Appetizing Muse

Wilbert worked late yesterday, which translates into coming home at nine o'clock in the morning. For the first time in many months, I took pity on him. He was exhausted, forlorn and hungry. After he left the house again to walk Foofer, I decided to fix his breakfast. Since this is such a rare occurrence in my house (food is the last thing on my mind in the morning), I had the idea of whipping-up something new and unusual. Sometimes this works, others not. I lucked out this time.

My husband is a big fan of McDonald's breakfast foods, so I tried to prepare something similar. I started out by baking country biscuits from the refrigerated pre-made dough, and then peeled and grated four small red potatoes. Into the spuds I stirred salt, black pepper and a touch of paprika. I warmed up my large cast iron skillet, melting about a tablespoon of butter. I added the grated and seasoned potatoes, shaping them into four elongated squares. Since my skillet is roomy, I also added lunch meat sliced into strips (turkey bologna and deli-thin pastrami), moving them around so they browned evenly.

In the meantime, I broke two eggs into one of my custard cups with a dab of cream, and then beat the mixture until all of the yolks were mixed in. I then microwaved the custard cup with the egg mix, cooking in two increments of thirty seconds each, stirring a bit in between, but being careful not to break the shape of the developing egg mold. Cooking eggs in the microwave produces light and fluffy fare but rarely dry unless overcooked.

Once the biscuits and potatoes were cooked, I was ready to put the meal together. To assemble one serving, I sliced a biscuit in half and layered the cooked lunchmeat, half a slice of American cheese and half of the cooked egg mold. The result was a breakfast sandwich of sorts, with the square potato "shapes" on the side.

Wilbert loved the meal, phrasing me many times over (whether from meal satisfaction or because getting breakfast from me is such a hallowed occasion I'm not sure).

A few variations might include sausage patties instead of lunchmeat, or grilled Aussie Biscuits or English Muffins instead of prepared biscuits. Hollandaise Sauce or sausage gravy could also prove to be savory variations.