I'm definitely more of an eggs and bacon girl than a milk and cereal girl when it comes to my breakfasts. So in this blog edition we recount a common brunch fare I make for myself and friends on the weekends. Breakfast potatoes with a fried egg on top. Just remember, the key to this meal is bacon grease! Mmmmm.
So first, choose your ingredients for the potatoes wisely. We opted for garlic, mushrooms, onions (more than were shown), and bacon (obviously). Now you may want to cook bacon strips to eat on the side, but I'm a fan of chopping the bacon and having it mixed with the potatoes. My suggestion for you: try both. The more bacon, the better.
Once the chopping is done, you're ready to start cooking. Take your skillet and add the bacon, no additional butter/oil/grease required. Once rendered (fancy term for cooked), remove the bacon to a paper towel, but leave all that delicious and fatty grease behind.
With the bacon set aside ever so gracefully, you can start cooking your other ingredients. Begin with the garlic and onions. Once the onions are soft you can add the mushrooms. It's important to space out your veggies based upon what will take the longest to cook. Also, with mushrooms, they're full of moisture, but initially they will suck up the cooking liquid and once they're sauteed, they will release it again, so don't worry if your pan suddenly appears too dry. After a couple minutes of cooking your veggies, you can add the potatoes. The bacon grease will ensure they get nice and crispy on the outside, but we're concerned about cooking through to the center as well. So a trick I use is that after about 10-15 minutes of sauteing and crisping I'll add a liquid. I usually go for white wine or chicken broth. The liquid will after a few minutes evaporate completely, but not without first helping to poach the potato and promote a softer interior. I'll add about a quarter cup of liquid at a time.
When the potatoes are cooked to your desired level of doneness, add cheese, herbs, scallions, etc. Anything you don't want to cook, but want in the potatoes. This is also the time to add back the bacon. (We opted for shredded cheddar at this point in the game). If you want to keep the potatoes heated until you're ready to serve them, the oven is another option for finishing these babies off. All in all I'd say you're looking at about 15-30 minutes of potato cooking time to achieve your desired level of softness or crunch as the case may be.
Now for the final touch, I add a fried egg on top. Of course, the egg must be cooked in bacon grease. Cook it to your liking, but I highly suggest leaving the yolk runny to seep down over your potatoes. To serve, plate the potatoes, put the egg on top and add whatever else you'd like on the side. Delicious, full service breakfast on a plate or in a bowl.
Ingredients: Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, Mushrooms, Bacon, Chicken Broth, Cheddar Cheese, Eggs
And to prove we aren't giant grease-eating carnivores, we even sliced some peaches and strawberries to balance out the meal. (Though I won't comment on how much of this fruit we actually managed to eat).
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