Oh brunch.
I remember you.
My early twenties, waking up from an adventurous night – feeling my stomach touching my spine and needing to fill it fast – knowing that after some coffee (as hot and black as possible without ensuing 3rd degree burns), eggs (made as easy as possible without getting salmonella) and bacon (so extra cooked that it crumbles as soon as a bite is made) will give me the energy to be human again and hit the beach.
Oh brunch.
You tease.
I remember you well.
You still exist in the really hip places such as New York and L.A. Up here on this mountain top, I’m not so cool. I was thinking of you when my children arose at 6:30 am. I quickly became adventurous. I knew that serving a hip brunch at 11:oo am or noon was out the question….what was so wrong with 9am?
Although it was still accompanied with whining – exaggerations of “starving” bellies.
We usually eat at 7 am.
I kept asking my boys to be patient. Feeding their sweet, annoyed mouths a piece of bacon here. A strawberry there.
Patience my loves!
Go play. Enjoy the sun room where the sun is beating in over the fresh, white landscape. Soon my loves!
So there I worked with much vigor and precision to prepare my family a brunch I had discovered out of the current Eating Well Magazine. What an adorable meal. How can a hash brown cup ever go wrong?
They didn’t come out perfect. Here is pointer so yours will come out better than mine:
- Squeeze, and I mean squeeze for a good 10 minutes the hash browns in a towel. I did not squeeze mine long enough and low and behold…they stuck to the pan.
I will be tweaking the recipe a bit to make it perfection.
Happy sleeping in and eating your first fabulous meal of the day at noon with close family and friends!
Ingredients
Canola or olive oil cooking spray
6 cups frozen shredded hash browns, fully thawed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tapatio
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 thin slices prosciutto (about 3 ounces), halved crosswise
12 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously coat a 12-cup nonstick muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Put hash browns in a clean kitchen towel; working over the sink, squeeze and wring the towel to remove as much liquid from the hash browns as possible. Transfer to a large bowl; stir in oil, rosemary, hot sauce, pepper and salt until combined. Divide the mixture among the muffin cups (about 1/3 cup each), then press into the bottom and up the sides of each cup to form a “nest.” (There should be a solid layer in the bottom of the cup, but it’s OK if the hash browns don’t go completely up the sides.) Generously coat the hash browns with cooking spray.
- Bake the hash brown nests until golden brown on the bottom and edges, about 30 minutes.
- Lay 1 piece of prosciutto into each hash brown nest, letting it overhang the edges. One at a time, crack an egg into a small bowl and slip it into a nest. (It’s OK if some of the egg white spills over.)
- Bake, rotating the pan front to back halfway through, until the eggs are cooked to desired doneness, 10 to 15 minutes for medium set or 15 to 18 minutes for hard set. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of each nest a few times to loosen completely, then use the knife to lift them out of the tin. Serve sprinkled with chives.
High Altitude Adjustment
- Hash browns may dry out quicker, add another tablespoon of olive oil.
Compost
- Egg shells
- Rosemary stems
- Chive trimmings
Recycle
- Prosciutto container
- Herb containers
- Egg carton
Reuse
- If you have hash browns leftover, put into a ziploc bag and freeze for future brunch side dish.
- Leftover chives: sprinkle on any savory dish to add an aesthetic touch and dimension.
- Leftover rosemary: add to any savory dish to get a deeper earthy taste.
Relax, take the morning off and enjoy yourself a leisurely breakfast and the hottest cup of coffee you can manage. Cheers to brunch friends.
