Breakfast for 160
By Nick Roumel
One of my passions is the local food movement, and more specifically, Selma Cafe (selmacafe.org), a breakfast salon in Ann Arbor that features seasonal and locally produced meat, dairy, and produce.
Volunteer chefs try to outdo each other with fun and creative dishes that meet the local and seasonal criteria.
The joke is that anything can be breakfast if you include an egg, or something else “breakfast-y.” I’ve done homemade “spam” and eggs, breakfast ribs, and breakfast gyros, among other dishes.
I volunteered again for a recent breakfast.
I wanted to do something with a Greek theme and suggested stuffed grape leaves, with an egg-lemon sauce.
That was nixed because rice is not locally produced.
I suppose I could have stuffed them with potatoes, but instead I decided on what one fellow volunteer called “Greek Hippie Hash” — a lamb hash with a Greek basted fried egg.
The lamb, from Salomon Gardens farm in Chelsea, was at pasture Wednesday and on the table Saturday.
It was delicious. The hash was topped with a fried egg from Dragonwood Farms (dragonwood.org), which featured huge, fresh eggs with brightly colored yolks, including my second-ever double-yolked egg.
What a difference when an egg has never seen the inside of a refrigerator.
The second entrée was a bit more laissez-faire.
I wanted to do something with peaches, which are just coming into market. I grilled them and served them alongside a feta-jalapeno cornbread with homemade yogurt and a jalapeno, sour cherry, and basil vinegar glaze, enhanced with ouzo, red wine, and honey.
It turned out more like a chutney, but the combination of flavors was sublime.
My fellow chefs and I kicked out 160 dinners, for a suggested donation of $12-15 each, which will be used to give grants and other aid to local farmers and otherwise support the local food movement.
After that we fed the hard working volunteers. After a job well done, we relaxed a bit on the deck, in Selma’s new location at Sunward Co-Housing (sunward.org), and I for one went home for a well-deserved nap.
Lamb Hash
• Roast a leg of lamb or other suitable cut. I do not like to reheat lamb — it becomes too tough — and therefore we had it hot and ready for our hash.
Marinate with olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, juice of 1 small lemon, salt, pepper, and a tablespoon oregano, until medium rare.
You will need 2-3 oz. of cooked, roughly cut lamb per serving.
• Slice 1 potato per person. I like thin half-moons that fry up quickly. You can even pre-cook these in the oven if cooking for a crowd.
• 1/4 onion per person, diced.
• 1 handful chopped arugula and/or other greens per person.
• 1 egg per person.
• Canola and olive oils, and butter.
• Salt, pepper, and fresh thyme if you have it, or use dried.
Directions:
1. Heat 1 TB each canola oil and butter in a sizzling pan, over medium-to-medium-high heat.
2. Add the potatoes and onions; stir frequently until onions are caramelized and potatoes are getting brown and crispy. You may wait to add the onions so they don’t burn.
3. Add the lamb pieces and greens stir quickly; season to taste with salt and pepper. Place a heap on a plate. You may want to drizzle a bit of olive oil on the hash.
4. Fry an egg in the same pan. When it is nearly done, drizzle a little olive oil on the top of the yolk, add salt, pepper, and thyme, and place it sunny side up on the lamb hash.
Serve with buttered, toasted Greek or Italian bread, or herb bread.
You can easily make this dish suitable for vegetarians by simply omitting the lamb, or substituting garbanzo beans, adding those with the potatoes and frying them up until crispy.
Next week I will give you my cornbread and peaches recipes — but now, I have to take a well-deserved nap!
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Nick Roumel is a principal with Nacht, Roumel, Salvatore, Blanchard, and Walker PC, a firm in Ann Arbor specializing in employment and civil right litigation. He also has many years of varied restaurant and catering experience, has taught Greek cooking classes, and writes a food/restaurant column for “Current” magazine in Ann Arbor.
He occasionally updates his blog at http://mayitpleasethepalate.blogspot.com/.
