Anyone from New Jersey knows what a pork roll, egg & cheese is. The Aristocrat is a Jersey classic taken to the next level with the addition of some bacon onion jam and baby arugula. What is pork roll you ask? Pork roll is a big cured and smoked sausage of sorts that is sliced like lunch meat and grilled. Imagine if bologna and that famous ham in a can had a baby. If pork roll isn’t available in your area, you can substitute any breakfast meat that you like. They will all taste great!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 40 min |
| Active: | 40 min |
| Yield: | 1 serving |
Ingredients
- 1 pound smoked bacon
- 1 1/2 cups diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
- One 3-by-6-inch ciabatta roll
- 2 teaspoons salted butter
- 2 slices pork roll (or any breakfast meat)
- 2 eggs
- Salt and pepper
- 2 slices American cheese
- Baby arugula, for topping
Instructions
- For the bacon onion jam: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Lay the bacon out on foil-lined baking sheets. Bake until crispy. Transfer the bacon to a clean tray lined with paper towels and set aside. Carefully pour the bacon fat into a bowl or other container; set aside.
- Heat a large flat-bottomed sauté pan on medium heat. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the reserved bacon fat and the diced onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened and starting to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Raise the temperature to medium-high, then add the vinegar and reduce by half. Add the brown sugar and coriander. Cook the sugar along with the onions until it caramelizes and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the bacon. (I like to chop it fairly small—similar in size to the onions—but if you want this jam to be chunkier, you can leave the pieces larger.) Add the bacon, honey, thyme and black pepper to the sugar onion mix and stir to incorporate. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, then add the scallions.
- For the breakfast sandwich: Cut the ciabatta roll in half and butter the cut sides. Toast the roll lightly in a pan, flipping to warm the top sides, then set aside. Cut 4 slits along the edges of the pork roll; this helps the pork roll lay flat when frying. Put the pork roll into a dry pan on medium-high heat and cook, flipping frequently, until browned to your liking, 3 to 4 minutes. (Pork roll is a fully cooked product, so it doesn’t have to be well done.) Remove from the pan and set aside; don’t clean the pan. Add 1 teaspoon of the remaining bacon grease to the pan, then fry the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. (I like to cook them to about over-medium so we get a nice gooey yolk in the sandwich, but again, you can cook your eggs however you like.) Top the eggs with the American cheese and set the pan aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons bacon jam to the bottom of the ciabatta (save the remaining bacon jam for another use), then top that with the pork roll. Lay the eggs on the pork roll, then top with some baby arugula and the top of the ciabatta. Cut on a sharp bias and serve with your favorite breakfast potatoes or some fresh cut fruit.