Toasty eggs

So, no photo, you'll have to use your imagination one this one. But it was delicious enough I've got to get it down in writing before I forget how worth the extra 15min to cook breakfast and then do dishes this breakfast actually was. I had some leftover bread, specifically, one thick slice of Baba a Louis' cheesey herb bread, that was starting to get stale, but not moldy yet. And that is some tasty bread, stale or not, so I was determined to use it up before it went bad. I also have cheddar cheese in the fridge right now, and tomatoes, and basil, and one fresh egg from the farmer's market last weekend (not sure its still fresh in that case, but its probably fresher than the supermarket variety). The tomato and basil were from Anne's garden, I suppose as a thank you for taking zucchini... Anyway, talk about good ingredients, I had an armful of them.

So, a pat of butter into one frying pan, and down goes the toast to fry up one side. Meanwhile I cut the tomato into slices and sucked out the seeds and juice (it browns better with less liquid), can't let any of that deliciousness go to waste. I also chiffonaded some basil (just because I like that word), and sliced some cheese. Once the bread was toasty on one side, I flipped it, and put the cheese down on top of it. Also added the tomato slices to the pan, with some salt. I got another pan going with some butter to fry the egg. You could do this all in one pan, but I was hungry, and impatient. At some point, just as the cheese was softening up, the tomatoes were ready to flip.

And just as the egg finished, the toast was done and the cheese was almost melty and the tomatoes were done, so I put the hot tomatoes on top of the cheese to help it finish melting, added the basil, dropped the egg on top, and voila. Breakfast. Best eaten with a knife and fork, but boy was that delicious - crunchy on the bottom, cheesy, eggy, with tomato and basil and a hint of buttery richness... drool. This is worthy of a dinner!

Chanterelle scromelette

I may not have a camera, but, I have a computer with photobooth... which means, the photos are utter crap. Anyway, while we were up in Vermont, Ed and I wandered over to the chanterelle patch and picked up a couple last little yellow fungi. It is near the end of their season, if there even is such a thing, but we got a fair number, and so yesterday I used some of them to make a delicious scrambled omelette. These things start out well, and then I get impatient and the omelette just turns into scrambled eggs. This happens every time. Maybe someday I'll learn the patience...


Start with about a tablespoon of butter, and throw in the mushrooms, roughly chopped, then salt them with some kosher salt. They'll give up a ton of water, I actually had to boil off some mushroom juice before I could get down to cooking them until the edges are crispy. It'll take about 20 minutes, and probably 2-3 more tablespoons of butter, before the mushrooms are properly crispy on the edges and a little chewy in the middle, and fully delicious. At that point, add your two eggs, scromble them around (totally a word when you're talking about scromelettes), until they're cooked to how you like them, and dump the whole mess on a plate. I grated some parmesan cheese on top, with some salt and pepper, and it was sheer deliciousness.

You could do this with any sort of mushroom. But the wild ones taste best...