Home Recipes
Stuff I make at home. A lot of memories from my childhood are imbedded in some of these recipes
Latest Remembrance
Bread with the Egg in the Middle
This is the first special meal that I can remember my mother making for me. She called it Bread with the Egg in the Middle. Later, as an adult, I found out that it was not invented by my mother and that it was also knows as Egg in a Basket or Egg in a Hole or Bird in a Nest or Uova Fritte nel Pane (Fried Eggs in Bread). It’s one of the first things I learned to cook when I moved out of my parents’ house. When I made the for breakfast in one of the early apartments or in any of the subsequent houses that I lived in, I could immediately flash back (like a video playback) to me sitting at the table in my parents’ eat-in kitchen and my mother putting down a plate of Bread with the Egg in the Middle for me.
BREAD WITH THE EGG IN THE MIDDLE
Ingredients for one serving
- Eggs – 2
- Butter – 4 TBS
- Bread – I now use sour dough instead of Wonder Bread. But a nice thick slice of Italian bread works great as well.
- Roasted Red Peppers – Roast your own or use the ones in the jar. Just make sure that they are whole and not chopped or sliced. I like to use no less than a half of a whole pepper. Sometimes a little over a half, but never a whole pepper. I don’t want to take away from the main event with too much red pepper on the plate.
- Salt/Pepper to taste.
Directions
Cut out a round hole in the middle of the bread. I like to use this little liquore glass that I have. It make an inch-and-a-half hole. Keep the cut outs.
Melt 2-3 TBS of butter and brush liberally on both sides of bread and cut outs
In a cast iron skillet, on low-medium heat (not hot enough to burn the butter), put a couple of tablespoons of butter. Toast each side of the bread and cut outs so that they are lightly toasted brown. You don’t want the bread to finish up crunchy.
Separate the eggs leaving some whites with the yolks. I don’t like to put an entire egg into the hole. I want the egg (yolk and white) to stay as much as possible in the hole. It might come out into the bread a little, but I would not want the hole egg taking up the bread. Also, keep the separated whites. You might need to add a little into the hole if you didn’t leave enough in the separated yolks. Also, I sometimes like to cook them up right before plating the bread.
Add butter as needed to keep the pan wet. Although you may not want the bread saturated in butter (like my mother used to make), you certainly don’t want a dry toast.
When both sides of the bread and cut outs are toasted to a light brown drop in the eggs. Put a small sliver of butter in each hole. You can probably consider turning off the burner at this point. The residual heat in the pan should be enough to cook the eggs but not brown or burn the whites.
On the sides of the pan, or in a separate smaller pan, heat up the red peppers. Hit with a dash of black pepper.
Slide in the eggs. Give a light dusting of salt and pepper. It shouldn’t take more than 5-10 seconds before you get ready to flip. The eggs should be definitely runny when plated, however the whites should be cooked and not runny at all.
Use a thin bladed metal spatula to flip the bread t o help to minimize breaking the yolk in the process. Absolute best case, the one that you will strive for, is that the bread gets flipped without the yolk breaking. Flip the bread and give another tiny hit of salt and pepper to your taste.
Another 5-10 seconds and you should be ready to plate.
Optional: As you are plating, sprinkle the separated whites from the beginning of this recipe with a little salt and pepper, maybe some oregano and cook quickly in the cooling pan that you cooked the bread in.
Put bread and cut outs on a plate. Add the heated red pepper to the side of the plate. (In Moonstruck, Olivia puts the peppers on top of the egg). Don’t eat the cut outs first. Save them for after you’ve eaten the bread to sop up any leftover yolk on the plate.
