Bento #104: Must Eat Greens

Lunchtime!  We should not post Our previous lunches so close to Current Lunch Time (it is about 11:30 in the morning) as it is making Us very hungry.

We went (are still going?) through a bit of a "greens" phase.  So here you see the King's basic cooked greens, some steamed carrots, a square hard-boiled egg, and a bit of daikon pickle.  In the back tier is plain short-grain rice with furikake.  In the coffee mug is tea, and there on the left is a chocolate.  One of Our officemates was given chocolates by a student, and he was kind enough to share the love.

So.  First, let Us talk about square eggs.  The square egg was made via a square egg mold, which was given to Us for Christmas by the Dear Friend of the Kingdom, L.  The square eggs are charming and do indeed take up less lunchbox room than an ovoid egg!  Hooray!  Dear L also gave Us Baconnaise, which is both delicious and dangerous and We think that We will have a hard time living without it now, as Baconnaise and egg sandwiches are almost too good to be believed.

Now, let Us talk about greens.  We love them mucho.  Here is how We make them:

• About 1 T. olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• Greens, washed and sliced.  Anything sturdy: kale, collards, chard, etc.  Spinach is too delicate for this.
• soy sauce--a couple tablespoons
• rice vinegar--also a couple tablespoons
• red pepper flakes--under about 1/2 t. doesn't really make this "hot," just flavorful.  If you want perceptible heat, by all means, chuck in tons.
• optional: broth, mushrooms, kombu, sweet pepper, sesame oil, anything else that adds umami

Heat your oil in a pan large enough to hold all your greens.  Chuck in the onions and saute.  If you're using anything else that needs softening, like mushrooms or whatever, throw them in now too.  When all your crunchy things are softened, chuck in everything else.  If your greens aren't freshly washed, you may need to add a bit of water or broth.  Steam for about 10-15 minutes if you like them with a little heft left to them; longer if they're overcooked.

Our hands-down favorite way to eat these greens is this: put either some brown rice or a couple of slices of toast in the bottom of a bowl.  Meanwhile, cook an egg sunny-side up.  You're looking for a very runny egg.  When the egg is done, scoop a bunch of greens w/ their broth over your rice/toast, then put the egg on top.  The yolk should run into the greens broth should run into the base and make everything slightly slimy and v. delicious. 

If you use toast, it's kind of like a weird hot greens commerical--which is awesome, as one of the things We miss most about not eating meat, freakishly enough, is the hot commerical, which is delicious and regional to Our childhood and thus carries a huge nostalgia value.

Update:

Blogger is giving Us fits, and We cannot post a comment on Our own blog. #wtf  So here's Our response to Lisa:

That message board was hilarious! And did you note, it mentions Our very own small hometown? Much love for the birthplace of the king! And we can indeed confirm, despite what that one Very Officious Person on the message board says, that Mike's Cafe in Marshall, MN does indeed offer both hot beef and hot turkey commercials. Our very own Queen and Queen Mother eat there about once a week, and they often get the half-commercial, as a whole is quite a lot of food.

And as We understand the history of the commercial, it was meant as economical but filling lunchtime for working dudes, and therefore is supposed to be a lot of good, cheap food for, say, a construction worker. It's an open-faced sandwich where bread is on bottom, then roasted meat, then mashed potatoes, and gravy over all. Generally comes with a side of veg.