could eat eggs every day i think. this looks very yummy and I can't wait to try it! thanks!