Psycho Asian Comfort Food, The Beginninging: Veggie Scrambled Egg Baguette

It's attractive open-face, but, like any good relationship,
you have to seal it up nice and tight to prevent the cheese
and juices from leaking out. ...Eww. I'm... I'm so sorry.

Hey there! Back again? Good! Glad I haven't alienated you with my absence. I've been taking a drug for My Gout (I have started to think about it this way) and it's been making me super sick, nauseous, and basically made me need to be less than 10 feet from a bathroom at all times. It's finally starting to wear off (and my foot feels better, too). I thought I'd share what I'm up to in my very own kitchen (I have to take the damn med with a meal... shudder. I mean, what's the point??).

Recently, I've been sticking to trying to emulate street food in my home, which is basically a no-win proposal (well, a win-win for me, but it's definitely not up to par with what I can get for cheaper and better on the streets... but then I wouldn't be cooking, would I?).

Tonight, before starting in on some VN flashcards, I decided to branch out a little and try something new. I will call this new series of posts "Comfort Food" but it's only because being in the kitchen and playing with food relaxes me. It's a form of artist play, I feel. And, since I can finally keep any of it down, it's basically like eating for the first time after a week of ginger ale and unsalted saltines.

It turned out pretty good, so I'll share. Feel free to suggest new and even more interesting ideas in the comments... you better believe I've got my ears peeled.

RECIPE:
Veggie Scrambled Egg Baguette

I admit... I took two huge bites before I took this picture.
Don't judge me. I was hungry. And can you blame me?

Ingredients:

1 Hoagie (let's just call it that, ok?) bun, your choice
soft cheese, your choice - enough to coat one side
butter or oil
2 eggs
Tiny, spicy red peppers (or not)
1 small tomato
bean sprouts
cilantro
soy sauce
sriracha
a little mayo

1. Slice and butter or oil your baguette/hoagie, whatever. Toast it up nice and crisp in the skillet.
2. Spread your cheese of choice on one side of that thing. I chose the more toasted side, so the cheese would have something to grip.
3. Sprinkle with soy sauce and sriracha. A little mayo is also good.
4. Chop the peppers, tomato, cilantro. Dump in a bowl. Keep the tomato's juicy innards, they'll help, since using water to thin the eggs, like I'd normally do, will give you arsenic poisoning.
5. Add 2 eggs and bean sprouts. Whisk.
6. Coat the skillet in a small amount of butter or oil.
7. Make scrambled eggs, keeping it together-ish if you can, but don't fret if it comes apart because of the amount of stuff in it.
8. Cook until there's no runny egg left in the cracks (I flipped mine a couple times to mix it up and get the whole bean sprouts a little wilted. I know this is against the rules of scrambled eggs).
9. Fold onto the sandwich so it melts the cheese a little bit.
10. Cool slightly, fold, and eat. The toasted bread should keep it together pretty nicely.

ALTERNATELY: If you have used a hard-shelled roll, like a real baguette (mine were the consistency of giant hot dog buns) or a pretzel roll, you could do worse things than hollow one side out slightly and then toast it. Press down slightly to get some of that crispy awesomeness up in there. Yeeeaaaahhhhh, just like that.

Bam, dinner in under 10 minutes. Write a blog post about if you want.

It's pretty good. What might I do different next time? Hmmmm.... I might chop up a little pate and add that, or leave out the tomatoes (I'm trying to eat more, but I don't reeeaaaaaaallly like them, plus the juice is occasionally a watery problem). Maybe shredded chicken or fish would be good, but not in the egg mixture. I don't know. I'm playing. STAY TUNED!

Anyway, I'm not dead, yet. Just wanted to let you know. The kitchen of my own is definitely helping.

Sigh, now I've wasted another hour not studying my Vietnamese flashcards. For shame. Oh well.

Love,
Ben