Green Eggs and Ham is hands down my favorite Dr. Seuss book, and one of my favorite children's stories of all time. In case you need a refresher it's a delightfully simple book written with just 50 words in iambic tetrameter. The entire story is conveyed through dialog between the character Sam and an unnamed counterpart who's reluctant to try Sam's green eggs and ham. Eventually, the counterpart relents to Sam's tenacious rhyming onslaught and agrees to try the green eggs and ham... and it turns out he likes them.
In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day and trying something you might instinctively rebuff, I thought I'd give this fictional classic a go. I don't use food coloring in my food, so making the eggs green was a simple choice between adding spinach powder or matcha. Matcha ended up being my choice, because aside from the glorious green color, the grassy matcha nicely balances the creamy eggs, and as a bonus, you get a boost from the caffeine in the tea.
I know the ham is supposed to be green as well, but I couldn't think of a good way to pull this one off without breaking my no food coloring rule. If you guys have any ideas, leave a comment, and I may try it next year. For now, I'll leave you with a paraphrased verse from the classic:
You should cook them
In a pan
You could cook them
In Japan
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon cream
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
- 2 pieces of thick cut ham
Instructions
- Add the egg whites, cream and salt to a bowl.
- Sift the matcha powder into the egg whites.
- Whisk to incorporate evenly, so there are no lumps of matcha remaining (a hand blender will make this easier).
- In a non-stick pan over medium-low heat, melt the butter, and swirl to coat the pan.
- Add the eggs and scramble. You can read more about the best technique to scramble eggs here.
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