With Father's Day upon us (like, right now), many of you may be wondering what the heck to make your Dad for breakfast. Sure, he likes bacon, and he likes doughnuts--but he eats those at least once a week. Is there nothing else to offer? Nothing just a little more...well...special?
I offer you: Joe's Special.
If you've heard of it before, you're probably going, "Oh yeah, I forgot about Joe's Special!" If you haven't heard of it, you're going, "That sounds like something from a small town diner, invented as a way to use leftover meatloaf." And you would be wrong on both accounts.
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| It doesn't have to look pretty to taste freakin' fabulous. |
Everyplace that serves Joe's Special has their own twist. Some use onions, some use garlic. Some toss in some chopped bacon, others add mushrooms. Some use parmesan, some use swiss, and some omit the cheese all together. And they can get away with it, because the definitive ingredients for Joe's Special are: eggs, ground beef, spinach. The rest is all a matter of preference.
I like to make mine with some minced sweet onion and fried mushrooms, and I leave a wedge of parmesan on the table for grating. I also like to make extra beef mixture as leftovers, because whenever I eat Joe's Special I always want it again a few days later. As a good friend of mine likes to say, my future self will thank me.
Z.D.'s Favorite Way to Make Joe's Special
serves 4*
Ingredients:
1/3 lb ground beef
kosher salt
8 large eggs
1/4 C whole milk
2 Tbs olive oil or clarified butter, divided
1/2 C finely chopped onion
8 small cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 C (packed) clean baby spinach
Freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese (to serve)
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| If the kitchen looks dim, that's because we were making this at 5:45am. When you have a four-legged feline for an alarm clock, don't expect her to understand the concept of "sleeping in" when that doesn't align with "kitty breakfast." |
- In a large frying pan over medium heat, brown the ground beef, adding just a pinch of salt. Do not stir it too much or it will become tough, and it won't get nice browned spots. When fully cooked, remove to a side bowl.
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| I prefer 93/7% lean/fat ground beef. You need butter for the veggies & eggs, and too much beef fat can make this scramble unpleasantly greasy. |
- While beef is cooking, crack eggs into a medium bowl. Add milk and whisk until an even color and consistency.
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| To review this method for this preparation of scrambled eggs (what I call "company eggs"), see my first breakfast blog post. |
- Add 2 tsp of oil or butter to pan, still over medium heat. Add the onions and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fully translucent and beginning to brown. Place onions in bowl with beef.
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| I like sweet onions, but red onions are great in this dish you have the time to really cook them down. |
- Add 1 Tbs of oil or butter to pan, and increase heat to medium high. Add mushrooms to the pan in a single layer, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Allow to cook without stirring 2-4 minutes, until golden brown on one side, then stir/flip and allow the other side to brown, 1-3 minutes. Then place mushrooms in bowl with beef and onions.
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| As Julia would say: "Don't crowd the mushrooms!" Give them space and time to do their browning thing, and they'll turn out perfect every time. |
- Turn heat to low, and toss the spinach into the pan. Cook, tossing often, until just barely wilted. Place spinach in bowl with beef. If you have a pan that retains heat well, remove from heat for a couple minutes and let it cool down.
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| This is really as much as I let these cook, the residual heat in the eggs does the rest. |
- Add remaining oil or butter to the pan, and place over your lowest heat setting. Pour in the beaten eggs. Gently stir/scrape the bottom of your pan with a silicone spatula, just until soft curds start to form (about 3-5 minutes). Then increase the meat to med-low, and continue to stir, scraping the bottom and flipping the curds over as they form.
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| Tender eggs & spinach, satisfying beef & mushrooms, and savory sweet onions. Top it off with some salty cheese...*drools* |
- When the eggs are about half done, add in your beef mixture. As you continue to stir and flip your eggs, this will become mixed in. Your scramble is done when the eggs are about 85% cooked--they will finish cooking from residual heat once you take them out of the pan. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan.
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| I feel healthy just looking at this. |
*If you're very observant, you may notice some discrepancy in the volume of eggs in these photos. That's because I made beef mixture for 4, but only eggs for 2. Remember what I said about leftovers? Guess how I'm starting my Monday? :-D