Pizza for breakfast? Heck yeah! Or if you are a late breakfast eater like I am, then this goes down deliciously mid-morning after a second cup of joe. So check out my video recipe below for a Quick Pizza with Egg to see how fast it all comes together.
Quick Pizza with Egg - VIDEO
Play it here, video runs 1 minutes, 24 seconds.
Of course you can have a Quick Pizza with Egg anytime of day. I never thought to try an egg on pizza until a vacation bike tour in Italy many years ago, where I first got an Egg Pizza at a restaurant in Venice. (Click here to see a video of my fun vacation time in Italy.)
I'm surprised egg is not used more often on fast food pizza. Like the first slice into a Mexican Huevos Rancheros where the runny egg mixes with salsa and refried beans, or a Southern breakfast of sunny side up eggs with biscuits and gravy, it's all about mixing in a creamy egg yolk. And you have it all with a hot pizza right out of the oven.
It's a rich eating experience hitting all the right savory pleasure points with egg yolk, melty cheese, and pungent basil with tomato sauce.
Using precooked pizza crust speeds up getting your meal to the table on time. Lately I get precooked pizza crust cheaply at the Dollar Tree store a couple blocks away. While not the best pizza crust I've tried, the added toppings help make up for any dough deficiencies. If you find a tasty precooked pizza dough, do leave a comment and tell us all about it.
The trick to using a precooked pizza crust is to not overcook, or it will dry out like a cracker. I cook my Pizza with Egg for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees in a preheated oven. As soon as the whites of the egg are solid and cooked, and the egg yolk still runny, I immediately remove the pizza. Of course, be careful taking that first hot bite!
You could use fresh pizza dough from the deli case too, just back time it, that is, if it takes 20 minutes to cook the dough, then top the pizza with an the egg during the last 10 minutes of baking.
If you can't find individual pizza crusts then slice a whole pizza crust to the size you like and work with that. It's easy enough to use the other half later, that is if you can stand the wait.Or make a whole regular size pizza and add 2 or 3 eggs on the toppings.
I find many types of tomato sauce at dollar stores. Everything from portabella mushroom to meat flavored, and chunky eggplant to just plain tomato sauce. There are even jars of "Pizza Sauce."
Get what you like in the can or jar, although I find a jar of tomato sauce easier to refrigerate and spoon from.
I kicked my Quick Pizza with Egg up a notch with fresh leaves of basil. I like to have a basil plant on my windowsill to pull leaves off. They go great in a Thai-style Basil and Chicken Stir Fry (my recipe is a click away here) and mixed into any favorite spaghetti dish.
You only need a few leaves as they are much more pungent than dried basil. But it's okay to sprinkle on a favorite Italian dried herb into any pizza tomato sauce you use.
Mozzarella is the preferred cheese for pizza toppings and I get small packets from 99c only Stores and Dollar Tree stores. For a serving or two, the small packets are a perfect serving size at about 3 to 5 ounces each.
I also find dried parmesan but it's not as good as what you find in a typical grocery deli case.
And many types of processed cheese can be frozen for later use. I like to freeze grated cheese because it defrosts in just a few minutes, as apposed to blocks of cheese. If what you find on sale is a block of cheese, just shred it with a box grater and freeze grated cheese in a Ziploc for later use.
Eggs aren't as cheap as they used to be, especially if you use cage and hormone free. But I can still find regular eggs for around half a dozen for a buck. Every once in a while they are on sale for a dollar per dozen.
Top the pizza with one egg, or add a couple of them if you like. I like my egg yolks runny, but you can cook it a few minutes more, until similar to a soft boiled texture.
And what's great about making your own mini-pizza is you can add as much cheese and tomato sauce as you like (or can afford.)
Tangy tomato sauce with pungent fresh basil leaves and melty cheese is the perfect platform for a fried egg. And it's so easy to do if you use packaged single serving sizes of pizza crust that are precooked, like I do. Or if you have a leftover slice then break an egg over it, and heat the slice in a toaster oven.
Give my latest cheap$kate recipe a try, I know you will like it -- ciao and buon appetito!
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
The colors of this salad come from the Italian flag: green, white, and red. It's a traditional salad known in Italy as Insalata Caprese, meaning "Salad of Capri" that's made with fresh summer ingredients.
My first recipe with homegrown tomatoes is always a Caprese Salad. Plus it's so simple to make with just sliced tomato, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, fresh basil, and a little salt. So check out my video recipe below to see the colorful steps to build your own Caprese Salad at home.
And as a special bonus, scroll to the end of this blog post to see a decade and a half old vacation video I shot of our trip to Italy! And my old school video was shot B.I (Before Instagram) & B.Y. (Before YouTube.)
There are variations to this salad that include adding balsamic vinegar, pesto, or Italian dressing. I like the addition of fresh ground black pepper to mine. And since you are drizzling on olive oil make sure it is a tasty one.
A version made with balsamic vinegar and black pepper.
Of course, everything starts with a good tomato. My small crop of summer tomatoes got a late start so this is an end-of-summer dish. But if you have a weekly farmers market then do get a basket of heirloom tomatoes. It cost more, but sometimes you just gotta splurge.
I have found decent tasting tomatoes at regular grocery stores, and, believe it or not, my local 99c only Stores stock small plastic bins of them every once in a while.
Mozzarella is the other main ingredient. Use fresh if you can get it. Fresh mozzarella is usually stored in a plastic bin that's filled with water. It's less salty than commonly sold mozzarella that you might shred into a typical pasta dish, or top a pizza.
Fresh mozzarella is soft and tender with a mild taste. I get my fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe's grocery in Los Angeles (I wrote about them, here.) Specialty delis and some grocery stores will carry it, too.
Click on any photo to see larger.
I've used mozzarella from a chain grocery cheese deli section in a pinch, even if it is a bit rubbery.
Typical grocery mozzarella.
Since I grow my own tomatoes, it's still a good deal...wait, who am I kidding here. By the time you invest in buying tomato plants, watering, and fertilizing, you are lucky to break even - that is, if you even get a small handful of ripe tomatoes at the end of the growing season. Oh well. Just the intense flavor of a homegrown tomato makes all the waiting worth it!
Finally, you want fresh leaves of the herb, basil. While pungent, you are only adding one or two leaves per tomato and mozzarella slice. I like to get a plant and pick the leaves as I need them. A plant will replenish itself, too. Also, you can find small packs of cleaned leaves in the fresh produce section of better-stocked grocery stores.
A drizzle of olive oil and a grind of fresh sea salt finish it all.
It's up to you how to present a Caprese Salad. I like to just line it all up. You can skewer it all if you are using easy-to-get cherry tomatoes. I also like to make small individual stacks. Make it like a typical salad and loosely mix it all up. Or just lay out a platter of sliced mozzarella and tomatoes, with a pile of basil leaves, and let your guest build their own.
Caprese Salad - VIDEO
Play it here, video runs 1 minute, 32 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients (about 2-3 servings)
3-4 tomatoes - I used medium size. I sliced the tomato thick.
6-8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese - I had a little left over. Okay to use regular mozzarella. Slice the mozzarella to fit tomato slices.
Fresh basil leaves - One or two leaves per tomato slice. Some of my leaves were quite large, so amounts will vary.
Olive oil - make it a good tasting one. You need enough to drizzle over the salad.
Salt to taste - sea salt is best.
Optional additions: black pepper and balsamic vinegar.
Directions
Clean and slice tomatoes. I like to slice them on the thicker side.
Drain and slice fresh mozzarella. Slice mozzarella to fit tomato slices.
Clean basil leaves if necessary. Pinch off the stems. Use as many leaves as you like.
Assemble Caprese Salad any way you like. Make individual stacks, or lay it all out like you would a typical salad. I just line my slices all up, alternating tomato, basil, and cheese.
Finally, drizzle on some olive oil and give a sprinkle of sea salt. Sometimes I like a little black pepper, too.
And here's a bonus video of my vacation to Italy with Mrs. 99, done in June of 2002 - great food, good company, and much fun!
You'll want to put on a Dean Martin ditty while cooking my take on an Italian classic: Chicken Parmesan. You're dinner guest will applaud wildly when you serve a plate of pasta in Marinara Sauce that's topped with a cutlet of crispy coated chicken and melted mozzarella cheese. Why don't you go all the way and croon a tune when you serve it, like an old-school Italian waiter. And don't forget to put out a straw-wrapped jug of Chianti!
When I cook a classic entree, you know I'm bound to stray and give you some tasty cheap$kate shortcuts and recipe improvements? My Chicken Parmesan recipe video below does all that.
Italian-style Chicken Parmesan is a sauteed, breaded chicken fillet that's covered in Marinara Sauce and topped with parmesan and mozzarella cheese, then baked. It's decadent and delicious.
This is a two part recipe. First you make a Marinara Sauce with tomato, onion, garlic and herbs. Of course, you can take a shortcut and use any favorite jars or cans of store-bought pasta sauce.
Secondly, you coat a boneless and skinless chicken fillet in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, and saute it until golden brown. Then you move the cooked chicken into a baking pan and add the Marinara Sauce and cheeses, and bake until piping hot. There's a small amount of assembly to do, but it's well worth it.
This is where I veer off course. For cheapness sake I use dark meat. Normally the recipe calls for white breast meat. But, the main difference in preparation is I don't pound thin the chicken fillet. I find that if you want a crispy brown coating and moist chicken, then a thin slice of breast meat will dry out too easily.
It's a problem I find when ordering Tonkatsu (breaded chicken or pork cutlets) at a Japanese restaurant, or Mexican Torta Milanese sandwiches (flour-coated thin sliced beef or chicken) - dry and chewy overcooked meat. I mean it's okay, but not something I order often. I guess it's a cheap way to make a small cut of meat look larger?
Now, I'm all for tradition, but this one doesn't fly with me. Why not just leave the chicken fillet alone - it will stay moist when thick, and especially so, when dark meat is used. Of course you can use white meat, as it's easier to remove from the bone. (And, if you want to pound the chicken fillet between sheets of plastic, then go for it.)
I guess if you flash-fry a pounded-thin breaded piece of meat then it may remain moist, but it becomes easier to burn the coating over a very high heat, and you have to watch it too closely. So I like to keep things easy and simple.
The one thing you may not have on hand is breadcrumbs. You only need a cup and you can cover 3 pieces with this recipe. I always find a container of breadcrumbs at my local 99c only Stores. They even sometimes carry expensive Panko. You can use any you find cheaply, or make your own. Just scroll down to Hindsight, at the end of this post, for my Homemade Breadcrumbs recipe.
Chicken is cheap out here is Los Angeles, especially in Latin grocery stores. Boneless and skinless dark meat is often on sale there, and even white meat with the skin and bone is around a dollar per pound on sale.
I also include an easy to make Marinara Sauce recipe in my video using canned tomato as the base. Of course, canned tomatoes are cheap almost anywhere. You can use any you find on sale. If they are whole tomatoes, then break them up when cooking - you'll have a "rustic" Marinara Sauce.
I also use fresh garden herbs, but you can substitute dried Italian herbs. You can even buy your favorite premade sauce and just use that. (My Easy Marinara Sauce recipe is a stand-alone video blog post you can checkout here - use it with any favorite pasta recipe.)
And this recipe is wife approved. I turned my back for a minute and one of my finished Chicken Parmesan went missing! Oh well, that's why I made three breaded cutlets for this recipe.
Do give my recipe a try. It's luscious with melted cheese and a rich tomato sauce. Go ahead and serve it with your favorite pasta and extra leftover Marinara Sauce, it's one filling Italian entree, that's cheap to do, if you do it my way.
Chicken Parmesan - VIDEO
Play it here, video runs 6 minutes, 7 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, justclick here.
Breaded Chicken Ingredients -3 servings 3 pieces chicken - skinless and boneless. I used leg and thigh meat. Okay to use white meat. Usually recipe calls for chicken breast that is pounded flat. I find it dries out too easily, so I skip the "flattening" part. 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup bread crumbs - my homemade breadcrumb recipe is down below under "Hindsight." 1 egg - mixed with a fork or whisk. 3 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese - dried or fresh shaved. You can use as much as you like. 3 ounces of Mozzarella Cheese - add more to your liking. I used a small package of shredded. 1/2 teaspoon black pepper - to season breadcrumbs. Okay to add any favorite seasonings or dried herbs. I don't use salt in this recipes, as I find the cheeses have enough for me. Oil for sauteing breaded chicken pieces - I add a couple of tablespoons per chicken piece. Add more as needed.
Marinara Sauce Ingredients 1 15 ounce can of tomato sauce - any favorite brand, even from a jar. 1/2 onion - chopped. White or yellow is okay. 1 teaspoon garlic - chopped fresh or from a jar. 1 cup water - to clean out the tomato can, and add it to sauce. Okay to use red or white wine, or a favorite broth. Italian herbs - about 1 teaspoon dried, or 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped. I used basil, oregano and parsley. Okay to use a dried herb Italian premix, or any combination of dried herbs you have on hand. 1 tablespoon oil - for frying onion and garlic. Pepper to taste - Canned tomato sauce has a lot of salt, so I don't add any, but you can add some if you want.
