Lucinda Scala Quinn’s household is soccer central. So when the weekend rolls around (and her boys are home), they wake up early to watch the matches of their favorite English Premier League teams on television. (Allegiance? No unification there—her family splits between Arsenal and Liverpool.) She knows that this 50-minute English breakfast (minus the blood sausage) might seem like a lot of effort, but rest assured, it’s worth it. Savory pork breakfast sausages, caramelized tomato, mushrooms, onions, slightly sweet-sauced beans, and buttery runny egg yolks all converge on a single plate. Have all your prep done so you can start cooking about 30 minutes before kickoff, and you’ll be sitting down with everyone else eating a hot meal when the game starts.Preparing this almost full English breakfast featured in Quinn’s latest cookbook Mad Hungry Family is a total balancing act. You need to pay attention to the cooking sequence so you can sit down and eat with everyone when the food is hot, instead of being the starving short-order cook. First, prep everything you plan on serving. If coffee or tea is part of the plan, get the coffee or tea leaves in the pot and ready the cups, milk, and sugar. Ditto juice and glasses. Stack the plates and heat them in a warm oven (about 200°F). Silverware and napkins should be open on the coffee table in front of the game. Don’t forget the jam, ketchup, HP sauce, and any other condiments you plan on serving. Calder, Quinn’s first-born son, has childhood memories of his mom cooking fried eggs the way she liked them, and eventually, it became the style he likes, too. The yolk is runny enough to sop up with toast, yet the white is cooked through, on both top and bottom, to a firm, not tough, texture. Her trick: Tip a teaspoon of water into the hot pan, then cover the pan. This steams the surface albumen (a.k.a. that clear goo) so that it cooks through, while the bottom of the egg sautés in the bubbling butter. Soccer BreakfastExcerpted from Mad Hungry Family: 120 Essential Recipes to Feed the Whole Crew by Lucinda Scala Quinn. Copyright © 2016. Published with permission by Artisan Books. All rights reserved.
