Egg in the Basket

Work is getting a bit hectic again and I'm neglecting my cooking escapades. But during a casual and slightly distracted browsing session a few weeks back, my eye was caught by something called Egg in the Basket. What an intriguing twist on egg on toast, which I really like.

So when the whole clan packed themselves into two cars and went off to the English countryside for a long week-end of celebrating Lundulph's birthday, I decided to try this out and it was quite a success!

Unfortunately no fancy birthday cake this year for my darling Lundulph and the cupcakes I made together with Lou and Falbala didn't work out too well either, but at least everyone got a nice breakfast.

Traditionally when the whole family gathers, there is full English breakfast to be had and it is normally done by Lundulph's Mum. I just sneaked in with a hole cutter, and carefully cut out rounds from a few of the bread slices.



After wavering for a few seconds on whether I should butter the bread or not and realising that it would be trickier still, since I'd already cut the holes, I opted for not buttering.

Instead, I headed up a little oil on medium in a pan and placed the bread slices, two at a time and cracked an egg into each hole. I also put in the cut out circles to give them colour.



As you can see, the pan was a little too small, so the egg ran out under one of the bread slices.

Unfortunately, the circles were a little small and the egg would require longer to cook than the bread. I wanted to avoid burning it, so I had to flip each Egg in the Basket, which I feel ruined the visual appeal somewhat.



But with a slice of bacon and a big mushroom, it was lovely and the yolk was nicely gooey too.

Next time, I want to try and improve on the visual aspect of this dish and have the eggs with a "sunny side up". I'll fry the toast as before, but instead of flipping it , I'll put it under the grill. I'm hoping this will do the trick. Update to follow.

Update 2012-09-23: As a special Sunday breakfast and to try out the rye loaves I made yesterday, I tried out my plan and it worked! I got to use my fancy cast iron pan, which works both on a hob and in the oven. But alas, it has been ages since I used it and I had forgotten how thick bottomed pans work and over-cooked the eggs. But they were "sunny side up", yay!