Miso Soft-Scramble Breakfast Sandwich
Over the past couple of years, miso paste has become one of my favorite “secret weapons” when I want to level up a dish with some added salt and umami. It’s delicious, spreadable, mixable, and has a surprisingly wide breadth of applications, from cold dressings, to soups, to marinades, to literally just spreading it on toast. We’ve showcased it in our early bean dip recipes, and it is a great addition to salad dressings too. That said, one of my favorite uses as of late has consequently become one of my favorite simple breakfasts of all time: an open-faced miso-egg sandwich with fresh spring onions. The miso doubles down on the rich umami of the eggs, and that paired with some crunchy bread and crisp, bright scallions really hits every note you could want in a satisfying breakfast sandwich. If that isn’t enough, the whole thing comes together in minutes and only requires 5-6 ingredients. Check out the simple recipe below!
Ingredients
Makes: 1 serving
2 slices of bread: toasted
2 eggs: whisked vigorously with 1 tsp of cold water until frothy
1 ½ -2 tsp white/yellow miso paste: I love the taste of miso, so I opt for slightly more (2 tsp), but 1 ½ tsp will do the trick if you’re trying miso for the first time.
2 tsp butter alternative
1 scallion/spring onion: Separated into white/pale green and dark green portions; white/pale green portion thinly sliced, dark green portion thinly sliced on step diagonal (see image below)
Pinch of sesame seeds: optional
Preparation:
Cut your scallion into the white/pale green portion and dark green portion. Thinly slice the white/pale green portion, set to the side, then thinly slice the dark green portion on a steep diagonal (see image above)
Whisk your eggs until totally smooth and frothy, set to the side.
Toast your bread slices.
Set a pan on medium heat and add in your butter alternative. Once fully melted and bubbling, add the pale portion of your scallion along with the miso, and use a spatula to break the miso up as small as you can. Continue cooking and stirring until the scallions have begun to brown.
Once the scallions have begun to brown, drop the heat to low-heat, add in your eggs and stir in circles until the eggs approach a soft-scramble — they should be cooked but still slightly “wet” looking (don’t worry, they will continue cooking from their own heat).
Portion your soft-scramble onto your pieces of toast, garnish with the dark green portion of your scallion and an optional sprinkle of sesame seeds. Viola! Enjoy!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you may sometimes see scallions/spring onions or pre-sliced bread in plastic wrap or bread. These are both typically available without the plastic, and, at least with the bread, can be bought fresh! That said, it can often be difficult to find eggs without packaging, and nearly impossible to find bulk miso unless you make it yourself.
Try to source eggs from a local farmer and try to learn about how the chickens are raised and fed. Eggs can be part of a sustainable diet when the chickens are used as part of a circular agriculture system. You can read more about this in our article about eggs.
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients, and choose local, in-season produce when you can.
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Things like miso, sesame seeds, and alt-butter will last for a while if stored properly, so with those if you buy a bit more than you needed, you’ll have plenty of time to use them in the future. But the eggs and bread will go bad if you don’t use them relatively quickly, so purchase with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
Most of these ingredients are household staples (like the bread, eggs, butter/alt-butter) that are relatively inexpensive and last a long time. We would also argue that miso is an amazing pantry-staple that you will thank us for adding to your collection!
We substitute the traditional dairy-butter for alt-butter in this recipe. While Grounded Grub is not inherently vegan or vegetarian, we love to explore options that allow home-cooks to avoid big-dairy if possible. That said, if there’s a local dairy-producer near you, we encourage you to get to know those involved and try out the things they’re producing!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Let us know! If you really loved it, share it on social media and tag us (@groundedgrub), or, better yet, share it with your friends and family!