Cheap breakfast that will impress the pants off anyone...

[eyesroll]

Seriously...if you need to impress a date, or make your parents realize you're a grown-up, or even suck up to your boss, try this. The only expensive ingredient is truffle-infused olive oil. I got a 150-mL bottle for $6 (there's a store called Oil and Vinegar at the local mall -- your yuppie grocery has something similar, it may cost a little more), and I could probably make this recipe 20 times over with the amount that's in the bottle. So, still...that's 30 cents for two people. Chances are, you have everything else except maybe the bacon in your pantry/fridge already.

1. Popovers
Pre-heat the oven to 425. Grease a 12-muffin pan. Whisk together two room-temperature eggs, 1 1/4-cup room-temperature milk, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil or melted butter. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. When that's blended, add a cup of all-purpose or bread flour (don't use biscuit/cake flour). Fill muffin cups about 2/3rds of the way up. If you run out of batter before filling all 12, fill the empties with water so they don't overheat.
Put the muffin tin in the oven and increase the temperature to 450. After 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350. DON'T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR. After another 15 minutes, check to see if the popovers are golden brown. If they aren't, cook for another 5 minutes or so. (If you want them crispy, puncture them to let the steam out, then return them to the turned-off oven for up to 30 minutes. Otherwise, serve as soon as possible.

2. Applewood smoked bacon

3. The best damn scrambled eggs you'll ever eat
Figure 2-3 eggs per person. Beat them with a little water and some pepper. Heat up a skillet that will hold however many eggs you want. Throw in a little olive oil (not butter) and then the egg mixture. Scramble them up, remove when they're as done as you want them. Salt if you want to after they're cooked.

To finish:
Arrange the eggs, bacon and popovers attractively on a platter. Drizzle the eggs with a very small amount of the truffle oil -- it goes a long way. If you have fresh chives on hand, snip a few off on top of the eggs; otherwise, don't worry about it. Have some butter and jam/jelly/preserves for the popovers. Pour the coffee or juice or whatever, and wait for your date to swoon at your feet, your parents to ask you when they're going to get grandchildren, or your boss to offer you his job.

[Stepup2]

1. This sounds fantastic

sans the bacon.

I like popovers with fruit compote for a fancy breakfast too. I buy a frozen fruit medley (apple, peach and blueberries)add a little brown sugar and Cinnamon and heat it til mixture softens.

Spoon it into the popovers when they come out of the oven

[eyesroll]

2. The compote sounds great!

If you're a vegetarian/kosher/otherwise not a bacon person, I think citrus fruit (segmented all pretty, served in a bowl, though, to keep the juice from getting everywhere) might be a nice accompanyment to the eggs and popovers.

[Dora]

3. Popover coincidence...

I just made popovers last weekend for the first time.... so easy! So good!

And with scrambled eggs with chives no less. Too weird.

[chefgirl]

4. I make popovers all the time

I make them for breakfast sometimes, but I make them on 'breakfast for dinner' nights more often.

I love them with my homemade jams, but what I really love to eat them with is compound fruit butter.

Just whip a stick of butter until its become fluffy, and add any kind of fruit jam, or fresh fruit coulis. I've used cranberry sauce quite a few times too....Delicious!!

-chef-