Recipe Review: Toad-in-a-hole

Toad-in-a-hole (or whatever you like to call it!)
Recipe Link: Pioneer Woman

1 loaf of Farnsworth Family Farm bread by Avalon Bakery in Detroit, MI
Eggs from Grazing Fields Farms Co-op out of Charlotte, MI
Butter
Pepper
Salt
Clancy's Fancy Xtra Hot Sauce if you like!

Preparation
If you're an American and not some sort of horrible Communist, chances are you love breakfast! Similarly, if you're an American, chances are you work many hours a week and don't have a lot of time to make elaborate, gut-busting meals in the morning. (Fact: Communists don't believe in hard work.) Fortunately, there are plenty of quick, hot breakfast meals out there that will fill your belly without making you late for your appointed 9-to-5 drudgery. So drop that Propel and Clif Bar and make a proper breakfast, you Red Menace you!

Today's recipe, which has many names but which I prefer to call toad-in-a-hole because it sounds vaguely British, is about as easy as you can get. All you need is a slice of bread and an egg for each TIAH. Today, I'm using Avalon's Farnsworth Farm Family sourdough bread because it's damn delicious. You could conceivably pull off this recipe using plain ol' chemicaltastic white bread, but really. Really. Fresh bread is best bread.

Additionally, I'm using the good ol' Grazing Field eggs that I used way back in my botched deviled egg recipe. Let's hope I do them more justice this time!



First, melt a tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat. If you have problems with this step I suggest you quit. Just go quit life.



Crack egg. Put bowl. Don't you think eggs are pretty cool? I think they're cool.



While the butter is melting, we need to make a nest for our eggy. Taking an upturned glass (or, if you're fancy, a biscuit cutter)...



...we press it into the bread, twisting as needed...



And hey presto! Our bread has a great big hole in it and we've got ourselves a little bread circle. By now the butter should be suitably melted, so we can start cooking!



Plop the bread onto the pan...



And plop the egg into the hole! Get it? Toad-in-a-hole!



Salt and pepper the egg and bread as you like. I can't abide bland breakfasts, so I go nuts with the salt and pepper. But even if you don't like pepper or avoid salt, use a little bit. Please? The egg will thank you.

Cook the egg for about a minute and then carefully flip the whole package with a spatula.



Ohhhhhh, look at that buttery, eggy goodness. It's like some sort of wonderful little food present. Salt and pepper the backside, and cook for about another minute. I suggest periodically tapping on the yolk with a spatula to achieve your desired level of doneness. I like the yolks to be nice and runny, but if you want your egg over hard, just wait until the yolk feels firm to the touch.



Remove the skillet and guess what? You're done! What was that, like all of five minutes? See, there's no reason to not eat a hot breakfast. What were you going to do, eat a banana in the car? Forget that dumb fruit! I've got some salt and butter and egg that says YOU CAN EAT BETTER.



Trust me, this tastes GREAT just plain, but this is also a great dish to season how you like. I'm going with Clancy's Fancy cuz I likes the heat, but you could put just about anything on this dish that you would normally put with eggs. Bacon, sour cream, peppers, onions, mushrooms. Even ketchup if you're one of THOSE people. But whatever you do to it, this'll remain a fast, flavorful, fun dish for true blue AMERICANS on the go.

Rating: 8/10 - Easy as pie and tasty as hell!

Contact me at mibeerguy@yahoo.com if you've got any questions, suggestions, or requests!