Faster Than an Egg McMuffin

Homemade egg breakfast sandwich...tender, but no jiggly egg whites here!

It’s taken me a while (say, ohhh, 42 years and going…) to “cotton to” breakfast.  I’m wired for a slower body wake-up time, and my stomach rarely wants food early in the morning.  However, being married to a breakfast person as well as having odd sleep hours due to my work schedule, I’m adapting to making it one of my real meals of the day instead of having just my daily cup of hot tea.

Well, most days, that is… it’s hard to beat that “cuppa.”

For the days I do choose to have breakfast beyond a hot drink or cold glass of orange juice, I’ve re-embraced the simple.  When I make homemade granola, we really enjoy that with some whole milk.  Other days, it’s a satisfying bowl of hot oatmeal, usually cooked with some dried fruit (softened with the cooking) such as cranberries or blueberries or dried cherries…whatever’s on hand…or just plain with a touch of brown sugar and pat of butter.  Or it can be some slices of cantaloupe or fruit in season.  Or open-faced toasted cheese toast.

The one food it took me longer to re-incorporate into breakfast was the egg.  I grew up with scrambled eggs and toast being on the menu most mornings, only they were usually cold and the whites were not always fully cooked and were squiggly and partially transluscent…gross!  It’s little wonder we begged for Cheerios!

Back in that day, it was thought that skim milk (for cereals) and aerosol non-stick spray (for skillet cooking) were the healthiest ways to cook, and corn oil margarine ran a close second.  It was also thought that eggs were the harbinger of instant cardiac death, or not far from it.  That was before I knew the difference between naturally-raised chickens and battery hen operations.  We never much asked where our eggs came from back then, either…an egg was an egg was an egg.  Today, my husband and I are of a different bent when it comes to some of these things.  We do not yet have a source for pastured poultry eggs, which would be our first choice, but we cook with natural fats such as real butter or olive oil, and just use less.  It greatly improves the taste, but we believe it has nutritional benefits as well.

Wherever opinion may fall on that subject, learning to cook eggs differently than I ate in my childhood means that they’re back on the menu.  And something surprising (to me, at least) has been how fast real breakfast (served hot) at home cooks up…in fact many times faster than it would take to get in a drive-through line, order, pay, and receive a sack involving a lot of packaging, and a biscuit sandwich loaded with preservatives and cooked with who knows what.  There have been times I’ve been short on time and have gone the drive-through route, but most times I’m left wishing I hadn’t.  If for no other reason, the cost adds up quickly.

Any of the above foods can be cooked in minutes, for those of us who aren’t programmed to linger for an hour over breakfast (though that can be really nice with family on days when time’s not a factor).  I’ve changed the way I cook my eggs now, and instead of half-raw squiggly egg whites, these come out firm, with a nearly-crisp buttery underside, regardless of how firm or runny one prefers the yolk.  (I like mine somewhere between mostly-firm to really firm)

I simply cook my eggs the way my paternal grandma did, only she used bacon grease to cook hers.  We don’t eat pork, so I take a small skillet and dot the surface of it with a few dots of olive oil.  I then add a small pat of butter and then turn the heat to medium-high, just till it’s all melted together (doesn’t take long).  Using the olive oil with the butter keeps my butter from turning to burnt brown yuck.  Just as soon as it’s melted and hot, I turn the heat down to medium-low (3 or 4 on my dial) and crack some eggs into it.  I sprinkle with sea salt and pepper (or whatever spices I want) and immediately cover with a lid.  Fitting the lid over it gives it an even cooking.  When the center is done to my liking and the edges are bubbly and crisp, I take a metal spatula and divide the portions however I want and slide the spatula underneath and remove to serve.  I like mine on a thin piece of whole wheat toast and topped with a spoonful of salsa.  You could also keep on going with it and add some shredded cheese just before removing from the skillet, just when it’s all melty and delicious, and add fresh snipped herbs…mmm!  It’s also good As Is, with a cooked portion of turkey sausage…or whatever you like.  In summertime, I love mine with homegrown tomato slices and cracked pepper.  Eggs on toast…now I think of them as Yum rather than Yuck!

Here’s a pic (above) showing the egg turned upside down (as is in the very top pic, too), to show how the white is cooked firm with a crisp bottom side.  It comes right off in one piece when removed from the skillet (which also makes the skillet easy to clean.)  A whole world of difference from squiggly rawness…

For someone who for so long stayed far, far away from eggs, this way of cooking them changed that for me.  And from start to finish, including washing the skillet, it takes no more time for me to make than going through a drive-through…

…at least on those days when “ya gotta eat. ”  I still like my solitary cup of tea most days.  (I love most teas, but keep returning to my faithful standby.  It used to be Earl Grey.  Then I cheated on the Earl and now it’s Constant Comment even over all those other lovely exotic ones.) 

But when breakfast, that proverbial Most Important Meal of the Day, is on the menu, there are some great, fast, homemade options…the very best of fast foods.

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