We all have those leftovers in the fridge that never sound good. Read more about bringing those lame leftovers back to life.
You’re not going to whip up a gorgeous, Instagram-worthy, three-course dinner every night of the week. And neither are we. Most nights, we’re gonna heat up some leftover takeout rice, slice up some cold steak, or, yeah, just toast some bread. That’s perfectly fine. But if you want to take things to the next level (i.e. make your dinner a little less sad), all you have to do is put an egg on it. Or in it. Heck, any way you involve an egg is guaranteed success. You know this already.
But when should you scramble ‘em? When is a fried egg ideal? What foods really need a poached egg? George Weld, chef and owner of Egg, Brooklyn’s obsessive homage to the incredible, edible protein, has the answers. Here’s his guide for making even the saddest dinners better.
Bake the Egg
You can dress up sad pizza by baking an egg onto the slice as you reheat it. Just cook until the white is set—that should give you enough time to get the slice hot. It’d be especially good on a slice with spicy meats like soppressata or pepperoni.
Semi-scramble or Sunny-side up
For fried rice, whisking the egg and throwing it in at the end of cooking—going the classic egg-and-fried-rice route—is still hard to beat. But if you fry the rice hard, so that it gets a little crunchy, laying a sunny side egg on top of the plate once you’ve cooked it would be a nice alternative.
Scrambled
For steak, if you’re not worried about appearances, go for scrambled—the juices run together with the eggs, and you get it all in one perfect bite. As a bonus, you get the benefits of a fancy sauce like bérnaise without any of the trouble.
Read some of our recipes for tonight's dinner
Mayo
For roasted vegetables, go for homemade mayonnaise, maybe spiced up with some cayenne and heavy on lemon. It’s an egg preparation that people forget about, but it’s super easy and delicious and worth the 5 minutes it takes to make.
Scrambled
If you’re reduced to eating toast for dinner, I’d go with a scrambled egg. Scooping eggs onto your toast will give you something fun to do to distract yourself from your empty shelves. Also scrambled eggs on toast is really one of the best things on earth.
Soft-Boiled or Poached
I’d drop a soft- or medium-boiled egg into chicken soup, or else a poached egg—the yolk will thicken the broth, making it richer in texture and taste. But, that said, I’m never so sad that I’d eat chicken soup for dinner.
You have the framework for some great leftovers. Take the things you've read and try adding eggs to things we didn't mention.
Cook up some crowd-pleasers with these delicious recipes from Rosemary Farm.