Yesterday (Saturday) I asked Papa Satyr if he would like breakfast, which he usually only eats on Sundays, but due to my bread post the other day, he said, “Yes, if your making eggie in a basket’.” As a matter of fact I was, also inspired by my bread post. Homemade bread is perfect for it because you can fit more in the hole and it better withstands movement. For those who are unfamiliar with these culinary gems, it is a fried egg served in a hole cut in a slice of toast. Sheer genius.
There are many alternatives: egg in a waffle or a bagel, with cheese, with veggies, poached, scrambled, etc… I make mine with garlic, onions, cheese, salsa, spinach, and tomatoes variously. It may also be called things like “toad in the hole”, “hole in one”, or the ever mysterious “wagon wheel”. Mysterious because I have no idea why it is called that or where I first heard it, but whomever taught me to make this dish called it a wagon wheel. I prefer “eggie in a basket”. You may know it from the movie “V for Vendetta” as “eggy in the basket”. While both -y and -ie serve as suffixes denoting familiarity or informality, I choose instead eggie, as to me eggy is a real word serving as the adjectival form of the noun egg, and eggie is therefore free to serve as the diminutive. Though, on reflection, I guess Stephen Fry’s character could have been implying there was a certain eggy-ness to the bread which he was calling a basket.
When I use store-bought sliced bread (one of the greatest things since Betty White), the egg overflows the hole. With my homemade bread I have the luxury to both slice thicker and use a larger biscuit cutter, thus giving me the aforementioned flexibility in egg volume. For this meal, I gave myself one perfectly contained egg, and Satyr two.
Eggie in a Basket (Breakfast)
- butter or other chosen fat
- eggs
- sliced bread
- onions or vegetables of choice, diced
- cheese of choice
- Cut holes in bread. If you do not have a biscuit cutter, you can use a glass, a cookie cutter, or even just poke out the hole.
- Melt butter over medium heat in a nonstick pan, if available. Separately place bread and holes in pan. Place onions in hole and lightly toast. Flip the bread around the veggies and the holes. Rotate first if needed for proper browning. If making spinach I just wilt it at the end.
- Break eggs into holes. If you intend to eat on-the-go break the yolks and cook to “over hard’ for eating convenience.
- When egg whites are solid and starting to puff on the bottom, flip each unit. They should be a gold brown. Turn down heat to low and top with chosen cheese if desired.
- Serve with sliced fruit, juice, bacon, salsa, beans, etc…
Because I am a busy, multitasking woman I have stopped pan frying bacon and now opt to bake it as taught to me by my friend Geoff, unless I just need a couple of quick pieces in a recipe or to provide fat for a dish, though we all know I have a mason jar of bacon fat in my fridge for such need.
Baked Bacon (Breakfast, Basics)
- bacon, thick sliced (I do not use thin because of its papery consistency upon baking)
- Place bacon on a single layer in a jelly roll pan (which you might call a rimmed baking sheet). To decrease fat ingested you may want to use a wire rack to lift the bacon out of the fat. This negates some of the oven-frying properties, but to each her own. I do not do it.
- Place pan in cold oven. Set oven to 400*F.
- Bake 15 minutes. Rotate. Bake 5-7 minutes longer.
- Remove to paper towels.
- If your timing on dishes is off, the bacon may be reheated in the microwave (aka butter warmer), but do so wrapped in paper towels and for no longer than a minute or two, doing thirty seconds at a time.
Go the Extra Mile: Pour bacon fat through a mesh strainer and save in refrigerator for later use.