Classy Poached Egg on Toast - Less than 15 Minutes

Do you know the #1 reason why food in restaurants is better? Because they're better chefs? Because they have the best cooking gear? Because they prep for hours and hours? No, none of the above.

The reason why their food tastes better is because they use THE BEST INGREDIENTS. It's hard to build a Formula One race car out of junk parts or create a beautiful gown from terrible fabric. If you buy the best ingredients --- fresh, organic vegetables, fresh herbs, good pasta, spices, good cuts of organic meat, fine cheeses instead of Kraft etc., you will instantly raise your cooking game 1000%. Yes, you will pay a little more, but:

a) shopping will become an interesting, fun, educational experience.
b) your food will be much healthier.
c) the process will be much faster because you don't need to cook and season the hell out of your food for it to taste good.
c) your food will taste like the bombzo.

I'll get more into ingredients later, but to prove the point, here's what I made for breakfast today, which was really simple, fast, healthy and only took me 10 minutes.

Poached Egg on an English Muffin, with Pancetta, Arugula and Parmesan

What you'll need:
1 egg
poacher (can use microwave if you don't have one)
6 leaves of fresh organic arugula, rinsed.
1 slice of nice pancetta
fresh grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper

Add an inch of water to your poacher, drizzle a little olive oil into the one of the poaching cups so your eggs don't stick, and crack in your egg. Put a pinch of salt and grind some pepper over the raw egg. Crank the stove up to high and put the top on.

If you don't have a poacher, crack your egg into a small, microwaveable sauce dish (little white ceramic guys are perfect for one egg). If you don't have one of those, use a coffee mug - just make sure you put just a little olive oil in the bottom and smear it around with your fingers so your egg doesn't stick. Microwave in 20 second intervals until the egg is cooked to your liking. You can push on the center with your finger to feel how firm the yolk is getting.

While your egg is steaming, get your toast into your toaster or toaster oven if you have one.

**A little trick for toast when your making an egg sandwich type deal. You want your muffin to have some crisp on the outside, but fluffy on the inside -- and to be able to cut it with a knife with relative ease. If my bread isn't totally fresh, I'll dab a little water on the muffin (bottom and top) and toss it in the microwave for 15 seconds or so, until the bread is soft and moist. Then I put it in the toaster. This will make the bread crispy, yet soft and easy to eat under your egg, instead of a bulletproof rock.

While the bread is toasting, take your arugula and give it a quick rinse under the sink. Put it on a paper towel and pat it dry.

Check on your egg -- turn the range down to medium-high heat so you can control the cooking speed better. Push on the yolk with a butter knife or your finger. I like mine with a soft-boiled yolk, so I cook until it's medium firm. It's a feel thing, and don't worry if you over cook it or under cook it, it's going to be good either way. After a couple of times, you'll get the timing right.

Check on the toast -- when the top starts to look nice and golden, open up the toaster oven if you have one, put the slice of pancetta on top and set the oven to broil. This will get the pancetta nice and warm and get the fat to start to soak into the toast. If you just have a toaster, Fuhhgeddabowdit! The pancetta will taste just fine without being warmed.

By now, your egg should be done and you're ready to rock and roll!

Turn off the heat on the stove and take the top off the poacher. Then take your toast out of the oven and put on a plate. Grab the arugula and place it on top of the pancetta. Take the egg-poaching cup out of the pan, grab a butter knife and go around the edges to make sure the egg doesn't stick, then slide that puppy on top of your bed of arugula. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on the top, and finish by drizzling some olive oil on top (that's for you Jamie O.).

That, right there, is about as good of an egg dish as you're gonna get anywhere and it can be done in under 15 minutes! And, it should look beautiful as well.

Note - this picture is lacking the parmesan cheese.

Until next time.