Hit the mark with an egg in a hole

Egg in a hole with a diamond-shaped hole.

One of the breakfast favorites at our house is the egg in a hole.  It's amazingly simple and somehow different from the routine in a way that makes it special. At its simplest, it's a hollowed out piece of bread with an egg fried in the middle.  Here's how it's done:

• Take a piece of bread (I prefer the wide-pan whole grain varieties) and spread one side with butter or margarine.
• Place the bread in the pan with the buttered-side down.
• Spread the other side with butter or margarine.
• Cut out the shape of your choice - circle, square, triangle or diamond - and place the cut-outs in the pan to the side of the main piece of bread.
• Put the pan onto the stove and turn the heat on high, letting the first side get a head-start on the egg to get nice & crispy.
• After a minute or two, crack the egg over the hole and slowly pour some of the egg white into the hole so it pre-cooks slightly and helps keep the egg all together in the hole.
• Once that pre-cooked layer is down, dump the rest of the egg into the hole.
• Turn the heat down and let the egg slowly cook in the hole.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Once the egg is mostly cooked and not runny, flip it over and try to get the back side of the bread crispy.
• Remember to flip over the cut-out pieces of bread as well.
• Serve with the little bread cut-outs.

Lilly was the one that brought the egg in a hole to our breakfast repertoire, having learned it from her Aunt Cilla on a beach trip. Alex informs me that his boy scout troop knows this as "Bullseye Eggs." If you haven't served an egg in a hole at your house yet, give it a try some time as a nice surprise.

Enjoy!