I get so little sleep on the weekdays that one of my favourite things to do on the weekends is to sleep until noon. Unoriginal, I know, but that leads me to my second farvourite part of weekends: stumbling into the kitchen in my boxers and raiding the fridge for scraps of food from the week and making brunch.
This morning, I managed to scavenge two strips of extra thick-cut berkshire pork bacon, a tupperware of leftover pasta sauce, half a giant shallot that had been wilting on the counter for a few days, and the last of the ramps from Forage and Feast. I contemplated making a bacon and ramp pizza, but that just seemed like too much work on this lazy Saturday, so I opted for baked eggs.
If you’re looking for a good trade off between effort and gastronomic gratification, I can’t think of many things that will beat these baked eggs. They come together in about 10 minutes and all you need to wash afterwards is a cutting board, knife and a pan. Your sleepy toil will be rewarded with soft yolked eggs nestled in a bed of luscious tomato sauce, with tender strips of smokey bacon in every bit.
Don’t have bacon? Use some ham, sausage, or a left a leftover chunk of roast instead. You could even omit the meat all-together, and use olive oil to make a pan of vegetarian baked eggs. The shallots, ramps, and parsley could be swapped out for any member of the onion family and fresh herbs of your choosing. All you really need are the eggs and some kind of sauce to bake them in — left over curry anyone?
Ingredients
- 2 strips thick-cut bacon sliced into 1/4-inch strips
- 5 ramps bulbs minced , leaves chopped
- 1/2 can stewed tomatoes chopped
- salt to taste
- honey to taste
- 2 large eggs
- 1 handful parsley stems removed and chopped
- ricotta insalata or other salty cheese
Steps
Preheat your broiler.
Add the bacon to a small oven safe pan and fry over medium heat until some oil renders out.
Add the white part of the ramps and sauce until soft and fragrant. Add the ramp leaves and fry until they are just wilted.
Add the tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper. If it's too tangy, you can add honey or sugar to balance the acidity out.
Use a spoon to make wells in the tomato sauce and then break and egg into each divot. Crumble some ricotta insalata on top.
When you see the bottoms of the eggs start to turn white, transfer the pan to the oven. Broil directly under the heating element for about a minute, or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.
Garnish your baked eggs with the chopped parsley and serve with toast.
