A Hole in One

The more observant among you may have noticed that I like sweets and that I like to bake. Hope I wasn’t too obvious about it! As I lazed about in true Cream Puff fashion wondering what sweet to make next, I realized that I haven’t spent any time on savory dishes from the Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month: Out to Brunch by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs.

My chronic sweet tooth means that I almost always choose something sweet for brunch. But I’m an equal opportunity Cream Puff so I decided to try something savory for a change. But what to make?

I decided to try some culinary golf and see if I could score (???) a hole in one, so to speak. If I’ve mangled any golf terminology you’ll have to forgive me. I’m a Canadian Cream Puff and my knowledge of sports terminology is mainly confined to hockey.   

Anyway … the golf equivalent of a hat trick is what I ended up with! A simple yet completely satisfying dish, you’ve probably had a version of this at some point in your life. It’s basically a slice of the best bread you can find, with a little hole cut out in the middle. A fresh egg is lovingly nestled in the hole and then cooked (either baked or fried) until ready. Serve with bacon and you have the perfect brunch dish. And no matter how old you are cutting a circle out of the bread and planting your little egg inside is just plain old fun!

I shall be returning to my beloved sweets soon, but for today, I’m going to make like Tiger Woods and enjoy my hole in one.

Fore!

Hole in One

Adapted from Out to Brunch by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 4 slices sturdy bread, sliced 1-inch thick (I used sourdough bread.)
• 4 large eggs
• salt and pepper

1. Butter both sides of the bread. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out a hole in the centre of each slice of bread. Reserve the cutout pieces of bread.
2. Melt the remaining butter in a skillet and saute the cutout pieces of bread until golden; set aside.
3. Add a bit more butter to the pan if necessary, and lay the bread in the pan. You may have to cook these two at a time so as not to overcrowd your pan. Cook the bread for one minute and then turn. Gently crack an egg into the centre of each slice of bread. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the bread begins to toast and turn golden on the bottom. Carefully, flip the slices of bread over and fry for another 1 or 2 minutes.
5. Serve with bacon and the fried cutout pieces of bread to dip into the egg yolk.
6. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe serves 4.

As part of the May Eat Local Challenge, I used eggs purchased from one of Ontario’s egg farmers. The delicious eggs I used were from the Clark Poultry Farm in Port Perry, Ontario!

Technorati tags:  eggs, brunch, mildred pierce, eat local challenge