The other day, we received beautiful, fresh eggs from our friends. They have happy chickens, eating well and roaming in their backyard with their children. What a gift!
One of the very magical ways of enjoying eggs for me is making the perfect fried egg and putting it on top of the vegetable dish next to/on top of the cooked grain. How the yolk melts on everything and all the layers of beautiful flavors are gathered on the fork… It is a gorgeous bite!
My Ratatouille-Caponata will absolutely be the perfect vegetable dish for this. The other day, we got zucchini, tomatoes, and eggplant from the farmers market, and I was looking forward to making this dish. It is one of our favorites of the season. It is, in fact, the only season I indulge myself in eating bigger amounts of night shade vegetables. Ratatouille-Caponata, cooked grain, and fried egg: this is a golden combination!
Today’s Menu
Choice of cooked whole grain
At our home, I usually rotate between three different kinds of cooked grains in the menus—brown rice, quinoa, and millet. We eat brown rice more than other grains, since rice always comes with a Japanese meal, if not a noodle dish. We also love both quinoa and millet. They are quite different and both very delicious. Both are good sources of anti-oxidants, are rich in protein, are high in Magnesium, yet quinoa is higher in calcium. When I cook quinoa, I usually cook enough for two meals, since I love making quinoa salad, which is better when not using warm quinoa. On the other hand, cooled down millet tends to become crumbly, so it is better to eat it all up in one meal. Another difference to mention is the price. Millet is definitely much more affordable than quinoa.
For this meal, I decided to cook quinoa, although millet should also be equally lovely. I have my own mixture of white and red quinoa in the jar. I mix white and red in the ratio of 4:1. Red quinoa has higher fiber, Vitamin C, and potassium. However, white quinoa is higher in nutrition in many aspects. So, this ratio works well for me. Through mixing both, it will also add a lovely red color.
