Let’s be honest. From time to time, many of us throw weeknight dinners together with what we have on hand. It happens to me and I write a weekly column about getting dinner on the table in minutes, so supper recipes are almost always on my mind.
Toward the end of the week, when the refrigerator and the pantry have been picked over and I’m tired, hungry and not feeling particularly ambitious or creative, dinner might end up being a bowl of cereal (or popcorn!) or a cheese quesadilla.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but, for me, it feels like a letdown. I prefer to anticipate dinner as a treat at the end of the day. I look forward to eating it with my husband as we catch up. And for that reason, I try to keep those bare-bones days to a minimum.
And it is why I’m always on the lookout for things like this Bacon and Egg Fried Rice that a colleague shared with me, saying, “I thought of you as soon as I saw this one.”
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The recipe is from “The Dinner Plan” by Caroline Campion and Kathy Brennan (Abrams, 2017). The cookbook features 135 recipes designated as make-ahead, staggered, one-dish, extra-fast and pantry. This one hits all of those marks.
It comes together in about 30 minutes, and while the cookbook authors offer exact ingredients and amounts, for me, the recipe served as a reminder of how often I used to make fried rice with whatever I had on hand.
This recipe was like a little tap on the shoulder: Hey, remember me?
The dish takes liberties with familiar fried rice ingredients, but when I’m making variations on this theme at home, that’s what I do, too. I almost always have odds and ends of vegetables and meats.
After I made the Bacon and Egg Fried Rice as directed, on a subsequent night I celebrated rejoining the fried rice fan club by mincing a lonely serrano and slicing a quarter of a white onion and a yellow bell pepper I found in the crisper drawer. I added leftover peas, corn and rice. After those were nice and hot, I pushed the ingredients to one side of my large skillet, scrambled my eggs and tossed it all together.
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I was done in minutes, delighted with the dish and I had eaten some food that might have gone to waste otherwise.
Cold rice actually works better than freshly made when preparing fried rice, so the next time I make a batch, I am going to cook extra on purpose, so I can continue my easy-eating streak.
The recipe is easily halved or doubled, as needed. It is fairly mild, so, if you desire, kick up the heat with a minced hot pepper or a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes.
Storage notes: Leftovers can be covered tightly and refrigerated for up to 4 days. Reheat in a microwave or place it in a saucepan over low heat, add a splash of water and cover to steam, stirring to break up any clumps until warm.
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