Breakfast Baked Eggs

Cooking While Traveling

The hardest thing about traveling for me is not eating home cooked meals. I definitely do my best to travel with essential goodies and snacks, but do miss the time spent away from the kitchen. I’ve found that a nice remedy for this is to search for a place to stay that offers a warm kitchen environment that I can cook a meal or two in. Beyond just that, one of my favorite things while traveling is to discover local flavors and having the opportunity to cook with these fresh ingredients - it’s such a wonderful thing. So, when my partner surprised me with a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I knew he’d have my back.

Early on a Saturday morning we ventured out to the farmer’s market, picking up what would become a delightful breakfast: baked duck eggs with shishito peppers, red chiles, potatoes, and purple carrots. New Mexico is the largest producer of red chiles in U.S., and outside most establishments in Santa Fe you’ll see bundles of red chiles hanging, so it was a clear that we were to use these as an ingredient - the fresh dried chiles have such a powerfully rich earthy flavor and add a lot to the flavor profile of the dish.

This recipe is a celebration of spending the morning in the kitchen, on a leisurely day, with a cup of coffee and close friends or family. I love being in the kitchen, having multiple things brewing on the stove and in the oven, seeing the process unravel and creating a beautiful and delicious meal.

That being said, I will note that there are multiple cooking procedures in this recipe, so I definitely recommend having a second pair of hands to help out if multitasking isn’t your thing. In my case, my partner, Mo, helped me out by taking all the photographs you see in this post.

But what this recipe also offers is adaptability to all seasons, you can switch out any of the veggies for your favorites: sweet potatoes, root vegetables, herbs, or spices, etc. Add a little feta cheese in with the eggs if you’re into that. The duck eggs are quite delightful and offer a lot in terms of nutrient density, so I recommend finding them at your local market, though chicken eggs will do just fine.

Have fun with it and enjoy!

Ingredients

4 duck eggs

12 shishito peppers

1 onion

3-4 purple carrots

1 whole garlic bulb

1 1/2 cup petite potatoes

1 generous handful of micro greens (I’ve used sunflower & daikon)

1/2 of a dried red chile (or 1 tbsp of flakes)

sesame oil (or oil of choice)

sea salt

black pepper

edible flowers (garnish)

Preparation

Prep time: 30 minutes | Oven temp: 375° | Cook time: 1 hour | Serves: 2 or 3

1. Preheat oven

2. Sauté onions & blister peppers

Heat skillet, add oil of choice and allow to melt before adding one small diced onion. Sauté until translucent and tender (about 5 minutes). Add sea salt and dried red pepper. Turn heat to low. In a separate pan, bring up the heat, add a little oil, and start blistering the shishito peppers. Use a pair of tongs to rotate and blister each side. The peppers will eventually go in the oven, so keep them a little undercooked. Approximately 90 seconds on each side. Set to the side.

Note: Make sure to dry off the peppers after rinsing to avoid hot oil splattering while blistering!

3. Boil potatoes

Bring a sauce pan full of water to a boil. If the potatoes vary in size, chop the larger ones into smaller chunks, to match the others. Boil for about 10 minutes or until tender (check with fork). Strain and set to the side.

4. Prep carrots

The carrots are prepared in two ways: peeled and sliced down the middle. For peeling, use a vegetable peeler, place carrot in hand or on a chopping block and begin peeling from top to bottom. Repeat with second carrot. Next, slice the remaining one or two carrots down the middle. Place the carrots in two separate pans, drizzle with a little oil and salt. Roast the peeled carrots for 20 minutes; sliced carrots for 30.

5. Roast : part 1

Wrap the garlic bulb in aluminum foil, place in the oven. Roast for 30 minutes (can leave in up to 45 minutes). Next, mix the onions and potatoes, split them between two cast iron skillets, add a pinch of salt and any more pepper if desired; roast for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown. Stir occasionally. The potatoes should be tender and cooked all the way through before moving onto the next step.

6. Roast : part 2

Bring the oven up to 400°. Crack two eggs and add 6 shishito peppers to each skillet, put back into the oven for ~5 minutes or until the white part of the egg is solid and the yellow is a little runny. The time depends on how large the eggs are, but it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

While the eggs are baking, remove the garlic and peel each clove.

7. Garnish & serve

Remove the skillets; add the roasted garlic cloves, the carrots, microgreens, and edible flowers to each dish. Serve hot.

We enjoyed our baked eggs with a side of blanched kale and roasted beets.