When I was growing up, fried egg sandwiches were one of my mother’s specialties, and we often had them for lunch on weekends. The sandwiches were made in her New Mexico cooking style: The eggs were turned once and fried until the whites were crisp around the edges and the yolks were well set. Then they were transferred to slices of white bread that had been slathered with mayonnaise, and a lettuce leaf was slipped between the egg and the bread. Here’s my contemporary version of that homey sandwich. Its siren call of melted, oozing cheese and added bonus of sausage bits turn my mom’s simpler lunchtime sandwich into a mini-meal on bread. In keeping with the pizza theme, I call for sweet Italian or Tuscan sausage. But American Breakfast Sausage (page 10) or Spicy Garlic Sausage (page 48) would also do nicely.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2
Add just enough oil to a large sauté pan to film the bottom and place over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into chunks and add it to the pan. Cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside in a warm place.
Step 3
In the same pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Crack the eggs into the pan and cook until the whites are firm, about 5 minutes, or until done as you like. Set the pan aside in a warm place with the eggs still in it.
Step 4
Cut the bread loaf crosswise into thirds, then split each section lengthwise. Place, cut sides up, on a rimmed baking sheet. Lightly brush the cut sides of the bread with oil, then divide the cheese evenly among them. Sprinkle the chile flakes over the cheese, arrange the tomato slices on the cheese, and then top evenly with the sausage.
Step 5
Bake until the cheese melts and the bread begins to turn golden around the edges, 7 to 8 minutes.
Step 6
Place a fried egg atop each “pizza” and serve right away.
