Breakfast Today: Bacon, Scallops, Asparagus, Guinea Hen Eggs

This breakfast came together from various events…

Tasty as all get-out, and simpler than it looks.

Friday, I picked up a quarter of a pasture-raised pig that I’d split with several other people (we each got a quarter).  I also took the head… yes, I’ll cook that for us here on the blog in the near future!

Yesterday, I tried the bacon (with two chicken and one guinea hen egg, asparagus and mushrooms…) and it was awesome!  Last night:  pan fried pork chops, also awesome!

This bacon is a star!!!

The guinea fowl eggs:  Found at the farmer’s market on Saturday.  Naturally, I snagged a dozen.  Only $3 for the pack.

The scallops:  Sea scallops, on sale big time, for $9 a pound yesterday.  Now, you have to be careful buying scallops because a lot of them have water and stuff added, and sometimes they aren’t really scallops at all.  These cooked like they were dry (nice browning effect), and they certainly had that scallop flavor.  I will go back today to buy more, as it is the last day of the sale.  Scallops freeze well.

The cilantro:  At the same farmer’s market Saturday, I caught a whiff of the stuff across the aisle while I was waiting to pay for my lettuce and scallions.  Naturally, I added a bunch in!

The asparagus:  No special story behind that; it was already in my fridge saying, “eat me or compost me soon”.

The prep plate

This sounds like a large breakfast, but it contains nothing starchy, and I will probably eat only one more meal today, late afternoon.  No it is not something to make when you are about to head out the door for work or such; consider it a weekend idea.  However it doesn’t really take that much time to put together – most of the time was spent tracking items down in the fridge…

Prep time:  10 minutes
Cook Time:  `10 minutes
Rest Time:   Not really
Serves:  the below is for one; simply scale up.
Leftover-friendly:  Nope.

Bacon, Scallops, Asparagus, Guinea Hen Eggs

• 2 strips of high quality bacon
• 4 sea scallops, patted dry.  
• several (6-10) thin asparagus stalks, bottoms snapped off, and the remaining stalk broken in two.
• 2 guinea hen eggs (or whatever eggs you like/have available), de-shelled and uncooked.
• ground pepper to taste
• A bit of fresh cilantro, to your preference.
• 1 thin slice of lemon (for the scallops)

Cook your bacon on medium high heat, turning slices as needed.  Remove when done to your preferred done-ness to a paper towel to drain.

If you have excess bacon fat in your skillet, remove the excess carefully so as not to burn yourself (this bacon is lean… no excess fat today!)  Leave enough in to cook the scallops, asparagus and eggs.

Add the scallops to the pan.  Add ground pepper.  Let cook for about 1-1.5 minutes on one side, then flip to the other side.  Add more ground pepper as desired, then cook for another minute, and remove to the paper towel with the bacon.

REDUCE the HEAT!  On a regular electric range you may get impatient, but it helps for me to remove the skillet from the heat for a bit.  Have the heat at about low-medium to medium.  If it is too hot, the edges of the eggs will turn all brown, crusty and nasty.  Plus, you want to avoid overcooking the asparagus.

Add the asparagus and the eggs.  Cook the eggs however you like them – I wanted sunny side up, so after I saw they were cooking at the proper heat level, I covered the skillet so that the whites could cook through.  You can add more ground pepper if you wish.

Just before they are ready, return the scallops and bacon to the skillet (just to get them warm) and add the cilantro, just long enough to wilt slightly.

Plate your dish, putting the scallops to one side, and the eggs to another.  The rest can go anywhere.  Squeeze the lemon on the scallops (I don’t care for lemon on my eggs, not unless I am making a Greek dish…)

Eat and enjoy before it gets cold!  (Didn’t have my camera to hand, so these are phone shots, and I was more interested in eating than staging today…)

Oh, guinea hen eggs:  they taste just the same as chicken eggs, at least like pastured chicken eggs.  They are smaller, and their shells are definitely harder.  And that skin layer just inside the shell is tougher.

Breakfast is served at Fiesta Friday!  
This week’s hosts are:  Liz and Jenny!