Penguin Anniversary Edition: The Return Of The Naked Chef
By Jamie Oliver
Midnight pan-cooked breakfast
Crispy bacon, runny eggs & crusty bread
30 mins
Not Too Tricky
serves 4
Recipe From
Ingredients
mushrooms
higher-welfare smoked or unsmoked bacon
ripe tomatoes
higher-welfare sausages
large free-range eggs
olive oil
crusty bread, preferably sourdough
Method
Me and this dish go back a long way. To the pre-shaving days of being an under-age drinker down the Wagon and Horses in Saffron Walden with a fake ID and all my village mates. Only once in a while of course. But seriously, without trying to sound like a lagered-up geezer, I think everyone’s experienced the need for food around midnight, whether the binge was small or large, otherwise why would kebab shops be so popular in Britain? Anyway, I always used to have three or four friends back to my house for munchies or to stay the night and this dish was devised so we didn’t have too much trouble making it or too much washing up to do. In actual fact, I only had to wipe the non-stick pan clean. It also makes its way from the pan to the plate quite quickly, as patience isn’t a virtue at that time of night with my mates!
- First of all, get the biggest non-stick pan available, and preheat it on a high heat while you gather your ingredients. Obviously you wouldn’t be organised at this point so it’s a matter of using what you’ve got, but ideally I like to have mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, sausages and eggs.
- By the time you have got these together the pan will be hot, so slice your sausages in half lengthways and pat them out flat so they cook quickly. Place in the pan at one side.
- On the other side of the pan, put a tiny lug of oil and place a pile of mushrooms over it which you can rip up or leave whole.
- Shake the pan about a bit to coat the mushrooms and season with some sea salt and black pepper. Push to one side, then lay some slices of bacon and halved tomatoes in the pan.
- Cook for a couple more minutes until the bacon is crisp and golden. Shake the pan and turn the bacon over. Now is the time to put a round of toast into the toaster.
- At this stage you should respect the rustic and authentic look and shuffle everything about so that it’s all mixed together and add 2 or 3 eggs at different ends of the pan. The whites of the eggs will dribble in and around the sausages, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms.
- Turn the heat down a little and continue to cook for another minute before placing the pan under the grill and finishing the eggs to your liking.
- Using a non-stick pan I’ve always found the removal of this dish to the plate extremely easy – it will resemble a frisbee and will slide on to your plate with no trouble at all. Doesn’t that sound appetising? But honestly, it really is a gem.
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