Tomato, Ham and Poached Egg Toast

Watching TV is bad for you.  Watching reality TV? Well let me put it this way; if you asked your doctor or your financial adviser whether you should bang your head against the wall several times or watch reality TV to relieve your stress they would both agree that banging your head on a wall is the better option.  You lose less brain function that way.

This recipe is my feeble attempt to justify the volume of reality TV that I've been consuming. As a new mom, when Kenny was first born last July, I felt justified in watching an entire season of MasterChef over a week and a half while I learned to nurse him (Thanks Hulu!).  Do you want to know what I learned from watching MasterChef? I needed to learn to poach an egg.

Being a big picture thinker, I quickly laid plans for the recipes I could try, the foods I could create.  I daresay, poaching eggs quickly became the linchpin in my master plan to becoming a professional Food Network competitor.  Was I delirious from lack of sleep and too much TV? Probably.

If anyone is wondering, I am a little behind schedule on my master plan.  See Exhibit A:

I've never poached an egg for a guest, and I typically ask Rob, "You want scrambled eggs, right?" even when I am going to poach eggs for myself.

Every once in a while, I can manage to poach an egg just right, and when I do, its delicious, and I typically eat the poached egg with leftover ham, grilled or fried tomatoes and wheat toast. 

The method that I use to poach an egg comes from one of my favorite food blogs Framed Cooks.  The step by step is so straight forward that you would think poaching an egg is easy, but for me it is not. The only change I've made to her step by step is adding 1T of Vinegar.  This seems to be standard elsewhere on the interwebs.   Maybe someday, I will get this poaching thing down.  In the meantime here's a recipe that serves one

Tomato Ham and Poached Egg Toast

Ingredients:

1 Slice of Ham (or a few slices of deli Ham)

2 Slices of Tomato

1 Slice of Hearty Wheat Bread

1 Egg

Butter

Salt

Pepper

1. Heat about 3 inches of water to simmering

2. While water is heating, melt butter and quickly fry ham and tomatoes with just a bit of salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2. Add some vinegar to the water

3. Gently crack Egg into a ramekin and then add to simmering water

4. Leave the Eggs alone for 3-4 minutes

5. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and blot dry with a paper towel

6. Toast Bread and butter generously

7. Layer ham, tomato and egg (add more salt and pepper)

8. Show off food to anybody who will listen and Enjoy!