Smashed And Twisted

I'm not a big breakfast fan at breakfast time; I don't get hungry until I've been up for a while and, in my view, eggs are better for lunch or dinner than for breakfast. They seem a little rich first thing in the morning.

When I have geared up a bit, however, I love scrambled eggs, particularly when they are gently cooked in a modicum of butter with real bacon bits mixed in. I've been known to deny myself that last strip of crispy bacon one day to save it for smashed eggs the next.

Smashed eggs is the name Chief Banks came up with to describe this delicious concoction, which he invented just for me. Don't tell me others knew about it before he invented it - you'd spoil a precious memory.

This time, I used the some of the pancetta for a slight twist on the scramble. Pancetta is more intensely salty than most bacon, usually very thinly sliced and it's not smoked. Getting a bite of pancetta in your creamy smashed eggs is a lively wake-up call for the taste buds, the breakfast equivalent of setting your clock radio to a Zydeco station.