Egg and Potato Breakfast Scramble

Labor Day and the official end of summer, though Portland is still warm, still golden, still pretending that September is just August with a different name. We went to Eileen and Patrick's for the Callahan Labor Day barbecue. I brought my Japanese potato salad, which has now achieved legendary status in the Callahan household — Eileen asks about it weeks in advance, Patrick eats three servings, and Brian's brother Sean has started making his own version, which he calls "Jen's salad" despite the fact that it is Fumiko's salad, which is Japan's salad, which is everyone's salad. Food attribution is a complicated game and I have stopped keeping score.

Miya played with Sean's kids — her older cousins, who are five and seven and regard Miya with the benevolent condescension of children who have mastered walking and find toddlers amusing. Miya followed them around the yard with her signature determination, falling every third step and getting up without crying, which is Nakamura in the purest sense. You fall. You rise. You follow the people you want to be like. The falling is not failure. The falling is the method.

I got the third response this week. Not a rejection. An acceptance. A small literary magazine based in San Francisco accepted the Fumiko's kitchen essay. They will publish it in their winter issue. They are paying me seventy-five dollars, which is not enough to buy groceries for a week but is enough to change the way I see myself. I am a published writer. Not a blogger — a published writer, with an essay in a magazine that has an ISSN number and a subscription list and an editor who read my words and said yes.

I told Brian first. He hugged me and said, "That is amazing, babe," and I believe he meant it. I told Lin, who screamed. I told my therapist, who smiled. I told Fumiko, who said, "What magazine?" and when I told her, she said, "I do not know this magazine," which was Fumiko's way of saying congratulations without saying congratulations. I told Ken, who was quiet for a moment and then said, "Your grandmother will want to read it." Not "I want to read it." "Your grandmother will want to read it." Everything Ken says about pride passes through Fumiko first, as if she is the filter through which all emotions must be processed before they can be expressed. I love my father. I wish I could read him. I never will.

The morning after the barbecue — after three servings of the legendary salad, after Miya’s fearless falling and rising in Sean’s backyard, after I whispered the news to Brian and heard Lin scream it back at me through the phone — I woke up early and stood in the kitchen in that particular silence that follows something enormous. The Fumiko’s kitchen essay was going to be published. Published. I needed something grounding, something that asked my hands to work and my mind to quiet, and this egg and potato breakfast scramble — humble, honest, deeply filling — was exactly the right thing to make at the start of the first morning I could call myself a published writer.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch dice
6 large eggs
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for serving)

Instructions

Par-cook the potatoes. Place diced potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water by 1 inch, and add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes until just barely fork-tender but still holding their shape. Drain well and pat dry.
Build the base. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the drained potatoes in a single layer. Cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes until a golden crust forms on the bottom, then stir and cook another 3–4 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and the smoked paprika.
Add the aromatics. Push the potatoes to one side of the pan and add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and stir everything together, cooking 1 minute more.
Whisk the eggs. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and the black pepper until the yolks and whites are fully combined.
Scramble and finish. Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour the eggs evenly over the potato mixture. Let sit undisturbed for 30 seconds, then use a spatula to gently fold the eggs through the vegetables and potatoes, working in slow, wide strokes. Cook just until the eggs are set but still slightly creamy, 2–3 minutes. Remove from heat immediately.
Serve. Divide among plates and scatter with fresh parsley. Serve straight from the skillet alongside toast or on its own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Egg and Potato Breakfast Scramble — The Morning After Everything Changed