Asparagus With Fried Eggs and Parmesan Cheese

Lately, I have been eating eggs on everything. Partly because I have so many fresh eggs thanks to a wonderful friend, but mostly because I love them.  I think they are great on leftover veggies like zucchini or roasted potatoes. But lately I have been eating them regularly on asparagus and this is my new favorite! It is simple idea and super healthy and as far as I’m concerned you can never have too many breakfast ideas. In fact, this is a great lunch or light dinner too. 

 Honestly, just cook an egg or two to your liking and put on top of some veggies, top with parmesan cheese and viola! a healthy breakfast,  lunch, or dinner! I will give you the asparagus and eggs recipe adapted from cooks illustrated, which is a great recipe and makes for a pretty presentation. It works great if you are cooking the asparagus at the same time you want the eggs but I will also give you my quick, “lazy” method for leftover asparagus. The instructions may seem lengthy, but it boils down to quickly and easily broiling some asparagus, and cooking up some eggs, keeping the yolks soft and a bit runny. If you don’t like your yolks runny than cook longer until firm. Once you work through the cooks illustrated recipe once or twice it will be easy the next time. The original cooks illustrated recipe is for a serving of 4, using 4 eggs and 2 pounds of asparagus. I broke it down so you can just make it for the amount of servings you need. 

Asparagus with Fried Eggs and Parmesan

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Ingredients

  

• 1/3 to 1/2 pound of asparagus per person ends trimmed
• 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of olive oil per pound of asparagus enough to thoroughly coat it
• Salt and pepper
• 1 to 2 eggs per person
• Butter for cooking eggs about 1 Tbsp for 2-4 eggs, 1/2 Tbsp for 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese per serving

Instructions

 

For the Asparagus

• Adjust the oven rack about 6 inches from the broiler and heat the broiler. Place the asparagus in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with enough olive oil to coat- I use a little under a Tablespoon for a bunch of asparagus. Season with salt and pepper to taste and Roll the asparagus around until evenly coated.
• Broil the asparagus until they are beginning to brown lightly and stalks are tender (can easily pierce with a knife). Remove the pan from the oven and set the asparagus aside, leaving the broiler on.

For the eggs

• Meanwhile, heat a non stick skillet (that has a cover) over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes. While pan is heating crack open your eggs into a small bowls, up to 2 per bowl and have them ready- you want to add the eggs at the same time so they cook through at the same time. I would only cook up to 4 eggs in the skillet at a time so if you need more just cook them in batches or use 2 skillets. Add the butter to the skillet and let it melt and foam. When the foam subsides ( the butter should not brown) swirl to coat the pan.
• Quickly pour eggs into the pan (if cooking multiple eggs pour them from opposite sides of the pan at the same time). Season the eggs with salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and cook for 2 1/2 minutes- you will still have runny yolks (they finish cooking under the broiler). This is the step you may have to adjust after cooking an egg or two- you may have to adjust the time as the heat may vary with the size of your burner or type of pan.
• While eggs are cooking- Place the broiled asparagus spears on a heatproof platter (or leave them on the baking sheet) and separate them into piles for each person (or a single pile for 1 person)- If you made extra asparagus to save for another day then just place what you need in piles and store the rest. Place 1 or 2 eggs on top of each pile. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese evenly over the eggs and place the platter/pan under the broiler to melt the cheese slightly, about 30 seconds. Serve immediately.

To use leftover asparagus or for a less fussy method

• Just cook the eggs to your liking- fried- over easy or sunny side up and season with salt and pepper. Heat the leftover asparagus in a pan or use freshly broiled asparagus. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the hot egg and asparagus and it should melt fine. See how easy that is!!

Notes

I will usually broil up a bunch of asparagus one morning and save the rest for breakfast during the week, just using my quick method.

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated