Breakfast Taters

Breakfast is so versatile. In fact, it’s one of those meals people love to have for lunch or dinner. Nobody ever has dinner for breakfast. Well, maybe somebody has dinner for breakfast. There are 6 billion people in the world, one of these people probably eats dinner for breakfast.

Thank you for being one of the billions to read my blog!

This recipe for breakfast potatoes is perfect for an easy weeknight meal or a hearty start to your day.

BREAKFAST POTATOES:

Active time: 1 Hour

Serves 2

4 small Yukon gold potatoes

1 teaspoons of rosemary

Salt and pepper, to taste

Olive Oil

Chicken gravy, see below

2 scallions, sliced

4 strips of bacon, crumbled

1/4 cup of feta cheese

4 whole eggs or egg whites or both, your choice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil the potatoes in a large pot until you can easily stick a fork in them. This could take up to 30 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Once the potatoes are tender, place them on the baking sheet and smush each potato with a heavy glass.

Drizzle olive oil over each potato. Sprinkle them with rosemary, salt and pepper. Bake for about 12 minutes or until they get crusty edges.

PREPARATION TIP: You can boil the potatoes up to two days in advance. Once the potatoes have cooled, refrigerate in an airtight container. Reheat the potatoes in a 375 degree oven. If you are looking for a quick weeknight meal and don’t have time to prep in the beginning of the week, use fingering potatoes. They are small and will cook much faster.

BACON:

If you have never cooked bacon in the oven, do yourself a favor and cook the bacon in the oven. This is how restaurants do it, so hop on to this bacon train! Besides the fact you get lay flat bacon, you also relieve your self of cleaning up splattered bacon grease from your clothes and the rest of the kitchen.

While the oven is set to 375 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil. Try to wrap the foil up the sides of the baking sheet as much as possible. If you take this extra step, you will be pleased with the effortless bacon grease clean up. Lay your bacon on the foil and bake for about 12-15 minutes or until desired doneness. I like crispy but not burnt bacon. Some people like it chewy and I know a guy who likes his bacon charred. To each his own.

Prepare a plate covered in a paper towel to transfer your bacon when it is done cooking.

For easy clean up, let the bacon grease cool while on the pan. Then wrap it up in the foil and toss it in the trash. Never throw bacon grease down the sink unless you like paying plumbers to fix your drains.

So, you don't wanna throw away your bacon grease because you’re environmentally conscious? Well, I found a few interesting ways to reuse your bacon grease. Check out this link for The Real World Survivor.

CHICKEN GRAVY:

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1/4 cup of flour

2 cups of chicken broth

1-2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon

1/2 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Splash of cooking sherry

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Add flour to the melted butter and whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly pour in the broth and whisk until thickened. Add the sage, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Give the gravy a splash of cooking sherry, this will really liven up this dressing. Taste the gravy, if you think it needs more flavor, add a teaspoon of chicken bouillon and whisk.

Top: Chipotle Gravy Bottom: Sherry Gravy

GRAVY VARIATIONS:  Why not spice things up a bit with some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Leave out the cooking sherry and cayenne pepper and add a chopped chipotle pepper to the gravy. The chipotles will give your gravy a smokey heat that works nicely with the eggs and potatoes.

PREPARATION TIP:You can make the gravy up to two days in advance. Store the gravy in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Bring gravy to a boil when you are ready to use. You may have to add a touch of chicken broth to loosen things up a bit.

EGGS:

This is the last thing to cook before breakfast potato construction begins. I really can't tell you how to cook your eggs. This certainly is based on your preference. I LOVE over easy eggs, especially with this dish.

However, my husband is anti-runny eggs. So much so, when we go out for breakfast I have to order my eggs on a separate plate in case I don't finish something he wants to polish off for me. The egg goo can’t touch any of the food he may potentially eat.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE BREAKFAST POTATOES:

Place two potatoes on a plate, top with your two cooked eggs, gravy, scallions, bacon crumbles and feta cheese. Repeat with the other plate of breakfast potatoes then devour!

This meal is easily interchangeable with your favorite ingredients. For instance, you don't like feta and you have cheddar cheese in the fridge, use cheddar cheese. Let’s say you went to the store last week and you have breakfast sausage you have to get rid of before it goes South, use sausage instead of bacon. Better yet, use both!

Don’t be afraid to kick this dish up a notch, add some hot pepper flakes for the perfect zing.