Egg in a Nest

From Egg in a hole, Toad in a Hole and Eggy in a Basket to Hobo Eggs, it seems that everyone calls this breakfast treat by a different name. But from now on I will call it Egg in a Nest thanks to a comment left on my Flickr photo! An egg tucked into a piece of bread and fried? Prior to 2006, I had never heard of such a thing. The first time I saw it was not in a kitchen but inside a movie theater. Actually, it was in a kitchen in the movie. V for Vendetta to be exact. Of course I didn’t realize that it was something that people actually ate in the real world. It looked very odd and I couldn’t figure out how the egg got into the bread! Of course I feel pretty silly now because it’s so simple to make! Thanks to my friend Nicki for the tutorial!

The first time I made this, I used homemade bread and I was able to cut some nice thick slices of bread. The thicker the bread, the smaller the hole needs to be. You can cut the hole with a knife, a small glass, a biscuit cutter, or anything else that you find handy. Or you can just tear a hole out of the center with your hands. It’s up to you, it’s your breakfast! T’his time around, I used a biscuit cutter to make a fairly large hole because the bread wasn’t very thick. It worked perfectly. I buttered one side of the bread, placed the dry side down in a buttered cast iron skillet, cracked an egg into the hole, sprinkled with a little salt and a lot of freshly ground black pepper and let it sizzle away for a few minutes. From here you can do one of two things. When the egg starts to set, you can carefully flip the bread over and cook it to your liking. Or, you can pop the whole pan under the broiler for a minute or two. This time around, I chose the latter and it worked rather well. I think I’ll stick with the broiler method from now on!

It’s nice to start the day off with a smile so whether you’re cooking for the kids or just tired of another boring breakfast alone, fry up some Eggs in a Nest and have fun!