The Weekend Egg - Greatest Hits!

Ahhh...the weekend.  Time to turn you work brain to the off position, pour yourself a cup of fresh coffee and sink into your couch for some much deserved channel surfing.

After my first cup of coffee (one is never enough), once i have sufficiently woken up, well...at least enough to operate a chef's knife and a gas stove, I start to concoct my plan for breakfast - though truth be told, I rarely ever have a plan.  I typically cook with what's at hand and build from there.  Leftovers from the week can be great to use in your breakfast dish (try forcing yourself to use leftovers that you might not otherwise use for breakfast). Plus, since leftovers are typically already cooked you can put together something delicious even faster.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you present it in an appealing way you can make it even more irresistible.

Here are some breakfast dishes I have made in the past.  None very difficult...all delicious.

Southwestern Benedict - Sunny side eggs over a toasted everything bagel with melted cheddar cheese and fresh, thick sliced tomatoes - all topped with sauteed peppers, onions and jalapenos...oh, and a dollop of sour cream. 

Mixed Veggie Frittata - Red Onion, Porcini Mushrooms, Asparagus, Broccoli, Fresh Garlic, Eggs and Pecorino Romano

Fritatta (essentially a puffy, baked omelet) - use an oven safe skillet  - *preheat oven to 400 degrees* - on your cook-top heat some olive oil in the skillet over medium/high heat and toss in your chopped veggies (whatever you want to include) and saute until just about done. 

Now turn your burner down to medium - medium/low.  Then depending on the size of your skillet pour in 4-8 eggs that have been whisked aggressively (for fluffier eggs add a few tablespoons of water to the whisked eggs and stir again).  Let the egg mixture coat the whole pan evenly.  Slowly cook the egg, pushing the cooked edges away from the sides letting the runny eggs fill up the edges again. Keep doing this until just a thin layer of uncooked egg remains.

Now move the pan to the oven and close the door. Let cook for roughly 30 minutes (depending on number of eggs used) - though keep an eye on it to make sure the top doesn't burn.  When you have about 15 minutes of cooking time left, sprinkle some shredded cheese (if you like) to melt while it finishes up.  The finished product should be puffy and slightly browned on the top.  Pull the pan out of the oven and let cool a bit.  Then dig in and enjoy!

NOTE:  Please remember that the pan stays VERY hot long after pulling it from the oven.  The above frittata narrowly escaped a brush with death as I absent mindedly grabbed the pan barehanded and dropped it on the floor. It was like something straight out of a cartoon.  I knew I had made a mistake once I grabbed it, however it still took several seconds for the heat signal to reach my brain and say "you better drop that, Sucka, if you ever want to use that hand again ".  So I dropped it in the most dramatic of fashions - with a satisfying scream and then a loud crash of the pan as it hit the hardwood.  (the above picture was post drop...so pretty good recovery, eh?! - also why it is not as fluffy). 

Nice and Simple - Eggs over easy, french toast and fresh fruit

 

German Benedict - Toasted bagel, eggs over easy, melted cheddar cheese, grilled bratwurst and sauteed onions

Leftovers from Maggiano's -  Spaghetti and meatballs, some alfredo sauce and spinach and artichoke dip.  I loaded it all into a single serve baking dish and threw it in the oven until it looked like this.  But is this breakfast...?...wait for it....

Kablamo! - Add an egg and it's a goddamn breakfast!

Simple Omelet - ham and sauteed onions - topped with fresh diced tomatoes, sour cream, and sprigs of green onions

Leftovers  Fajitas re purposed with scrambled eggs and cheese to make some tasty breakfast burritos!  This is prior to making into burritos and browning them on a skillet.  Technically, it's a breakfast taco at this point...but one crafty step and Chapow!...burritos.



See....burrito, of the breakfast variety