aka Birthday-Love Brunch. Saturday was RJ’s birthday and to celebrate we went to 2 parties for other people’s birthday’s…upside to that one, saw most of our friends and didn’t have to plan a thing – nice one!
That said we also went out to dinner on Friday evening ourselves [finished off with an incredible Sticky Banana Pudding with Coconut Ice Cream – there was a sparkler in it, didn’t get a pic as we could not wait to dig in, maybe next time, will probably tell them again it is his birthday so we can get another sparkler, no shame here], and Saturday morning after a run I made these eggs and mushrooms for brunch. So for starters – little hearts for dipping in the eggs can you resist??? and also, I LOVE these mushrooms – so easy to make but they taste like them came from a restaurant.
We go out most weekends for brunch and I fully admit to being a breakfast snob these days. It doesn’t have to be fancy, or expensive but it has to be really, really tasty. Dry eggs and crappy grocery store bread toast – I’ll just have tea thanks, and no breakfast menu after 12 on a weekend? what’s the point? We have made our way around many a city and through Ricotta Pancakes with bananas, Corn Fritters with avocado, Israeli Eggs Shakshuka, Huevos Rancheros and the ultimate – NYC Crab Cake Eggs Benedict. And although these really are just simple fried eggs, they do stand up as cafe quality, with the added bonus of sitting on the lounge still in our running gear to eat them. I even used a bit of butter [horrors] as a special treat.
So what is your favourite brunch item, and how far would you go to find it?
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Heart Egg Toast and Garlic Mushrooms
Ingredients:
4 organic eggs
4 slices multi-grain bread
butter
1 1/2 to 2 cups mushrooms*
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp thyme
2-3 Tbsp white wine
Olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper
Mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette to serve
Under 100 words:
Cut out hearts and lightly butter one side of bread slices and hearts. Lightly toast buttered side in medium pan. Remove, spray pan and put bread back in with toasted side up. Crack in egg, cook till done, covering pan for the last 2 mins to cook top of eggs.
Saute garlic and thyme in olive oil with salt and pepper, add mushrooms, saute till tender and lightly golden, deglaze pan with wine and simmer until reduced down.
Serve with lightly dressed salad.
Full Method:
Eggs: Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to press out the centre of each slice of bread, set aside. Lightly butter one side of the bread slices and one side of the heart cut-outs. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Place the slices of bread butter side down and cook slowly until lightly browned.
Remove bread, lightly coat pan with cooking spray and put the bread, including heart pieces, back in, un-cooked side down [toasted side up]. Break the eggs into the centre of each slice of bread and cook for 3-5 minutes till done to your taste. Cover pan for the last 1-2 minutes so that the white cooks through. Season with a pinch of salt and crack of pepper.
Mushrooms: thickly slice or chop the mushrooms. Place pan over medium heat and crush or grate a clove of garlic into a splash of olive oil. Cook for a minute with the thyme, some salt and a bit of pepper. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or so until golden and tender. Pour in wine to deglaze pan and simmer until alcohol is evaporated off and almost all of the liquid is gone.
Plate Egg Toast and Mushrooms with some mixed leaves and a splash of balsamic vinaigrette. Serves 2.
Notes:
- For the mushrooms I use Swiss Browns when I can get them. They are baby portabellos and a bit heartier than standard mushrooms, but plain old white button mushrooms will work just fine. For larger caps, slice thickly or cut into cubes, smaller ones can just be halved or quartered. Remember, mushrooms cook down by at least half if not more by the time they are finished!
- You can flip the bread slices quickly at the end to really cook the tops of the eggs, or pop the pan under the griller [broiler] for a minute or two – just watch it carefully.
- If you have a flat griddle it is probably the time to take it out, I had to use 2 frying pans, #HintHint
I make egg toast all of the time, but not with a heartshape 🙂 and not with garlic mushrooms. I LOVE the idea of complementing the toast with the mushrooms. What a great meal!
Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is collecting links to dishes using garlic. I do hope you link this in. This is the link . Please do check out some of the other links – there are a lot of good ones already. Cheers