Ah, breakfast, the most important meal of the day! Being the kind of guy that I am, you’d think I started every day with a decent breakfast. But sadly, that is not the case.
My weekday mornings are usually hectic and consequently a proper weekday breakfast is a rare occurrence. My morning routine usually involves waking up, hitting the snooze button, waking up again, taking a quick shower, brushing my teeth and grabbing a quick bite that can be chowed down as I walk to the station.
In stark contrast, though, my Saturday mornings are, if at all possible, spent sleeping in, waking slowly and preparing myself a slow, simple breakfast consisting of all things good and hearty. I want to make the best of my days off and that usually means starting the day slowly and spoiling myself with a good breakfast.
Frying up a few eggs for a perfect Saturday breakfast
One of my Saturday breakfast favorites as of late has been two eggs on a roll with a side of quality coffee. It’s probably not good for me, but it adds to my quality of life and if had only once a week, really, who cares? I’m not really good at penning down and sharing recipes, but this one is so stunningly simple that I feel reasonably safe sharing it here:
Simple pleasures: Two eggs on a roll with chorizo
Ingredients
- Four to six thin slices of Spanish chorizo the dried, air-cured stuff
- Two farm fresh eggs
- One high-quality breakfast roll of choice
- Sriracha-style hot sauce to taste preferably home made.
- Small knob of butter
Instructions
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Grab a non-stick skillet and put it over medium heat, add a small dab of butter and let melt. Add chorizo and fry gently, allowing the fat to render out into the pan. When crisp and browned, remove from pan and set aside.
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Crack two eggs into the pan and cook to your liking. Popular choices include sunny side up, over easy or scrambled. I prefer mine sunny side up with a pinch of salt and a generous helping of sriracha hot sauce.
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Heat your roll on a toaster or in the oven, cut in half and pile on the chorizo followed by the eggs. At this point, you may want to add a slice or two of Parma ham, Serrano ham or other air-cured ham, it only makes things better.
This recipe uses butter, which naturally poses the question: can I substitute oil, margarine or leave out the additional fat altogether? The rather obvious answer to this question is simply: No, of course you can’t! What are you, some sort of savage?
It’s as simple as that; all your breakfast needs in one handy, cholesterol-laden package. Need a little something on the side? I could think of nothing better than a quality cup of coffee:
Brewing the perfect cup of coffee
Another important Saturday morning ritual for me is brewing a proper cup of coffee to go with my breakfast. Again, this is not something I usually do on weekdays. On those days, I drink whatever the office has to offer. Consequently, I always spent a little extra dough, dedication and time on my weekend coffee.
Brewing the PERFECT cup of coffee. This Italian custom import coffee given to me by my friend Tina really set me going on finding the perfect coffee recipe.
Getting my weekend coffee just right has taken quite some time and effort, especially after I was recently given a small package of custom import Italian coffee by my very good friend Tina. She brought me a bag all the way from Italy and requested I have a taste and tell her my impressions. That and she insisted I brewed her a good cup one day.
Naturally, if you’re going to give your impressions on a product she brought you all the way from Italy and you are subsequently going to share the goodness, you owe it to yourself – and your friend – to do whatever you can to get as much flavor out of the product as at all possible. So, after quite a lot of research and geeking about, I think I’ve finally nailed the perfect way to prepare a cup of coffee. In the end, the internet came to my aid with this procedure from the hands of one of my culinary heroes, Alton Brown:
The perfect cup of coffee, as dictated by celebrity chef Alton Brown
- 24 oz of cold water (710 millilitres)
- 8 tablespoons of quality coffee (120 grams)
- a small pinch of salt
No, trust me, you read that correctly! The perfect cup of coffee starts with quality coffee, and lots of it! You’ll want something that’s as expensive as you can afford and has a taste and roast profile that you enjoy. You’ll have to experiment yourself and figure out what you like. You are the boss of your own morning cup of Joe! Whatever you choose, you’ll want it to be freshly ground, though. Preferably you’ll want whole beans and grind them yourself on a daily basis.
No coffee grinder? Get one, seriously! Or at least buy your coffee in a store that will grind to order and buy only small quantities so it will always be reasonably freshly ground. Alternatively you can do what Tina did for me on her trip to Italy: buy quality coffee that’s been ground then vacuum packed in small batches to preserve flavor. Reseal and use as quickly as you can after opening.
To get started, add two tablespoons of coffee to your coffeemaker per (6 oz) cup of coffee, you plan on making: eight tablespoons total. That sounds like a lot and it is, but trust me, it’s the amount needed to extract the full flavor from the coffee. And no, your cup of Joe won’t get harsh and bitter, that’s the very reason for adding so much coffee to begin with – plus you can always add boiling water after brewing if it’s too strong for your palate.
Why this ungodly amount of coffee? Well, a lot has been said about extraction of flavor from coffee beans, and it would take forever to explain. If you are curious, though, look here for a pretty good round-up.
When through measuring out coffee, add a pinch of salt. Yes, salt. This may seem odd, but it helps draw out flavors and aromas, and it helps further reduce bitterness. Don’t believe me? Try it! I didn’t believe it myself, but now I couldn’t dream of brewing my weekend coffee without it!
Finally, add 24 oz of clean, very cold tap water to your coffee maker. If living in the US or anywhere else where chlorine is added to the water supply, use filtered or bottled water. You don’t want chlorine in your coffee. That should go without saying.
Now, turn on your coffee maker and just walk away and do something else for a while. You may be shaking from withdrawal, but you’ll want to leave this to brew until it has run completely through. Don’t be tempted to snag a quick cup mid-process. Leave it to finish and trust me, your patience will be rewarded. Once done brewing, grab yourself a cup and have a taste. If it’s too strong for your liking, add some boiling water from a kettle.
Now, enjoy the best cup of coffee you’ve ever had.. Alongside one of the best breakfast meals you’ve ever had.
What more could you want? What more do you need? Nothing! For me, this is simple perfection. And a good start to any Saturday. The perfect breakfast. Done! Enjoy your two eggs on a roll with your side of quality coffee and your favorite morning soundtrack. My soundtrack of choice this Saturday morning was, somewhat inappropriately, this classic cover by Willie Nelson:
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