Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs & Ham

Who doesn't remember or hasn't read Dr. Seuss' (a.k.a. Theodor Seuss Geisel) Green Eggs and Ham? I think I will be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't read it! Just in case your basement doesn't contain a dusty old copy of Green Eggs and Ham, here is a little about the classic story. A character named "Sam-I-Am" pesters an unnamed character (also the narrater) to taste a dish of Green Eggs and Ham. The unnamed character declines...he claims to dislike Green Eggs and Ham. But the relentless Sam-I-Am will not stop following him around and trying to get him to try the dish. He even suggests different locations...house, box, car, tree, train, etc. with an assortment of different company...a mouse, fox, goat (I would eat Green Eggs and Ham with a goat). Finally the unnamed character tries Green Eggs and Ham and guess what...he likes them!!!! 

Although it isn't a novel, Green Eggs and Ham is certainly a literary masterpiece! It only consists of 50 different words! It was a result of a bet between Seuss and Bennet Cerf (Seuss' publisher) that Seuss (after completing The Cat in the Hat using 225 words) could not complete an entire book using only 50 different words. I see who won that bet!  If you are interested, the 50 words are:

a, am, and, anywhere, are, be, boat, box, car, could, dark, do, eat, eggs, fox, goat, good, green, ham, here, house, I, if, in, let, may, me, mouse, not, on, or, rain, Sam, say, see, so, thank, that, the, them, there, they, train, tree, try, will, with, would, you.

Would you believe that Green Eggs and Ham would become part of legal history?

Well, a U.S. District Court Judge, Judge James Muirhead, referenced Green Eggs and Ham in a court ruling after receiving an egg in the mail from prisoner Charles Ray Wolff, who was protesting the prison diet. Judge Muirhead ordered the egg to be destroyed...here is what the judgment said:

I do not like eggs in the file.

I do not like them in any style.

I will not take them fried or boiled.

I will not take them poached or broiled.

I will not take them soft or scrambled,

Despite an argument well-rambled.

No fan I am of the egg at hand.

Destroy that egg! Today! Today!

Today I say!

Without delay!

Clever judge.

So...I think you can guess the recipe for today. Green Eggs and Ham, baby!!! Oh yeah! But...I don't love the idea of food colouring, so the following is a recipe with spinach (green!) so I don't have to make the eggs unnaturally green (seems kinda gross to me). Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 large shallots, finely chopped
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted and liquids drained
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Fresh grate nutmeg, to taste
• 8 slices deli ham or prosciutto di Parma
• 8 eggs

Directions:

1.            Preheat oven to 375 F.

2.            In a medium skillet over medium heat, heat the extra-virgin olive oil and the butter and sweat the shallots a few minutes. Add the spinach and stir in the cream, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and little grated nutmeg. Cook the spinach, stirring occasionally, until the cream has thickened, 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings to your taste.

3.            Fold each slice of ham of prosciutto in half and line the non-stick cups with 1 slice of meat each. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the cooked spinach mixture into each of the muffin cups. Crack an egg into each. If you are nervous about breaking the yolk, crack the egg into a small dish and then pour it on the muffin cup.  Season tops of eggs with salt and freshly ground pepper and bake in oven until set, about 15 minutes.

4.             Allow the baked eggs to cool in the muffin cups for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan. Serve immediately.

My name is not Sam-I-Am! I do like green eggs and ham!

I wish you good eating!