One of my favorite things to eat during the day, either as a mildly hungover brunch on the weekend, or as a luxurious midday meal when I'm working from home, is a green salad with a fried egg on top.
The most basic version is a green arugula salad, lightly dressed with olive oil and lemon juice, with a runny-bellied egg perched right on top and sprinkled with sea salt. The egg yolk drips down through the bitter green leaves, wilting them and enriching them: absolute bliss.
A slightly more textural and version is pictured above and was an experiment one sunny Tuesday that I will definitely repeat. A few stalks of celery were sliced down into thin crescents and tossed with fresh peas briefly blanched using the teakettle technique; I added lemon juice, honey, and olive oil and sprinkled the whole operation with fresh chopped parsley, sea salt and pepper.
Homemade croutons emerged from a stale loaf of ciabatta bread cut into one-inch cubes and sauteed in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of oil until crisp and brown; drain these on paper towels.
Pile the celery and pea salad on a plate, and top with croutons. In a small fry-pan, bring a teaspoon of olive oil to shimmer until a drop of water hisses on contact. Carefully break an egg into the pan, taking care to keep the yolk intact. Cook over medium heat until the white is mostly solidified and carefully tip onto the pile of salad and croutons. Sprinkle with salt and a few extra bits of parsley.
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