bittman

Dinner 7 of 20

Fried Eggs + Crispy Potatoes + Salad

Breakfast for dinner, and a quiet checkpoint: crispy potatoes are the browning lesson, the eggs are dinner 2, the vinaigrette is dinner 6 with mustard added, and running all three at once is the timing lesson. Nothing new tonight — that's the point.

32 minutes · Low cleanup · serves 2 · ~20g protein per plate with two eggs; add a third egg or some cheese for more

Ingredients

Equipment

large skillet · chef's knife · cutting board · spatula · salad bowl · small jar or bowl · fork

The steps

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

Cook Mode walks these one at a time, with timers and a way out when things go sideways.

The idea

You already know how to cook this. Nothing new was needed tonight; the skills from the last six dinners stack into meals nobody had to teach you.

Substitutions

  • potatoessweet potatoes (slightly faster), or frozen diced hash browns — skip the rinse-and-dry, straight into the pan
  • salad greenssliced tomatoes with vinaigrette spooned over, or sliced cucumber
  • Dijonany mustard in the fridge door, or skip it — the version from dinner 6 still works
  • fried eggsscrambled, or fold everything into a potato-egg hash in one pan

Tomorrow

  • Breakfast burrito — leftover potatoes reheated crispy in the skillet, scrambled egg, cheese, salsa, tortilla.
  • Potato-egg hash round two — crisp the potatoes back up in an oiled pan and crack fresh eggs straight in among them, lid on until set.

Cooked potatoes keep 4 days. Fry eggs fresh. Leftover vinaigrette keeps a week in the jar — shake and go. Reheat in a hot, dry pan so the crust comes back. The microwave makes steam.

How long things keep →

Make ahead

Potatoes can be cut in the morning and held in a bowl of water in the fridge — dry them well before cooking. The vinaigrette holds a week.

Keep it safe

  • Runny yolks are fine for healthy adults. Cook them firm for anyone who'd rather not risk it.