This saucy dish is part of a collection of recipes written to benefit the National MS Society. In 2008, my sister Lexi (then 21 years old) was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. We formed a team of friends and family called MS is BS (Mind Strong is Body Strong), and each year we raise thousands of dollars for MS research. This recipe was written in tribute to a generous donation towards my $1500 fundraising minimum for the 2013 Capital Challenge Walk, a two-day 50K walk through Maryland, Virginia and DC. Learn more about team MS is BS on our website at http://msisbs.org.
Brunch Buddies 4 Life
Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t take ages to forge a friendship of worth. Case in point, take my BFF Tara – we met as sketchily as a Craigslist missed connection (not that I know what those are all about…) Back in 2010, my homegirl discovered Adesina’s Kitchen through our fave food blogger hub, FoodBuzz. After hitting me up for my thai dumpling recipe, I meandered over to her site What We Chow, and found that we enjoyed waxing poetically over luxe ingredients, price tag be damned. I was enamored at the prospect of making her virtual acquaintance, but had no idea that shit was going to get real. Pronounced: rull.
Fast-forward to 2011 – I’m in Hawaii with the hubs for a wedding, roasting my skin to glorious George Hamilton status. Daydreaming about what tropical delicacy we should rustle up for dinner, I think, “Hey dummy, maybe you should text your food-blogging buddy who lives in effing Hawaii. She might know where to eat.” Rather than a mere suggestion of a few places to hit up, the hubs and I are invited to join Tara at the Social Media Club of Honolulu’s happy hour celebration in Waikiki. Seeing as the assault threat was low, we didn’t phone friends to let them know where we were going before heading off to our impending murder. We arrived, donned our name tags with our Twitter handles (What up, @adesinamedia and @redwhiteandblueshirts?) and chatted the group up with the most important news of the day (such as, “Did you know that the German word for tramp stamp roughly translates to ass-antlers?”) Tara and I cackle the night away, and she invites me over to her house the next day. Was it weird? Nah. Should it have been weird for us to go to the house of someone I met online that we’d only hung out with for 2 hours? Probably. But dinner solidified our belief that we were kindred spirits – we planned to cook a lavish feast together, but ended up nibbling octopus poke and partaking in a liquid dinner of vodka and 8 hours of conversation. It was ludicrous and resplendent and perfection, and I was actually depressed to board the plane and leave my new amiga.
All of these years later, Tara’s the friend that I feel like I’ve had for a lifetime. Though our initial connection was food, I love her to bits for the myriad things we have in common (to include peppering convo with the most creative of essential curse words). When I think up dishes for those that I love, my mind always turns to comfort food, and eggs and bacon is reserved for the best of the best. Forks be damned on this one.
Creamy eggs swirled with white truffle oil, crispy pancetta and peppery arugula are dying to be scooped up with pieces of flatbread. But why stop there with the majesty when you can gild the wedges of bread with black truffles and melted fontina.
It’s a dish worth swooning over, and one that I’d reserve for only the baddest bitches in my life. This recipe is a luxe breakfast, meant to be made for those that you love. In fact, consider making this for brunch, lunch, dinner or a late night snack – you’ve got to make it when the key players are present rather than waiting for the perfect time of day. I hope this recipe will give you an excuse to gather your VIP crew for a morning/noon/night of glamour. You know you want to.
Truffled Eggs with Pancetta, Arugula and Fontina Flatbread
This recipe calls for naan as the flatbread, but you can use any anorexic bread that you see fit. In fact, if you want to get all DIY, you can buy/craft some pizza dough and bake as rounds to slather with truffles and cheese. Also, if your besties don’t want any pork on their forks, skip the pancetta for a vegetarian delight.
Makes 4 servings
- 2 large pieces of naan
- 2 tbs. of chopped black truffles in oil
- 1/2 c. of shredded fontina cheese
- about 1-1.5 oz (3-4 slices) of thinly sliced pancetta, roughly chopped
- 2 tbs. of butter
- 6 eggs
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of white pepper
- 1 tbs. of white truffle oil
- a couple handfuls of wild arugula
Get started by turning your broiler on high. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper (a silpat if you have one, or good old-fashioned aluminum foil sprayed lightly with cooking spray) and plop on the flatbread. Spread the black truffles thinly across the bread and sprinkle with the shredded fontina. Pop into the oven and cook until cheese begins to turn golden brown – I like my flatbread to look blistered with crispy bits of cheese. Pull out the flatbread and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over high and add the pancetta, cooking until crispy. While the pancetta cooks, crack the eggs into a bowl and scramble with the salt and white pepper. Add the butter to the pan once the pancetta is bronwed, and slide in the beaten eggs. Lower the heat to medium low and slowly stir the eggs until they form luscious curds. Cook the eggs until they are still glistening and barely set – you’ll want them to be wet to form an unctuous sauce for your flatbread.
If you are feeling fancy-pants, compose the plate by spooning the eggs into a ring mold and topping with the fresh arugula before removing the mold. Otherwise, dish up the eggs in saucers and top with loose handfuls of the arugula. Drizzle with the truffle oil and freshly cracked pepper. Using a pizza cutter, slice the flatbread into long triangles and tuck the tips into the eggs. Feast.
So here I am hazily meandering through a hangover, which is only slightly made better by the overly greased eggs I did have for breakfast and I see this. I’m all WTF?! Why didn’t I see this earlier? Oh! I know why, because now I can watch sinfully awesome Sunday night TV while eating this. And then tomorrow, I’ll span the 6 hour time zone to leave an appropriately profane message about how awesome it was and how much I just loooooooove you. Always grateful for your friendship and willingness to share recipes and swear words with me. Xo
I’m holding you to this promise, chica bonita!