Safe at Home

You won’t believe this, but I returned to Southern California this past weekend. Yes, two trips to SoCal in two weeks. And on both those trips, I avoided eggs, which is something that offends and prolongs my hangovers, and generally makes me unhappy. Oh how I craved the Huevos Rancheros in La Jolla!

I haven’t fully investigated where the bad eggs could have landed (but holy shit, the people behind this recall are awful, and I’m ashamed to say, Democratic donors), and therefore I have avoided anything but eggs I buy directly from a farmer.

Last week I fulfilled my craving with a roasted tomato egg salad, but after a weekend yearning for greasy egg sandwiches, I knew what had to be made for lunch upon my return.

Sautéed Onion Cream Cheese Under a Fried Egg with Cheddar Cheese

On weekends, I usually throw (freshly) grated cheddar on top of a fried egg. But this time I decided to spice things up a bit.

I slowly sauteed a very small onion (I’m loving those personal-size vegetables at the far mar: eggplants, tomatoes, zucchinis) in butter, then removed the onions, added more butter, cracked an egg, gently flipped the egg over and immeditately covered with cheddar. I threw a half sun-dried tomato bagel in the broiler as the egg cooked.

Because I’ve started to cook with cast iron more often, I could slip the pan under the broiler to melt the cheese and finish cooking the egg. Usually, I turn the pan on low at this point and put a lid on it to sort of steam the cheese into melting, but I was impressed with the speed at which the broiler worked.

I like a barely runny yolk for sandwich purposes, otherwise it’s a fucking mess to eat. While the cheese was melting, I slathered a thick layer of cream cheese on the bagel, tucked the onions into the cream cheese (a spin on chive, scallion, or other onion-enhanced cream cheeses) and then topped it with the cheesy fried egg, sprinkled with salt and pepper.