Comfort food

This is comfort food for me: Eggs. Cheese. Top with bread and/or grits. Perfect.

Since VentureBoy was away tonight at a networking event (This is all part of the current trend that involves techie hipsters who know where to eat. If you need somewhere to go for delicious coffee or an underground cave that serves ridiculously good tacos, find someone who works in graphic design and man-handles their iphone, and ask him or her.  This particular event’s location has a gorgeous, restored-wood whiskey bar downstairs and a hip California-inspired eatery above it.) I decided it was high-time to make an egg sandwich for dinner.

For me, after a long day, there is nothing better than this. I think my obsession began in college when I was broke and forced to eat from my campus’ meal plan. Eggs were cheap and this became my go-to dinner/late-night snack. And it continued. I’ll never forget the first time I anxiously asked my husband what he thought about egg sandwiches. Sigh of relief when he responded with “That sounds sooo good….” Thank you Lord!

Recently my world was ROCKED when a favorite blogger of mine introduced me to the concept of the perfect egg sandwich (also notice the link on this blog to smittenkitchen. Enough said.) Everything I knew about my version changed in an instant. Could there be a better way? Yes. Absolutely, positively, yes. And the first time I made this recipe I watched in wonder as the egg cooked evenly and the yellows brightened then mellowed;

the cheese melted at just the right temperature to be gooey and perfect when you slice into the egg/cheese pouch it creates inside two slices of bread.

And truly, I am convinced- it is the perfect way to make an egg sandwich, takes less than five minutes to assemble, and will, I promise, personally revolutionize your current breakfast conundrum or like me, obsession with egg sandwiches.

Bon appetit my friends. May your days be long and full of lazy egg sandwiches.

Recipe for The Ultimate Egg and Cheese Sandwich

You’ll need: An English muffin or two slices bread of your choice

1 to 2 teaspoons butter or oil

1 egg

Salt and pepper

1 slice of cheese or a tiny pile of grated or crumbled cheese

Spoonful of sliced scallions, chives, crumbled bacon, or whatever else you want in your eggs

Put the bread in a toaster. Heat a 9-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, on medium. Beat one egg with ½ teaspoon water (or two eggs, with 1 teaspoon water), a couple pinches of salt and a few grinds of black pepper until just blended (ok here is where I add more than a couple pinches of salt and Greek seasoning. We can blame this on being raised to eat country ham for breakfast- which meets a large animal’s daily sodium requirement). I always use a fork for this.

Melt butter in your pan or brush it with oil, to thinly coat it. Pour in the eggs and roll them around so they cover the pan, as a thin crepe would. Immediately plop a square of cheese (or, for VentureBoy a slice of Velveeta) or a small pile of grated cheese (for me) in the middle. Toss whatever fixings you wish on top of the cheese. I really like red onion or scallions. A single egg will cook in 1 to 1½ minutes; two eggs in 2 minutes. You’ll know its cooked when poking into it with a corner of your spatula won’t cause any loose egg to slip through to the skillet.

Fold the part of the egg closest to you over the cheese, like the first part of a business letter fold. Repeat this on the three remaining “sides,” forming a small square. You can also have fun here and fold it into a shape that matches your bread- or, in my case, just make it so it will fold-over in general. Leave the folded egg-and-cheese in the center of the skillet to cook for another 30 seconds, then slide onto you muffin or toast. Top the sandwich with the other half and eat it at once. (This is the part you don’t want to be lazy about).

*Recipe taken from acupofjoe.com.