Salty and Sweet Egg in a Hole Recipe

Photo: Matt Armendariz

Egg in a Hole
Serves 1 or 2

I make this exactly the way my mom made it. It’s the same perfectly salty and sweet sandwich that fed me on so many mornings and helped make my taste buds the way they are today. I love you, mom.

2 slices thick-cut Brioche
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp brown sugar
Fleur de sel for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 475°F/245°C. Make a 1-in/2.5-cm hole in the center of each slice of bread.

In a large ovenproof saute? pan, melt the butter and add the bread; cook until brown. Flip the bread and carefully crack an egg into each hole. Quickly sprinkle each slice of bread, not the egg, with 1 tbsp brown sugar.

Immediately transfer to the oven to bake. Don’t try to brown the second side on the stove, that will happen all by itself in the oven. Bake until the egg white sets, but the yolk is quite runny, 6 to 8 minutes. But check your egg at 5 minutes, as a firm yolk ruins the pleasure of this simple dish.

Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel.

This is best the moment it emerges from the oven. Does not keep well. 

Excerpted from Huckleberry by Zoe Nathan (Chronicle Books, 2014).

Try more of Zoe’s recipes:
Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Vanilla French Toast