Or - put on a Happy Face!
Regular readers know that I cook eggs for dinner at least once a week. They are a perfect food, inexpensive, and very versatile, plus they can be adapted to almost any use. I've written about having soft-cooked eggs on salad, with hash and as Migas (Spanish breadcrumbs.)
RICHARD FRISBIE :: Migas in Zaragoza
In keeping with the egg theme, I was a bit down one evening recently and decided to cheer myself up by making HAPPY FACES for dinner. This recipe is wholly a product of my over-active imagination. I decided I wanted (needed) a smile for dinner, and here's what I came up with:
First, I followed Kevin Weeks' recipe and advice about preserving in-season vegetables for out-of-season eating. When tomatoes were falling off the vine in all their summer bounty, I slow roasted them with oil and herbs, and froze them for winter use. Then promptly forgot about them! There's is something about "putting things by" and then not wanting to use them. At least that is true for me anyway. All of a sudden the freezer is full and I'm wondering where I can put more, instead of using what I have. Anyway, we had a raw snowy night too many times already this year. On the last one every thing seemed to go wrong. I knew I needed a positive fix of summer or I'd go nutz!
So I cooked a summer smile for dinner, and threw an extra log on the fire to enjoy it!
You'll need 2 eggs for each person and one or two to dip the bread in.
Basically this is a savory "french toast" with eggs peeking out of them.
Kevin Week's Tomatoes
Thaw three tomatoes per person, and cook in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until hot. Put them on a lower shelf to keep warm and set the oven to lowest temperature.
While the tomatoes are baking:
Beat an egg in a little water (or wine if you are drinking any) and some herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley) to taste. Soak one thick slice of round bread in it.
Break two eggs into a bowl and reserve.
On a medium stove, fry the bread in a bit of olive oil until firm but not done. Flip and briefly cook the other side. Remove from pan and slice a curved smile about one inch inside the curved side of bread, but do not cut the crust. Oil individual baking dishes, (these oval ones are perfect) and add one slice of bread to each. Lift the flap of bread up and pour the bowl of 2 eggs into the space.
Repeat for as many people as are joining you for dinner.
Set the broiler on high and sprinkle the bread "smiles" with grated cheese (use your favorite - this is to cheer you!) Place them on the middle rack in your oven and turn on the broiler for two or three minutes (or so) to melt cheese and cook the eggs. If they get too brown, turn off the broiler but leave them in the oven until done.
Put warmed tomatoes on the plate and serve up smiles!
I served this with a lemonbalm tea, but any light reisling or albarino wine would also work. The sweetly acidic and garden fresh taste of the tomato and herbs compliments the egg toasts, balancing the flavors and filling the nose with a savory whiff of summer. If that doesn't bring a smile to your face - take your pulse - you might be dead!
Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent:
RICHARD FRISBIE is published twice a month to Gather Essentials: Food
It is a food junkie's take on growing, raising, preparing and - above all else - eating food. Together we'll explore the trends, addictions, equipment and regional specialties that make up the sometimes mundane and sometimes sublime cooking and dining experience. You can keep up with my other postings and Gather activity by joining my Gather network -- just click the orange "Connect" button on the upper left-hand side of this page --- I look forward to hearing from you.
BIO - Richard Frisbie writes culinary travel articles, is a columnist for his local newspapers, and is a regular contributor to the many Hudson Valley, Catskill Mountain and other regional New York publications. His most recent addition to that list is a wine column called "Fruit of the Vine" for Life in the Finger Lakes magazine. Online, he writes frequent articles for EDGE publications and Travel Lady, as well as Gather.
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Comments: 66
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Glad you liked it Laura
This made me smile too - and that's what it was all about! glad you liked it!
BTW, We had migas last night!!!
Thanks for commenting on this trifle and for being there to cheer me!
Sound as if your dad had a nice sense of humor - a hat! Why didn't I think of that?
eggs chapeau? mad hatter's eggs? Hats off to eggs? - what would you call them?
This surely fits the bill!
*Searching for the luggage bags and keeping fingers crossed I'd get invited to run away with Sandy*
This is quite creative.....Off to look at the tomato recipe too missed out on that one...
Page 15, Dated Feb.27,2006- Roasted tomatoes..?? Is this The one??
The smile not withstanding, I'll bet this would be just as good, and maybe easier to prepare, with split bagels. I would follow your preparation for the bread and I would carefully drop a single egg in the hole of each bagel half.
Then, I'm sure I would ruin it for all my veggie friends by serving plenty of bacon with it. Can't beat eggs and bacon. 8-)
Baked Tomatoes
When you have so many you don't know what to do with them, wash them thoroughly, slice them in half around the equator, and cut out the stem. Place cut side up in a shallow baking dish, sprinkle with your choice of herbs and seasonings, drizzle with olive oil and slow bake (225) for two hours. Cool. Freeze individually or in 2s and 3s for a taste of fresh summer tomatoes anytime of the year.
Thaw and heat (microwave or oven) Can be served alone or on pasta, in quick soups or added to slow cooked meals at the last minute for a real flavor burst!
dropped into a 1/4" hot oil, with the spatula pushing the egg white toward the center and spoonsfull of hot oil poured over the yolk until the edges are crispy but the yolk is still soft.
Drained and reserved on a warm plate while another is fried. (repeat if you are really hungry!)
Hope you liked the egg!
It was fried in cooking spray, over hard, and with mayo on whole wheat. At least the bread was healthy.
When I eat fried eggs with potatoes, meat, etc. they are always over VERY EASY. I like lots of yolk.
Can't bring a bus unless they build a bridge across.....make it a red sailed outrigger canoe!!
Shannon, I eat a fried egg sandwich (just slightly runny so that it's slurped into the bread, YUM) at least once a week, Love them!
I have also made breakfast for dinner a couple of times. When I do it, my husband just doesn't understand it. Gets frustrated as he is expecting meat or fish or something else, maybe pasta? I think it is a very easy thing to do and makes life easier during a hectic week.
Richard mayo is pretty good,I frowned upon it till I tasted it....
Shannon we have mayo on our fried egg too when it's on bread, when it's on a roll we toast the roll on a hot pan drizzed with a liitle butter, "gives it that grilled cheese look"
yummmy :)
And I'll send this to my daughter to make for her children.
Thank you so much Richard for your uplifting comment on my FRUGAL EATS: Easy and hearty vitamin-rich creamed squash soup post. What a joy to have a Gather Food Coorespondent saying such nice things.
P.S. Feel free to submit this and other economical meals to my group, FrugalEats.Gather.com. Your posts would make a great addition to the group content.
P.S.S. I can't wait to try Paula T.'s onion soup recipe!!
Thank you for this inspiration:-)