Eggs in Vinaigrette Toast

Every week, Caroline Wright creates simple, civilized recipes for Food52 that feed four -- for under $20, in under 20 minutes.

Today: Everyone has meals for when they're at their laziest. Here's Caroline's.

It isn’t often that I publish recipes for how I truly like to eat when I’m feeling my laziest or busiest. Like all cooks, however, I have a few things I eat when I want food that tastes good but takes very little effort or supplies -- I don’t often write about them, though, because they seem too simple. This recipe takes five ingredients and zero rolling of your shirtsleeves -- just a thick slice of bread soaked in a bit of oil and vinegar with an egg cracked into it, served over lightly wilted arugula. There are so many words for this kind of meal, but truly “good” feels apt. Dug into with a knife and fork like a steak with yolk running into greens, this toast is practically perfect to me at any time of day. 

Eggs in Vinaigrette Toast

Serves 4

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Four 1 1/2-inch thick slices sandwich bread
4 large eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bunches arugula 

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

As a freelance food writer and cook, I first wrote this style of recipe as a column on my blog, The Wright Recipes, as an excuse to cook good food for my friends in a quick and simple way. 

Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute™ Meals grew into a cookbook that was published by Workman in May 2013. The recipes found here are original, made especially for Food52 to once again celebrate simple food with friends.

Photo by Caroline Wright