“But the only sound was the wind in the fruit trees, and the only creatures in the gardens were a few pale moths. Missandei returned with a melon and a bowl of hard-cooked eggs, but Dany found she had no appetite.” (Dance with Dragons)

Roman Melon and Boiled Tea Eggs

Our Thoughts:

We paired a Roman recipe for melons with a previously successful recipe for tea eggs. The result is a very quirky, flavorful light breakfast, full of unexpected tastes. The sweetness of the melon competes with the spicy, peppery sauce, finishing with just the slightest tang of vinegar and mint. The eggs are a subtle experience, dark and smoky with a great spiced flavor. If you can come by duck eggs, they up the ante on this dish, but it’s also wonderful made with chicken eggs.

Make it at Home:

Tea Eggs Recipe: Breakfast in Mereen

Roman Melon Recipe

Piper, puleium, mel vel passum, liquamen, acetum. interdum et silfi accedit. [Pepper, pennyroyal, honey or condensed must, broth, and vinegar. Once in a while one adds silphium.] -Apicius, 4th Century

This recipe works wonderfully with raw melons, or with cooked gourds. We made a simple sauce and drizzled it over the cubed melons, but for gourds, we’d recommend cooking the cubed gourd with the sauce, and adding a bit of meat broth.

Ingredients:

• pinch of pepper (a red pepper works best, such as Aleppo pepper)
• pinch of mint
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup vinegar