It was good to have our friend, Matt, round for breakfast this morning. We haven’t seen him since his sister’s wedding a couple of years ago so we seized hold of the opportunity of him spending a couple of days in Oxford to get together. A hearty breakfast was called for so we had a bit of a fry-up featuring, among other things, crunch eggs.

It is an idea I got from Simon Rimmer’s The Seasoned Vegetarian. To start with, you fry some breadcrumbs in oil; I used the oil left over from frying up the sausages and bacon (so not quite a vegetarian meal!). If required, top up with a bit more oil and then break the eggs and add them as for frying. Once they are cooked on the bottom, flip them over to ensure both sides get a coating of the breadcrumbs (and also to speed the point at which they are thoroughly cooked so as not to end up burning the breadcrumbs too much).

The result is a filling addition to breakfast or, with less excuse for extravagance, a good breakfast in its own right. Rimmer’s recipe also adds a dressing of vinegar and chilli sauce but we decided we didn’t need that this morning as we were serving ketchup instead.