As promised, Eggy Bread Variations...

Two bits of real comfort food, ideal for using up that slightly-elderly bread I was talking about a couple of days ago.  I assume you're already up on basic eggy bread (aka French toast). 

Bread frittata

This is one of those recipes that isn’t really a recipe, so much as a method for dealing with whatever you’ve got to hand.

Per person, you’ll need 2-3 eggs, beaten, a slice or two of stale bread crumbled up fairly small, and some chopped cold cooked vegetables – fried onions are terrific – and/or the kind of fresh veg that cook quickly (e.g. sweetcorn kernels, chopped-up tomatoes or canned pulses of some kind).  Plus grated or cubed cheese if you’re a cheese eater, and plenty of seasoning.  If you eat meat, something like chopped ham or corned beef would go well too.

Mix the whole lot together and let it sit in a covered bowl for at least thirty minutes, longer if possible.  Then heat a frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil until pretty hot, as though you were going to make an omelette.  Tip in the mixture and level it out, then turn the heat lower.  Cook until set; if need be either finish the top under a hot grill or turn it out onto a plate and flip it over as you return it to the pan, to cook the other side.  Serve hot.

Eggy bread toastie sandwich

This is particularly good with “sandwich loaf” bread like Genius bread.

For each person, you will need:
2 slices of bread
2 eggs
Vegetable oil

Plus a choice of one or two of
Feta or some other cheese
A sliced tomato
Some flaked canned fish
A slice of ham
Some stoned olives, chopped roughly


Beat the eggs thoroughly with some pepper and pour over the sliced bread in a flat dish.  Leave to soak for half an hour minimum.  Sandwich the two slices of soggy eggy bread with your choice of filling(s) and press down hard. 

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan; get it good and hot to start with.  Pick up your gooey egg-soaked sandwich and slip it into the hot oil.  Fry for five minutes on a fairly high heat, then turn the heat down to fairly low.  Turn the sandwich over carefully with a spatula.  Continue cooking on the other side.  You’ll need to turn it two or three times altogether; gently does it each time.  The idea is never to let it burn but to get all the egg cooked and the filling thoroughly heated through and/or melted.  Serve hot.