Sausage and Egg Flatbread

This has got to be one of my all-time favorite breakfasts, both to eat and prepare.  We enjoyed it first on Christmas morning, and it will definitely be a staple around our house from here on out.  When I have my son on Christmas morning, I normally prepare something like pull-apart cinnamon rolls the night before, to pop in the oven the next morning while we open presents bright and early.  This year, since we weren't seeing Ryan until the afternoon, I had some leisure time to cook.  I don't want to imply that this dish takes a long time to make, because it is actually very quick.  I found this recipe in an issue of Cooking Light Magazine - Sausage and Egg Flatbread - and knew Mark would love it since it has "runny eggs", as I call it.  When I fry my eggs, they are broken, over-hard, almost dead.  Mark likes them over-easy, a true gooey mess.  How can I be an adventurous foodie, though, if I don't try what I'm not comfortable with?! 

You start off by unrolling a container of refrigerated french bread dough, cutting it in half crosswise, and putting it on a jelly roll pan that has a light sprinkling of cornmeal.  On the stove, I cooked up some turkey sausage with chopped onion.  The recipe just says "turkey sausage" and I decided to use hot turkey sausage instead of sweet.  After spreading the sausage and onion mixture on the dough, you top with grated fontina cheese, of which I had none, so I substituted smoked Gouda.  I liked the smokey flavor, but next time will try it with the fontina cheese since it would allow the other flavors to come through more.  It then gets cooked in the oven for about 10 minutes, after which you bring it out for the tough part.

Carefully break 6 eggs, 3 on each strip of bread, and space them as evenly apart as you can.  This is where using a jelly roll pan comes in helpful.  I ended up breaking 2 of the yolks since as they started sliding around, I tried to correct the problem, only to expose their sunny goodness.  Oh well, those 2 could be for me!  The pan goes back into the oven until the eggs are set, so I thought if I put the pan in quickly, maybe it would cook instantly and stop running.  That wasn't completely the case, as you can see in the picture.

I didn't get any pictures before the eggs were set since I was acting quickly in the hopes of correcting my mistake.  The good news is that after you cut them in 6 equal portions, they get topped with a wonderful salad of peppery arugula tossed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.  I really think it is the arugula salad that makes the dish.  It adds such as bright flavor to the more rich sausage, egg, and cheese taste.  It was refreshing, not heavy, and beautiful.  The arugula also covers any mistakes!  How great is that!?!