Super Easy Over Easy Eggs

One thing I inherited from my dad is a love for breakfast foods. My mom was happy waiting to eat until lunch time, but my dad loved breakfast. On the weekend our family would either go out to breakfast or my mom would make us a breakfast such as waffles with strawberries, eggs with bacon and hash browns, pancakes or muffins.

In my family, I am the one who loves breakfast. My husband and kids are content with cold cereal and milk or a piece of toast. Me? I would rather have toast, eggs and coffee. Or maybe an egg omelet with broccoli and cheese. Or how about a breakfast burrito. I can even go for oatmeal with berries and maple syrup. But cold cereal and milk? No thank you.

This morning was no exception. I cooked our eggs my favorite way: over easy. There is just something mouth-wateringly delicious about chewy egg whites with soft, runny yolk. Eggs are not one of the easiest foods to cook and cooking them in a cast iron pan just adds to the difficulty. After much trial and error, I have finally perfected the art of over easy eggs cooked in my cast iron pan.

Here is how I make my over easy eggs:

I start with my favorite, much loved, well seasoned cast iron skillet. Preheat this wonderful pan to medium heat (this is on my gas range). Next, add a generous helping of real butter. I probably used about a tablespoon or so. Coat the pan evenly with the sizzling butter.

Crack the eggs directly into the pan. I immediately sprinkle the eggs with sea salt. (My current favorite sea salt is Real Salt which comes in both a regular or kosher/coarse grind. Mine is the regular grind.) Next I generously grind pepper all over the eggs. And yes, it must be fresh ground. The taste is far superior to store bought pre-ground pepper. Once you switch you will never go back.

When the egg whites are mostly firm, get ready to flip those eggs! I never thought about how to describe this since I never use a timer and just watch for the eggs to get to that perfect, flippable stage. When they look about ready, I use my spatulata to separate the eggs from each other. (If they stay separated, they should be ready to flip.) Run the spatula around the edges of each egg, then totally commit to the flip by quickly shoving the spatula under the egg and flipping it over. (I like to flip them in such a way that the part of the egg that was in the middle of the pan is now on the outside and vice versa. That way my eggs cook pretty evenly.)

After a minute or so, I check to make sure that the egg whites are cooked. If the egg whites are cooked all the way through, use your spatula to scoop the yumminess off the pan and onto your plate.

Here is what is left on my pan after scooping the eggs off of the pan. Nothing is stuck! All this pan needs is a quick rinse under hot water; no scrubbing necessary.

To my eggs I added my rosemary onion diced potatoes. The potatoes were leftover from Tuesday, but after reheating in a skillet, they taste as fresh and delicious as the day they were made. Now this is my idea of a wonderful breakfast. My coffee isn't pictured, but trust me, it was there... and delicious. (Here is how I make my coffee.)

Now take a look at these perfectly runny yolks. I know some people cannot stand the thought of runny yolks, but I think eggs are wonderful this way. Runny yolks are like a quick and easy Hollandaise sauce for the eggs and potatoes.

Did you know that egg yolks are incredibly good for you? Check out this article explaining how healthy egg yolks are. You will never toss another egg yolk!

So go ahead, make yourself some over easy eggs and savor each bite.