For a leisurely (but easy) meal–especially weekend breakfast, try some Spanish-style fried eggs.  The combination of the olive oil and good free-range eggs is absolutely wonderful–right up there with eggs Benedict as far as I’m concerned–and do love those, too!  A good friend who has lived in Spain introduced me to these.

Huevos Fritos à la Española

Ingredients

• 2 eggs of size of your choice
• olive oil
• salt and fresh-ground black pepper

Preparation

These are best made in a skillet that is just large enough to hold your eggs; otherwise it takes a lot of olive oil.  I have a small (4-inch) cast iron skillet that I got very inexpensively at the hardware store.  It’s the same skillet that I use for toasting small quantities of spices, et cetera.

• preheat your skillet
• pour enough olive oil into your skillet to be about 1-inch (2.5 cm) deep and heat the oil.
• break each egg into a saucer and slide it into the hot oil.
• gently fold the whites over the yolks.
• cook only until the white is set–one to three minutes over moderately heat–or to your preferred doneness.
• meanwhile, make toast
• lift the eggs out of the skillet and place on toast.
• season with the salt and fresh-ground black pepper and serve immediately.