Brielle's Avalon

Fancy scrambled eggs? A crust-less quiche? Fast breakfast/brunch/lunch/dinner/midnight snack? Whatever, whenever, it’s easy, yummy, nutritious, satisfying and as easy or fancy as you like. It can also plate-up looking like an elegant masterpiece of Haute Cuisine or a mass of glorified scrambled eggs. Either way, what matters is whether it tastes good…unless you’re in a cooking competition, so relax and make it yummy.

Chop onions, vegetables and meat to use. Go easy on wet stuff like tomatoes, but broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini or whatever is left after last night is good. Ham and bacon are pretty standard favourites. Grated cheese is good, too. Do the prep ahead because once the egg starts cooking it goes FAST! You don’t need much of any one thing, so this is a great way to use up those bits of leftovers that aren’t enough for anything else.

Melt bacon fat, duck fat or butter in a skillet or just add olive oil to the heated skillet. Actually, any fat or grease you happen to have and like will do.

 Put the chopped onion (as much as like) in the hot oil to saute as you prep the eggs.

 I figure 2 eggs per person. We had 3 for dinner tonight, so I used 6 eggs. Add some milk (about this much, more or less).

 Season the eggs with pepper, garlic, paprika, basil…anything that sounds good. Scramble well with a fork. It’s fun to get all stabby on the yolks first, too.

Pour over the onions in the pan.

 Scoot the eggs a bit as they firm up on the bottom so the liquid eggs can slide under and cook. If you tear or break the eggs just let the liquid fill it and mend it.

 Once it’s mostly firm, quickly add the chopped vegies (I forgot the broccoli!) and meat. and cheese. Fold. If all you can do is one fold, in half like a taco, that’s fine. If you can manage folding one side over to the middle, then the other side over that or just rolling it in the pan, that’s OK too. With practice you can make pretty omelettes to rival any chef. The point is to make something tasty but you do get points for making it pretty on the plate.

 Divide into portions and serve. Ignore the hammer on the table. We fixed a chair earlier. We were tired and were more interested in a quick meal than putting tools away.

Bonus: Cheesy toasted bread. French, Italian, home-made, artisan…whatever you happen to pick up on the way home or have laying around.

 Cut as many slices as you like, as thick as you like.

 Butter, season and cheese them. Stick under broiler until cheese melts or is as toasty as you like.

Bread, salad, soup and wine are traditional choices to accompany the meal, but it also stands alone as a single-skillet meal, especially if you really threw the fridge into it. garnishing with some parsley or dill from the garden is a nice touch, though. Juice, milk and plain old toast are fine sides as well.