Disclaimer: I promised Shaeda I would wait to make this until she was in my apartment. I broke that promise. But can you blame me?
Toad-in-a-holes take me back to being a little kid, visiting my grandmother. I don’t know if you all remember this, but before the American Girl dolls were a thing, the American Girl books and paper dolls were a thing. And being the bookworm that I was, I powered through all of them. Naturally, I look most like Samantha (most is a stretch) so she was my favorite, but my grandmother, having grown up in New York during World War II with the victory gardens and all, well, her favorite was Molly.
And when I was sufficiently obsessed with the book series and the stories of all of the characters (Grandma read every single book after I powered through each one), they came out with a series of cookbooks. I can’t remember if I had every single one, but I know that I had Molly’s. And, one of the recipes we made — usually for breakfast for Grandpa — was the toad-in-a-hole. A piece of toast with a hole in it, and a fried egg right into the bread. It’s delicious.
And I’ve had this idea for a few weeks now. A toad-in-a-hole grilled cheese. It’s been making me salivate. And with all the spin classes I’ve been going to, well, I’ve been letting myself ease into some carbs. So I made this.
But I wanted it to have a kick. So I threw on some sriracha. Obviously, it would be fun to use homemade sriracha, but I haven’t been home much lately, so I haven’t made any of that this year. The classic green top worked out great.
My only regret is that, next time, I’ll add in some slices of avocado. Now that would be perfect.
Recipe after the jump.
Toad-in-a-hole sriracha grilled cheese
Ingredients
2 slices of good, sourdough bread (Em had some Trader Joe’s whole grain sourdough, which is a healthier option that tastes JUST like real sourdough)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese — or more. You do you.
2 eggs
1 tablespoon butter
Cooking spray, to grease the pan when you fry your egg
As much sriracha sauce as your heart desires
Instructions
First, use a drinking glass or some sort of round cutter to excise a circle of bread from each slice. I shared this sandwich with Emily, so I made sure that the eggs would be on opposite, mirror-image sides of the sandwich.
Then, lightly butter the frying sides of each sandwich. Heat a medium-sized frying pan on high. When the pan is hot, go ahead and make your first toad-in-a-hole. To make sure the egg doesn’t leak, I press the bread down on the surface of the pan when I crack the egg in, until the egg solidifies enough to create its own seal. Once that happens, turn your heat down to low or medium, letting the egg cook. When it’s nice and solid, flip the slice over, until the egg is finished. Set that slice aside, and repeat with the other.
Once you have your bread slices done, turn the heat on your stove to low. Place on slice of bread down, and line it with your shredded cheese. Squeeze some sriracha on there, and if you ahve any cheese left, sprinkle more of that on top. Then, seal the sandwich with the last piece of bread.
I like to cook my grilled cheese sandwiches on LOW heat. Not super low, but low enough so that I can let it melt slowly, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. I’ve found that they’re best when the cheese melts into the crumb of the bread, and the slow cook gives it a nice, crisp crust on the outside.
Slice in half, and share with a friend! Or don’t. I could definitely put this away myself.