Lekker Brekker Monday: A chunky, cheesy breakfast bowl

I’m not a fan of the bowl food phenomenon that sprang up a few years ago. It’s the food that matters, not the vessel it’s carried in. My best illustration of this was the morning I was in a queue at a trendy deli counter at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

The woman in front of me, who looked like she had not eaten in three months, sort of half-draped herself over the counter and said to the man, “I’d like a bowl please.” 

“Certainly, ma’am,” he shot back. “And would you like anything in it?”

But even my own rules are meant to be broken. For this recipe, you put it all in one bowl and soon have a quick and filling breakfast produced with not much fuss at all. 

In this case, an oven-proof dish is filled with bacon, pork sausages, caramelised onion and Cheddar cheese, and flavoured with oregano.

The onions are spooned into the greased bases of two oven dishes, each suitable for one very generous portion. 

The pork sausages are fried and then sliced into big chunks. The bacon rashers are cooked, and everything is layered into the dishes.

Grated cheese is scattered over. Finally, eggs are beaten with milk and poured over everything.

Once baked, your breakfast is ready.

Tony’s chunky, cheesy breakfast bowl

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

1 large onion

4 quality pork sausages

6 rashers back bacon

Fresh oregano (or thyme)

200 g Cheddar cheese, grated

2 jumbo eggs

250 ml (1 cup) full cream milk

Pinch of salt

Ground pepper

Method

Slice the onion into rounds and caramelise in butter and olive oil.

Fry the sausages gently till golden brown and cooked through. Cut each into three or four chunks.

Fry the bacon the way you like it. Slice into pieces.

Grease or spray two oven-proof bowls.

Layer the caramelised onions at the bottom, then the bacon, and sprinkle with picked oregano leaves. Be careful to share each item equally between the two bowls.

Next add sausage chunks and grated cheese.

Season with salt and pepper. 

Beat the eggs and milk together with a little salt and ground black pepper.

Pour over the contents of the bowl evenly.

Bake in a 200℃ oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or until cooked to the middle. 

Switch it up by adding chopped garlic to the onions, and a finely chopped chilli. Replace a third of the milk with cream for a richer result. DM