I love it when My Good Husband says, “Let’s go to the beach today!”…or the park…or the lake. I love those lazy summer outings, except that I often don’t have the makings for a picnic on hand. But then I remember (ta-da!) the Egg and Onion Sandwich, something my Italian mother-in-law taught me to make.
It’s basically an omelet on a roll, and I guess you could use any number of ingredients. But since this is an Egg and Onion Sandwich, I’ll focus on that, and you go ahead and add other things if you want. Making this requires minimal ingredients…
You can probably use any type of cheese, though Iusually use Parmesan as I always have it on hand. You can use any kind of roll or bread, but I most often use these crusty rolls made from my Plain and Simple No-Knead Bread. That’s all you need…are you ready to make ‘em?
Start by sauteing some diced onion in a little oil…lots of diced onion…
You’ll want them to cook fairly slowly on low–maybe while you get your beach towel and swimsuit. Don’t forget your sunscreen! If the onions appear too dry, or if you’re going far from sight where they might burn, it’s a good idea to put in a few tablespoons of water so they simmer without burning and get nice and sweet…
Once the water is completely cooked off and the onions are tender and caramelized, pour the beaten eggs over them. Be sure to add some salt and pepper–to taste. Notice that I’ve used a lot of onion, with only two eggs…the higher onion ration makes them really yummy with lots of flavor!
You might have noticed how “grainy” my eggs look…that’s because I added the grated Parmesan right into the eggs. If you prefer, you can just sprinkle some grated cheese on top. Consider that a stronger tasting cheese, like Parmesan, will add more flavor that grated mozzarella would. But to each his own…use whatever cheese you have on hand and enjoy, so long as it doesn’t have mold growing on it! (If it does, trim off the mold and you can still use it.) You could even add a bit of ham or bacon if you’d like.
I usually cover the eggs and cook them over a very low flame, while I pack the thermos and get the rest of the things ready for the picnic…
If the mixture is thin, and I’ve used a heavy-duty pan, I don’t even have to flip the mixture over to cook the top… I do love my universal lid that fits several different pans, and lets me peek through too! But if you’re making enough for a small army, your egg mixture may be thicker and you may need to flip it over to make sure both sides are completely cooked.
Once the eggs are cooked through I flip the “omelet” in half…
…and cut it to fit into the crusty rolls (which I just pulled from the freezer where I store them, already sliced in half)…
Now I gather everything together to have a healthy, inexpensive picnic, that I whipped up in minutes…
If we’re going to eat these in the next 3-4 hours, I don’t refrigerate them since the eggs are completely cooked and they really taste best when they’re just at “room temperature”, even if that “room” is at the beach!
So next time your family wants to go to the beach (or the park, or the lake…) remember to pull this Egg and Onion Sandwich idea out of your back pocket and go! Just don’t forget the sunscreen!
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