Monday, March 28, 2011

Eggs in a Nest - not Toad in a Hole

As it is most Sunday mornings, it was my turn to get up with the boys and get breakfast together. SoBA has been in a, "I WANT CEREAL AND YOGURT!" (that is SoBA's normal voice delivery BTW) rut and I offered him eggs as an alternative. LBA is not a big fan of eggs, so I didn't offer them to him. SoBA turned me down for the declaration noted above. But I decided to make myself eggs and toast anyway. I really should have gone for the Eggs in a Nest, but it was good separately.

The Amateur Gourmet posted a while back about his idea of making Eggs in a Nest on a Saturday morning (but I'm usually sleeping on Saturday mornings); in his post, he mistakenly referred to it as Toad in a Hole. Then on top of this, I have been jonesing for French Toast - which I was going to make for Brinner tonight (Monday nights is always Brinner night at the launchpad - that's Breakfast for Dinner). But since Mrs. BA is off today with LBA, who doesn't have school today, French Toast will wait for next week - it will be pancakes.

Eggs in a Nest is something that Mrs. BA's sister managed to get LBA (he, the aforementioned disliker of eggs) to eat and they are relatively easy to make. The Amateur Gourmet's post raises it a level or two - but it is still worth a try. The post was not broken down into a recipe, but I have cobbled one together below. Enjoy!

The Amateur Gourmet's [Eggs in a Nest]
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • Tabasco / hot sauce (if desired)
  • Parmesan cheese (if desired)
  • crusty french bread, sliced and a hole made in the middle
  • eggs (1 egg for each slice of bread)
  • salt
  • pepper
Whisk 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk together. Add in any extra ingredients desired to the custard. Soak bread in custard mixture briefly on each side to coat. Heat a non-stick skillet or cast iron frying pan, melting approx. 1 tbsp. butter, until butter begins to bubble. Place each slice of bread in a non-stick skillet or cast iron pan. Crack an egg into the hole in the middle of the bread. Sprinkle the bread/egg with some salt and pepper.

After approximately a minute, when the bread has toasted and there is a good seal on the egg in the hole, flip the bread over. Remove from pan after about 30 seconds (longer if you want a harder yolk) and serve. Sprinkle with some parsley and/or Parmesan cheese (if you used it in the custard).

2 comments:

Anna van Schurman said...

Rachael Ray featured this a while ago I think she called it Toad in the Hole and people wrote in to tell her the name they called "fried egg in the bread hole." There were like a dozen different names for it. Of course what the English call Toad in the Hole is completely different. (Who wants to eat English food, anyway?) I still grew up calling fried egg in the bread hole, Toad in the Hole; since I never ate (nor have I) sausage in egg batter, there wasn't any confusion.

Brave Astronaut said...

Anna - surely you know someone who likes English food?