Busy Night Eggs

I'm sure that I've mentioned before how much I enjoy the "What's for Dinner" conversation at CanadianBudgetBinder on Facebook. It's always lively, in part because there's a new question to discuss each day.  

Recently, the "What's for Dinner" discussion was about our go-to dishes for busy nights.  Eggs immediately sprang to mind. They're wonderful things to have in the fridge:  Quick to cook, nutritious, and inexpensive. They're versatile too.  A little imagination is all it takes to cook up something really quite wonderful.

There are some egg dishes show up on my table with great regularity.  Busy Night Eggs are one of them. Busy Night Eggs are changeable things:  Based on what I have on hand and different almost every time. They all have one thing in common though: They're all made with Spike seasoning.* 

Spike's been around for a long time. I first learned about it in my maternal grandmother's kitchen.  It remains one of my very favourite ways to season eggs.  

Spike contains no chemical additives to keep it from clumping so you'll need to use a table knife to give it a good stir in the jar each time you use it. It's worth the effort.

Here's the version of Busy Night Eggs I'll be eating for supper tonight.  For each serving you'll need:

• 1 Tbsp. of oil, or butter, or other fat (I'll be using pork fat I rendered myself, from a whole pork leg.)
• 1/2 cup cubed cooked potato
• 1 thinly sliced green onion (scallion), divided
• 1 tomato, seeded and diced
• Spike seasoning
• 2 eggs, beaten
• black pepper
• Grated cheese (I used manchego but whatever you have on hand will do)

Melt the pork fat in a frying pan over medium high heat, then add in the potato and the white (root) part of the green onion.  Don't rush the cooking of these.  Let them sit until they take on a little colour, then stir and let them sit again, repeating the process until they're nicely browned.

Add in the tomato and a generous amount of Spike. Continue cooking and stirring until the tomato is heated through and softens up a bit.  It won't take long.

Add in the beaten eggs and move them around in the pan until they start to set up, forming soft curds.  Take the eggs off the heat while they're slightly undercooked.  They'll continue carry over cooking on the plate, and you don't want them to be dry.

Season the cooked eggs to taste with freshly cracked black pepper, then grate some cheese over top of the dish. Garnish with the chopped green tops of the scallions.  

Easy Peasy, right? Enjoy!  


*I am not being paid or provided with promotional considerations by the company that makes Spike.  I've included it in this recipe because I really like it a lot.  I think you will too.