Santa Came Early

Evan and I celebrated Christmas over the weekend. After dating for six years and living together for almost two, we’ve still never spent an actual Christmas eve or morning together. Some people might think that’s weird, but we think it’s pretty good. We see each other every day, and don’t see our parents nearly as often. So, instead of sacrificing time with our families to make it work, we just have our own early Christmas together, just the two of us. Eventually we’ll probably do the his family/my family holiday split, so that we can spend time with each other’s families as well, but for now, our set up works. And, we have our own little Christmas tradition together.

On “Christmas” morning, Evan and I get up, make coffee, and open presents. Then we help Biscuit open her presents (this year she got a cat-nip filled mouse, a big square of wrapping paper, and a good-sized length of ribbon), we have a nice little breakfast, and go on a walk around our neighborhood. We usually try to make a lighter breakfast, because later in the afternoon is my favorite part of our Christmas tradition—we stop by one of the diviest bars in Seattle, sit under the Christmas lights and mounted fish, and order a huge serving of deep fried mushrooms and beer. It just wouldn’t be our Christmas without those hot, juicy, greasy little bites of fattening deliciousness, dipped in ranch, and chased with a deep, dark, chocolaty porter. Ah, so festive!

If your holiday tradition also involves a fattening, deep fried, dive-bar treat, then you might want a light breakfast too. You might want Christmas Eggs. Ok, that’s the worst recipe name ever, I know… but they’re red, white, green, and gold, and perfect for the holidays. And they’re delicious—sweet roasted tomatoes with baked eggs, peppery arugula, and nutty parmesan cheese. You can easily scale the recipe from two people to ten people, and it requires little time in front of the stove. And, since I’m full of holiday-spirit today, I’ll even let you change the name of the recipe. What a thoughtful Christmas gift!

Christmas Eggs

3 medium sized tomatoes, quartered, then quarters halved
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
drizzle olive oil
drizzle balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
4 eggs
1-2 tablespoon freshly grated or shaved parmesan
a small handful of arugula per person
Optional: toast, sliced french bread, bacon, crispy baked pancetta,

Preheat oven to 400. In a small shallow baking dish (that would perfectly fit the amount of eggs your serving), toss tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Bake until tomatoes are caramelized and juicy, about 30-40 minutes. Crack eggs directly over top of tomatoes, spacing apart and keeping yolks intact. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until whites are set. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve over a bed of arugula, or with arugula on top (as an open face sandwich, with bread on the side, or simply on its own).