Mark Bittman's Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp

Hmmm. Okay. I think I know what you're thinking. But you try and scramble eggs mixed with soy sauce and see if you don't end up with a plate full of, well, brownish-brackish-looking slop. Thank goodness there are those little bits and pieces of pink shrimp to brighten things a bit, but still, I know this dish won't be winning any beauty contests any time soon.

And that's just fine. I'm used to comfort food looking gorgeous, though that may be my cultural chauvinism talking - after all, I think tomatoes in any form are superstars - but it's about time I settled down and realized that comfort food isn't always pretty. What it can be is, um, comforting and warm and perfectly balanced between salty and plain - a mishmash of elements that make eating dinner feel like being coddled.

I made this after bringing my mother to the airport (an absolute pleasure, if that can be believed, now that I live in Queens) - when I got home again, Ben wasn't there yet and the apartment felt empty - lonely, for the first time. My mother's presence, so tangible just hours before, had vanished with nothing but a faint whisp of her fragrance hanging in the air. There were other signs of her, too, the precise ordering of the detritus on our dresser top, the neat pile of old newspapers in a corner of the office, all the loose buttons on my pants and Ben's tightened once again.

Normally, I would have made spaghetti with tomato sauce to soothe the sting of saying goodbye, but we'd had it for lunch (how's this for weird - making a dish your mother taught you and having her ask you when it's time to throw in the basil). What I wanted and needed was something swift and simple and there's nothing like Chinese (pseudo or not) to cheer you up when things are threatening to look stormy.  So a pot of boiled rice came together easily enough, and sauteeing shrimp with beaten eggs and soy sauce wasn't much harder.

It was a good dinner, nothing spectacular, but it was interesting and warmed our bellies, slipped a comforting arm around my shoulder and squeezed. It was a relief to have Ben home at the table with me finally, filling up the apartment. We ate our little dinner, alone for the first time in a week, and laughed about our mothers and our families. A good night, unexpectedly.

(It's funny how eggs become a conduit for all things - good and bad. The flavors of earthy truffles or delicate chives are amplified in a pile of beaten eggs. So, too, the faintly saline quality of tender little shrimp. Make sure your soy sauce and sesame oil are good and fresh, otherwise you risk eating eggs that have an edge of unpleasantness to them. And don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach. This dish will serve four and no more - not because of ample portions, but because the richness will fill you up before you know it.)

Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp
Serves 4

3/4 cup raw shrimp, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons peanut oil, corn oil or butter
8 eggs
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 cup chopped scallions
Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish, optional

1. Devein shrimp if you like; if large, cut into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Put oil or butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick or cast iron, and turn heat to medium. When hot, add shrimp. Cook, stirring, until shrimp is somewhat pink. Beat eggs in a bowl with soy sauce and sesame oil.

3. Turn heat to medium high and add eggs and scallions. Cook, scraping pan with a rubber spatula. Fold eggs over themselves, breaking up curds. If mixture clumps, remove it from heat and stir, then return to heat.

4. When eggs are creamy, adjust seasoning, garnish if you like and serve immediately.

Comments

[Sarah]

So, are you embracing Mark now with open arms, is that what's going on?

[j-lon]

Seems like the dish would have looked better with more of that optional garnish. Add more fresh green to that picture and it's looking pretty good, at least to my eyes.

[Lydia]

The secret to serving dishes that look less than appetizing is to pretend you haven't noticed that, and serve them with all the elegance of a beautifully plated dinner. I have put some awful-looking dishes on the table, and I've learned that if I don't point out the awfulness, nobody else will dare mention it!

[radish]

It didn't look bad at all - it actually looks pretty tasty, brown bits and all! And i've been on a sesame oil kick lately too.

[Fiona]

This is an actual Chinese dish. My mom used to make this for my non-Chinese friends whenever they came by and it was always a crowd pleaser. This definitely speaks of comfort food to me. To make this prettier, my mom forgoes the soy sauce and sesame oil and uses the appropriate amount of salt to bridge all the flavors together. She also uses a lot of green onion too, which she adds at the last minute, to make a sunny yellow dish dotted with pink and green. Yum.

[mary]

I don't care if it's not the prettiest dish around, it looks delicious.

[Kathy]

My cat has been sick recently and so I was reminded of cleaning the carpet yesterday morning. But yeah, soy does do horrible things to the color of eggs. So does Mexican chorizo, for that matter. But...as long as it tastes good!

[Marsha]

I lol-ed when I read the first line. Before I scrolled down to read it, I said--aloud in my office--"Oh giiiirl! That looks naaaasty!" Maybe if the eggy part was in a ring around the rice? Def. agree about the garnishing. Oh well, who says it has to look pretty to taste good anyway? :-)

[Christine]

Oh, how delicious this sounds...maybe I'll forgo soy in the eggs and replace with a bit of salt, leaving the soy to sprinkle over at the end (as in Fiona's suggestion). Because love everything in it as I do, it looks shockingly like cat food.

[Victoria]

I love eggs. I mean I LOVE eggs, almost in any form. Aside from oatmeal with heavy cream, brown sugar, and sliced banana, a soft boiled egg in an eggcup is my favorite breakfast, especially if I add a piece of buttered toast and a sausage. However, this looks so unappetizing that I think I will try it but take Fiona's advice above and skip the soy sauce and sesame oil. Susanna Foo's fried rice also forgoes the soy sauce, and it's yummy, so I will make this with no sauce soy or sesame oil and add plenty of Maldon salt instead. I know Mark Bittman gets a bum rap - and from me too - but his Jean Georges' recipes are written so well, he is exonerated in my book.

[Honeybee]

Food isn't always just meant to look good. I've said that before and I'll say it again: I really like the way you're dishes look real and untampered with. I admire the foodblogs with perfectly pretty pictures but sometimes I wonder whether they actually eat that food, too or whether it just get's thrown out.

[ann]

Isn't that funny, my mom does that to me too, I'm always like, "But mom, you're the one that taught me to cook!" and then she answers back, "but you're the one that worked in a professional kitchen!" I don't care about that, she's still queen in the kitchen to me :-)

[Hillary]

How'd you know exactly what I was thinking? Haha. While it isn't the prettttiest, the scrambled eggs made with soy sauce sounds particularly delightful!

[gemma]

mmmm I did wonder about that soy sauce.... notice that I didn't ask for it back??!!
x

[Julie]

This does sound like dreamy comfort food and I'm tempted -- if I can ever again persuade myself to use shrimp for anything other than Amanda Hesser's shrimp fritters. I just posted about them. I'm thinking about running out to get some more shrimp -- they're that good.

And yeah, my mom used to do exactly the same thing.