Of all American holidays, Thanksgiving is the one we most associated with indulgence. The turkey is inevitably twice the size needed. And with so many delicious sides, it’s hard not to end up with a plate that looks like a Jackson Pollack painting in three dimensions.
As a host dreading the prospect of leftovers cluttering your entire refrigerator, you hope guests will eat heartily. And as a guest, well—indulging in that that third helping seems only the polite thing to do. Best not to attempt a mental tally of sticks of butter and pints of heavy cream.
Then, just when we’re your satiated body is sending desperate signals to your brain, out come the pies and ice cream. What does it even mean to “leave room” for dessert? Who has X-ray vision? Here, the very people who put time and love into baking those pies are watching to gauge your reaction. Who are you not to sample a slice of each?
As much as we love and look forward to Thanksgiving, we’re also thankful that it comes but once a year.
Oddly, the next morning, you may wake up semi-famished. Eating somehow begets more eating – which makes holiday weight gain a slippery slope. But if yogurt and berries won’t cut it, here’s a no-meat/no-butter/no- dairy breakfast that’s tasty, satisfying, and easy to make.
The dish itself goes by various names— none of them particularly appealing: Egg in a Hole. Egg in a basket. Eggs in a Frame. (Who thought of that one?) Bullseye Eggs. And the truly bizarre Gashouse Eggs, likely a bastardization of Gästhaus Eier, or eggs served in a (German) guesthouse. And it calls for only four ingredients: a loaf of crusty country bread, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, and rosemary. (Okay, and salt and pepper, which I’m not counting.)
Filling your kitchen with the pleasing aroma of frizzled rosemary, here’s a breakfast that’s far more interesting than any its names and even its ingredients suggest.
Ingredients:
- 1/2″ slices cut from a round loaf of crusty white country bread or as good a bread loaf as you have on hand
- 2-3 T, then more as needed, extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh or dried rosemary
- Eggs (one per slice of bread)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions:
- If your bread isn’t sliced, using a serrated knife, cut bread slices about 1/2″ thick.
- Working with one slice at a time, gently press the rim end of a shot class into the center, twisting until you’ve cut a round disk that you can lift out, leaving a hole.
- In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. Add the rosemary and let frizzle a few seconds until fragrant. Add one slice of bread and the round disk you removed from it.
- Grill bread over medium heat until crisp and golden on one side, 3-4 minutes. Flip and grill the other side about 2 minutes until golden.
- Pour a bit more olive oil into the hole, then carefully crack one egg into it. The white will spread under the bread (mostly), while the yolk remains undisturbed in the center. Add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Watch for the bottom of the yolk to begin to congeal, then cook to just under the desired consistency before gently flipping one last time. The challenge is to keep the yolk intact. If it breaks, however, it’s not a disaster. Just cook for about a minute, then slide the bread and egg onto a plate before the yolk solidifies completely.
Full disclosure: the longer a yolk cooks, the less likely it is to break. Because I prefer runny yolks, I flip early and take my chances. (Batting average: about 50/50). Like so much in life, it’s a tradeoff. Your eggs; your call.
Photos by Carolyn Swartz
