Rice with Mushrooms, Kale, Pumpkin, and Egg

SERVES 4

I started making this when we were traveling around Scandinavia the summer before opening the new restaurant. We would bring rice and chili oils on our journeys and then find some eggs. Right now we start every morning at the restaurant with a bowl of rice, with egg yolks cured in soy sauce, and lots of different condiments to choose from, like seaweed, different types of pickles, or fresh chili.

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For the rice:

2 cups rice (I normally use sushi rice)

For the vegetables:

3 tablespoons grapeseed oil

2 cups mixed mushrooms (wild if possible)

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger

4 teaspoons chicken glacé (reduced stock made from leftover chicken carcasses)

2 cups chopped mixed kale, including cavolo nero, green, or purple kale

2 teaspoons chopped parsley

1 teaspoon chopped lovage

Zest of 1 lemon

Salt

For the pumpkin:

½ Hokkaido pumpkin (or butternut squash)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

Salt

1 teaspoon toasted black pepper

3 teaspoons toasted mustard seeds

3 teaspoons dried ginger or ginger powder

1 teaspoon toasted cilantro seeds

1 teaspoon dried juniper berries

3 tablespoons butter

For the fried eggs:

4 eggs

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons butter

Pasilla chili oil

Wash the rice thoroughly in cold running water until the water is clear then cook the rice on the stovetop or in a rice cooker according to instructions.

For the vegetables, place a frying pan over high heat until it’s very hot; add grapeseed oil. Fry the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add the butter and finely chopped garlic and ginger. Add the chicken glacé. Add the kale. Cook until the kale starts to wilt a bit, about 2 minutes. Add the chopped parsley, lovage, and lemon zest and cook another 2 minutes. Season with salt.

For the pumpkin, take the seeds out of the gourd and carve it up into thick wedges. Brush with grapeseed oil and season with salt. Put in the oven at 200ºF for about 40 minutes, or until tender. Let the pumpkin cool down before you scrape out the flesh and cut it into small pieces. Then, in a small bowl, blend all the spices together for the spice mix. Melt the butter and add in 1 tablespoon of the spice mix (store the rest). When the butter foams, add the pumpkin pieces to warm them up, about 2 minutes.

To make the eggs, fry them in grapeseed oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the butter and baste it onto the eggs so the egg whites are thoroughly cooked, approximately 2 minutes. Spoon the rice into bowls and top it with the mushroom and kale mix, the pumpkin, and an egg. Serve the dish with the pasilla chili oil.