hello sweetie pies! how are we doing? how far along are we in watching the new season of great british baking show? personally i have only watched one episode and i would like to be able to blame it on the fact that i’m watching it with my parents who are not big on the whole binge-watching thing, but i am going to be real and say that i am not so good at watching tv these days either. the two genres of tv that i have any interest right now seem to be:

  1. Pure And Good Shows That Make You Cry A Lot (anne with an e, queer eye)
  2. show that are somehow related to food (mind of a chef, master of none, the dinner party episode of the office)
  3. shows that are pure and good and make you cry a lot and are also somehow related to food (great british, parts unknown, the episodes of chef’s table that feature women)

idk. yesterday i saw christopher robin for a second time, which teaches us the importance of Doing Nothing, but i have trouble concentrating on an episode of television for more than 5 minutes without feeling like there are better ways i could be spending my time.

anyway

this recipe comes to us from an episode of mind of a chef that features a man. but it’s whatever. ed lee is fine i guess and i admit to having a bit of a fascination with francis mallmann ever since, yes, yet another male-centric episode of chef’s table. i’ve never been drawn towards pyromania, and yet the desire is strong to bury vegetables amongst hot coals, remove them only once they’ve reached a point where they would look mighty silly calling the kettle black, and cut them open to reveal their beautiful smoky insides.

you know?

there’s something empowering and vaguely “queer eye”-ish in encouraging ingredients to be the very best versions of themselves without the addition of anything other than a little heat. so go ahead. reduce the hell out of your coffee until it’s a beautiful, concentrated, sticky mess. show your tomatoes how good life can be by purposefully turning their juicy flesh into a bitter, blackened crust that complements their sweetness perfectly.

“i wish i could have breakfast like this every day,” ed lee tells francis.

but ed, you can???

make your coffee reduction the night before, open the windows, turn on the kitchen fan, and set a cast iron pan over high heat. the rest isn’t much harder than making eggs, bacon, and toast.

-kara

coffee-dyed ham and eggs on toast with burnt tomatoes
 
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lightly adapted from mind of a chef, season 3, episode 3
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 4 cups freshly brewed coffee
  • 2-3 slices country ham
  • olive oil
  • 3-4 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 thick slice good-quality bread
  • 2 pats butter
  • 1 egg
  • freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. boil the coffee in a small saucepan over high heat, keeping a careful eye on it. immediately after the bubbling subsides, it will have reduced into a thick paste. remove from heat.
  2. add the slices of ham to the coffee reduction and stir to coat.
  3. open the windows! turn on the fan!
  4. drizzle olive oil over a cast iron pan and spread it around into a thin layer using a towel. set the pan over high heat. allow it to heat up until a droplet of water sizzles immediately upon being poured onto the pan.
  5. place the tomato halves face-down on one edge of the pan. leave them there, without touching them until you see the edges blacken and come away from the pan. it is hard to over-cook them so leave them there as long as you possibly can. remove them from the heat when their faces are nicely blackened. flip them over onto a plate.
  6. meanwhile, place ham slices on another edge of the pan and cook until they are beginning to blacken, removing from heat just before the syrup begins to dry up.
  7. once the ham is done, place the bread slice on the spot where you cooked the ham so that it soaks up all the bits of coffee and ham. top the bread with the pats of butter and cook until the edges of the bread begin to blacken, then flip over and cook on the other side for just a few minutes. remove from heat and top with the ham. pour any extra coffee syrup over the top of the ham.
  8. add a little more oil to the pan and crack an egg into the oil. cook just until the edges of the egg begin to crisp up and brown, and the whites have just barely set. place the egg on top of the ham and toast, and grind lots of black pepper on top, as well as onto the tomatoes. you won't need any salt because the ham is already quite salty.
  9. enjoy enjoy enjoy!