We all need a break. Sometimes its from school, sometimes its from work, sometimes its from making a nice breakfast. For me, this usually means a Quaker’s Real Medley oatmeal or a serving of greek yogurt with a banana. Although this combination sounds pretty healthy and decently tasty, it gets really old, really fast. So when I stumbled across this recipe at 1 in the morning the night before I had work the next, I jumped at it.

Since its in the middle of summer, I’m temporarily staying at a different apartment on campus. I woke up around 8 AM the day-of, not knowing how long this process would actually take. I stumbled my way into the kitchen of my new apartment kitchen and started preheating my oven before I took a shower. After preparing myself for the day and getting the asparagus cleaned and ready, my oven was finally preheated. I always individually snap off the ends of my asparagus to ensure tender spears.

The original recipe started with strips of bacon, removing the bacon to cook the asparagus in the rendered fat, and finishing with the eggs. I substituted this with olive oil which allows me to serve vegetarian portions and add smoked salmon to jazz up the dish for non-vegetarian portions. After a light coat in vegetable oil, a sprinkle in thyme, salt, and pepper, the spears were tenderized in the oven for around 6 minutes for my thinner spears.

At the 6 minute mark, I removed the pan, cracked eggs on top and returned the dish to the oven to finish up while I started toasting a tortilla to serve along my soon-to-be breakfast. I prefer a cross between a semi-set and runny yolk so I pulled it out just before the 5 minute mark. The result was a tender yolk that was just slightly runny which I scooped up with my tortilla and smoked salmon.

At around 8:45 I was done eating and ready to go to work, a full hour earlier than the time I usually leave my apartment. I ended up using this time to read from my new book gifted to me by my mentor titled “Leadership on the Line. here wasn’t even any dishes to wash since I was able to toss the foil that everything was prepared in. For those of you who need a simple something to start your day, definitely consider this recipe. Head over to Simple Bites to see how the recipe is prepared with bacon and give both a try. Add some variety to your breakfast menu, without any additional time!

One-pan Eggs, Asparagus, and Smoked Salmon

Adapted from Simple Bites

Ingredients

• 2 eggs per person
• 5-6 spears of asparagus per person (I definitely used more for myself…)
• 1 oz of smoked salmon per person
• pinch of salt, thyme pepper (and your other favorite herbs)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. While the oven preheats, wash asparagus thoroughly. Snap off the woody ends of the asparagus. For thicker spears, use a vegetable peeler to remove the bottom half of the peel.
2. In a roasting pan, add 1 Tbsp of oil, Add asparagus to the pan and shake it around to coat the spears. Arrange in a single layer and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and other herbs if you’d like.
3. Roast thicker asparagus spears for 8 minutes, and thinner spears for 6 minutes or until they soften. Remove pan from oven and gently crack eggs on top of the asparagus. Return the pan to the oven for 4 minutes for soft egg yolks, 5 minutes for medium cooked egg yolks and 6-7 minutes for firm egg yolks.
4. Place strips of smoked salmon over the eggs and serve with toasted tortillas or bread.