Directions for Marinara Sauce
I start this recipe with a Marinara Sauce. I used a plain can of tomato sauce and added some sauteed onion, garlic and herbs. Here's how I did it.(You can use any store bought type you like as a short cut -- if you do,
go right to my Breading Chicken directions further below.)
First saute 1/2 chopped onion in a tablespoon of oil over a medium heat. Cook until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add chopped garlic and saute another minute.
Pour in a 15 ounce can of tomato sauce. Slosh around half a can of water (broth or wine) and add it to the pan with sauce and sauteed veggies. Mix well and finally add the herbs, fresh or dried.
Cook tomato sauce on low, while you are frying up the breaded chicken pieces. You just need to cook the pasta sauce for another 10 minutes, so all the flavors combine. This basic Marinara Sauce can used for any pasta recipe, or pizza topping.
Directions for Breading Chicken (3 pieces)
This is where my recipe veers off from others. Typical Chicken Parmesan recipes take a chicken breast and pound it thin. While this is traditional, you often end up with a dried out piece of breaded chicken.
As I mentioned above, the main problem is browning the coated chicken thin pieces. To get a golden brown breaded chicken you have to overcook it.
For my recipe I just leave the boneless and skinless pieces alone. They may be thick, but at least they will end up moist on the serving plate. (Of course, you can place the chicken pieces between plastic wrap and pound them a little thinner.)
Let's move on to the breaded chicken part.
You want to have 2 plates, one for the flour and the other for breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on black pepper or any favorite seasonings into the breadcrumbs.
In a shallow bowl add one egg and beat it with a fork, or a whisk, to blend it.
First coat a chicken piece in flour, both sides. Add coated chicken to egg wash and coat it again. Finally press chicken into breadcrumbs. Turn over and press on more breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Add cooking oil in a frying pan over medium/high heat. Depending on your frying pan size you can saute each coated chicken piece separately or bunch up a few pieces.
You need at least 2 tablespoons of oil per chicken piece - add more oil as needed, during frying process. Make sure the pan is hot when you add the chicken, or the breading may stick to the pan.
Add coated chicken to a medium hot pan. Let it set there for a minute so cooked shell forms underneath chicken. After a minute or so you can start checking to see how browning is going. It takes about 3-5 minutes on each side, for chicken to brown nicely and the meat to cook through.
When done set aside each fillet. (Make a small slice into thickest part of cooked chicken to make sure there is no pink meat or pink juices.) I put cooked pieces on a wire rack; I find napkins get too damp and make the cooked crust soggy. After the chicken pieces are done, it's time to bring it all together.
(If you want some pasta with the Chicken Parmesan, then get it going when you start frying the last coated chicken piece. Follow package directions. Set aside pasta when done. You can serve it with some leftover Marinara Sauce.)
The Marinara Sauce should be room temperature or hot when assembling Chicken Parmesan.
First, move fried chicken to a baking dish. Top each piece with some Marinara Sauce. You can add as little, or as much, as you like. I add just enough to cover each chicken piece. (Any extra sauce can be added to the plate later or used as pasta topping.)
Now add the parmesan and mozzarella cheese to each chicken piece. Add as much cheese, as you like -- you can also add extra Marinara Sauce.
Add baking dish of Chicken Parmesan to a 375 degree oven. You just need to bake the chicken until the cheese melts. I baked mine for about 10-15 minutes.
It's ready when Chicken Parmesan cheese topping is melted. You can serve Chicken Parmesan with your favorite pasta and leftover Marinara Sauce.
Hindsight
To make your own dried breadcrumbs, bake a few slices of white or wheat bread in a 350 degree oven for about 15 - 20 minutes until dried out. Check during the last five minutes to make sure the bread does not burn. Turn the bread slice over, half way through baking.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes; then add to a blender or food processor. (Or place in a plastic bag and crumble with a rolling pin, wine bottle or large glass). Pulse slices until fine like sea salt. Leftover bread crumbs store in the refrigerator for a long time. May need to microwave for a minute when reusing, or give them a quick saute in a warm pan.
For extra flavor season the bread slices with salt, pepper, dried parmesan, and any favorite fresh or dried herbs.
And, here's a Dean Martin a crooning "That's Amore"
