The Vegan Fried Egg

This weekend I did a lot of things I don't normally do. For example: I went grocery shopping without Dan. It was funny; as I was walking around the store, I realized that I was pretty much the only person not talking. All the other single shoppers (and many of the partnered ones) were on their cell phones. Here's the thing about when folks talk on their phones in public - you find yourself left with a lot of unanswered questions. As I walked home with my heavy environmentally-friendly cotton bags, I had time to think about a few things...

Like, who was that girl that Craig (maybe Greg) brought to the BBQ that other night? What was Craig/Greg's Mystery Guest thinking when she put on that outfit? And of course, why would Craig/Greg even bring a guest to a BBQ for his birthday when everyone knows he's still in love with the woman in track pants who stood between me and the organic pasta section and then later cut me off at the Earth Balance?

Why do people keep dumping the guy in Frozen Foods? Could it be because he's completely oblivious to the people around him and their desire to get a single bag of organic peas?

What is the woman ahead of me in the check-out line going to do about Megan's new 4th grade teacher who drives a van and has handwriting like a serial killer? Sounds terrifying.

Really, I thought about how I could take our Vegan Poached Egg from The Eggs Benedict Recipe and make the classic fried egg. Oh, classic fried egg... with your runny yoke for dipping toast in, and your crispy edges. I'm over you. I don't need you and your salmonella and battery cage hometowns.

Now vegans everywhere can enjoy this classic American breakfast staple. We really can make anything cruelty free.


Fried Egg

• 1 Package of Firm Tofu (drained and cut into 4 rectangular pieces)
• 1 Batch of the Cheese Sauce in our Mac & Cheese recipe (you'll have a bunch left over, but if you also pick up some Macaroni, you'll also have lunch for a week)
• Olive Oil for cooking
• Black Pepper and Salt to taste

Make the Cheese Sauce from the Mac and Cheese recipe.

With warm water, rinse your Flavor Injector. This is a crazy-looking toy. It's one of those tools made for people who aren't happy just eating meat - they need to inject things in the meat. But, I love my re-appropriated flavor injector now. I'm partial to food that has some kind of injected filling, because, as I've said many times: who doesn't love pie? OK - back to the recipe.

Fill your injector with Cheese Sauce. Take your Tofu and one at a time, slowly stick the injector in the center of one of the shorter sides of the rectangle. Make sure it doesn't go in to far. You don't want to pierce one of the sides. Then--this is key--gently move the Tofu back and forth. Don't move the needle; it'll tear a big hole on the outside of the tofu. But if you move the Tofu, it creates a pocket in the tofu while keeping the injection spot as small as possible.

Fill all 4 Tofu Pieces with the Cheese Sauce very slowly. Stop when you see a lump start to form in the center.

In your amazing cast iron skillet, heat 2-3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Once it's hot, gently place the "Eggs" in the skillet with the lump side up. Fry with that side up until you can see the edges begin to brown. Then gently flip. Let them fry until you see that side's edges brown as well. You may want to do this a few times till the "Egg" gets the desired crispy brown edges.

Serve hot with Salt and Pepper over the top and with your favorite vegan bacon and potatoes... maybe call a friend and brag a bit about how you rocked breakfast. Share your victory.