An easy recipe for a festive breakfast with healthy veggies

Even though one might think that this is the ideal recipe for an easter breakfast, I strongly believe that these vegetarian birds’ nest are perfectly served at every festive occasion. And festive occasions and december go perfectly together I guess, so let me quickly share this super easy recipe with you below.

I have been eating these nests since I was a small child. My mother used to make them. Sometimes even as a quick dinner. As years passed I have adapted the recipe a bit to my taste. I don’t add meat to the filling anymore, I have replaced that by sautéed veggies and I use lots of toppers to add some more crunch and tastes to this otherwise simple dish. I love it like that!

The bread buns

But then still these vegetarian nests aren’t something that I make a lot in France, mostly because it’s very hard to get these type of buns: hard – ideally mid size – round buns or rolls. You can use Austrian Kaiser rolls if you can find them, although they are a bit on the small side, so you will need less filling in the end. The Italian dinner rolls are an ideal size and shape bun. Alternatively you can try to use the soft type of buns. When you’ve found your bread vehicles, or made them (which is my strategy in France), you start with these few easy steps.

 

Ingredients (for 2 nests)

– 2 round hard crust buns
– 2 tbsp sunflower oil
– 4 tbsp sautéed green veggies (spinach, chard, kale or courgette)
– 3 tbsp sautéed mushrooms
– 4 tbsp cubed or shredded hard yellow cheese (hard dutch cheese, compte, beaufort or cheddar)
– 2 eggs
– spices (oregano, red (smoked) pepper, salt, pepper)
– pinch of a topping of choice (sesame, nigella, pumpkin or sunflower seeds)

Oiling the buns on the inside

 

How-to

1. Take the buns, place them upside down and in a movement that replicates a cone, remove the first piece of bread from the bottom part of the buns. After that, remove as much as possible from the inside, keeping a solid shell on all sides.
2. Now you can oil the inside of the buns with a bit of sunflower oil.
3. From here on you start filling the bun. Place the sautéed mushrooms and veggies on the bottom. Push them down, but don’t break the bread. Then add the cheese on top and carefully top the nests off with an egg.
4. Take some more sunflower oil and brush the outside of the bun with oil.
5. Add the toppings and the spices on top.
6. Place the nests on a baking sheet and place them in a on 180C pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes until the egg is done. They are now ready to be served.