Brunch with the Boy

With every Sunday morning comes a few standard questions, like "just how late can I sleep in?" and "how exactly am I going to procure my first cup of coffee?" Today those answers were "only 9:15 - really?!" and "by prodding Matt awake after 2 hours of attempting to entertain myself."

I cannot brew a good cup of coffee for the life of me, so if I'm on my own, it's off to Dunkin' Donuts. However, on lucky mornings like this one where with a few good swats of a pillow I had roused my roomie, there was a pot brewing in no time.

After sipping my hand-delivered coffee in bed, I was ready to tackle the issue of breakfast. All it took was cracking open the refrigerator door.

Boston Organics had delivered a bunch of asparagus the Friday prior. They were big, bright, and beautiful - just begging to be eaten - and the first mode of cooking that game to mind was grilling. I pictured those diagonal marks seared into each stalks and there was no turning back.

Paired with a simple breakfast sandwich - egg, tomato, English muffin, and cheese - this was a quick and easy breakfast that I will surely repeat. This was more than enough for Matt and I (we each had two sandwich halves and a large stack of asparagus), so depending on how hungry you and your company are, it could serve up to 4.

BREAKFAST SANDWICH with GRILLED ASPARAGUS (original recipe)


(original photo)

INGREDIENTS

Sandwich:
2 English muffins
4 eggs
4 slices of sharp cheddar cheese
1 medium tomato
Butter
Salt and pepper

Asparagus:
1 bunch of asparagus spears
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Turn the oven broiler on low. Preheat your grill pan over medium heat.
2. Wash and dry the asparagus. Break off the woody bottoms by holding one end in each hand and bending the spear away from you. They will break in the appropriate place. (You can also just chop off the bottoms all at once if you'd like, but I've found snapping them to be the most accurate method in terms of separating the tender bit from the inedible ends.)
3. Place the asparagus on a plate and drizzle with olive oil. Add freshly ground salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Place the asparagus in the grill pan so that they sit perpendicularly to the ridges. Turn after about 7 minutes and finish cooking on the other side.

While the asparagus grills ...

4. Preheat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Melt a pat or two of butter into the pan.
5. While the butter is melting, separate the English muffins into halves and place onto an aluminum foil-lined sheet pan. Place under the boiler for only a minute or two until very lightly toasted.
6. Crack four eggs into the frying pan. Grind some salt and pepper over each egg.
7. While the eggs cook, wash and slice the tomato and butter the English muffins.
8. Once you've flipped the eggs and they've finished cooking, assemble your sandwiches on the sheet pan: buttered English muffin half, 1 slice of tomato (salted), 1 fried egg, 1 slice of cheese (I used sharp cheddar, but something like Monterey Jack or Swiss would be nice, too). Place under the broiler to melt the cheese. NB: DO NOT LEAVE THE SANDWICHES UNATTENDED. Broilers are something fierce. This should only take one or two minutes, tops.

E voila! Timing the asparagus and the sandwiches can be a bit difficult, but err on the side of the asparagus being done first. Better they wait for the sandwiches than the sandwiches wait for them.

- M