The Foodology Collective

Toast, egg, and bacon (or in this case, prosciutto) in one handy package. Yeah, you're going to need a muffin pan.

I am not certain this falls under the umbrella of e-rock’s recent shout out to the incredible, edible egg, but I do know that I love breakfast at most any time, day or night. I made brunch with a friend a few days ago, and I wanted to share one of my old favorites. I have made something along these lines for years, but I had not made this ridiculously simple recipe in quite some time, and upon doing so again I am sure it will become a regular once more. With just a touch of patience, this is a super-quick and elegant hit, every time.

Compact Breakfast

Serves 2

• 4 thin slices of La Farm Rustic Sourdough, crust removed
• 2-3 slices of Prosciutto di San Daniele
• 4 Bladen County family-farm fresh eggs from Kelly, NC
• Maple View Farm heavy cream
• Chopped garlic chives
• Grated Grana Padano
• Butter
• Kosher salt
• Cracked black & white pepper

Preheat oven to 375°. Butter the muffin pan, and butter the bread on each side. Press each slice into muffin cups with all 4 corners pointing up. Bake for 4-6 minutes, depending on thickness of the bread slices, until browning begins.

Remove the pan, and put the prosciutto on the bread in the bottom of each cup. Crack an egg in each cup, and add 1-2 teaspoons of heavy cream per cup. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the pan back into the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the whites are just finished to the desired consistency.

Remove each CB from the pan with a silicone spatula, and smother with desired amount of cheese and garlic chives, immediately.

Consume!

As mentioned, this recipe is super-easy, as long as you pay attention to the cooking time on your bread and eggs. Presentation on this writes itself (although you could chop the garlic chives finer than I did; I was worried about the eggs over-cooking while taking this marginal iPhone pic, sorry), but the taste is even above and beyond the visual. This is definitely as easy for 12 as it is for 2. Clearly the ingredients are somewhat flexible, but I like to note local flavor where pertinent.

Furthermore, I chose garlic chives as they are more like garlic than chives, just milder. And although chives may seem optional for this dish, I’d say they are too intense amongst the richness of the egg and cream.

I chose Grana Padano for similar reasons, as it is also mild, in comparison to something along the lines of Parmesan. And despite Prosciutto di San Daniele having far more delicate flavors than other prosciutto, I chose to flash it briefly to bring out the salt a bit.

Really, just pay attention to the time you cook the eggs.