Eggs-traordinary Toasty Baskets November 3, 2008
Posted by Teresa in : Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch , trackbackThis recipe is another gem from Rachel Ray’s 365: No Repeats cookbook! Great for any meal (not just breakfast). Preheat the oven to 400 °F.
Get out your muffin tins!
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1/2 small onion, chopped
- 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices soft white bread (but I used multigrain and it was delicious as well)!
- 3 Tbsp. melted butter (unsalted)
- 1 tomato (vine-ripened, if you have), chopped
- 4 eggs
- grated parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or other cheese
Preheat a small skillet over medium heat, add 1 Tbsp olive oil (once round the pan) and the chopped bacon, and cook for 3 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp. Add the garlic, onions, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes.
With a serrated knife, cut the crusts from the bread. With a rolling pin (or a large jar or glass), flatten each slice or bread as thins as you can get it. Nestle each thin slice of bread into the cup of a non-stick standard 1/2 cup muffin tin, pushing the bread down on the bottom of the tin and pushing it up the sides. It should be all the way up the sides, or slightly above. If the bread rips, don’t worry about it, just smoosh it together a little. If your muffin tins aren’t non-stick, put some melted butter in first, then the bread. Either way, once the bread is in, brush it lightly with melted butter.
Add the tomatoes to the bacon and onions. Turn the heat up a little to evaporate some of the liquid of the tomato, about 1 minute. Also, one time when I made these, I cheated and used bacon bits (gasp!) instead of real bacon, and it worked okay! I just don’t buy bacon very often! So I added the bacon bits now, after the tomatoes, and stirred it all together.
Working one at a time, crack the eggs into a small bowl and the carefully transfer to the bread-lined muffin tins. The goal is not to break the yolk. Alternately, you can scramble the egg and pour it in that way. I found that I had to pick the smallest eggs I had – the large ones would flow over the side. So, I was also thinking that if your eggs are big, you could scramble 3 and pour them into 4 muffin tins (I’m going to try this next time I make them). Anyways, you get the idea. Sprinkle the egg with salt and pepper. Top each egg with some of the tomato-bacon mixture (1/4 each) and then a little cheese. Place in the hot oven and bake for 15 minutes! How easy was that?!? You could also change up the ingredients a little – like using feta cheese (my idea), adding green olives or sausage instead of bacon (Rachel Ray’s idea). Experiment (but don’t go crazy)! 
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