Assemblage Cooking: Leftover Cornbread and Poached Eggs is definitely about happy leftovers. Last weekend we had some white bean, jerk turkey, leftover butternut squash chili. Which also meant we had leftover cornbread muffins. Then later this week I threw several dinner parties and just wasn’t up for cooking. It was time for some assemblage cooking. What’s easier than breakfast for dinner? Not much. And breakfast for dinner at our house almost always means poached eggs, because poached eggs are my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I love eggs generally, but I’m really picky about them being overcooked. Something happens to the white… it changes the taste-? I just don’t like it when it’s overcooked and I swear it’s science, not me. It makes it impossible for me to eat fried or hard boiled eggs when at a restaurant. But poached, oh poached eggs… I can wax rhapsodical about poached eggs. If you find them intimidating, this weekend is the weekend to learn how to make poached eggs. And then you can just poach one and plop it down on salads and grains, turning leftovers into instant fancy meals whilly nilly à la Assemblage Cooking: Leftover Cornbread and Poached Eggs. Trust.

cornbread muffin
1 piece of microwave bacon (optional)
1 tablespoon jam
1 tablespoon spicy mustard
1 poached egg (the fresher the better) or 2
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper

Place the bacon on a papertowel and microwave until crisp (for one piece, 2-3 minutes). Toast the cornbread. Prep the poached egg. Assemble the deck. Lay out the cornbread. Sprinkle the crispy bacon around the bread. Mix the jam, mustard and hot sauce to make a spicy mustardo (or buy the real Italian stuff). Garnish the bowl with the mustard sauce. Salsa would be awesome instead. Make sure you drain the egg well before you set it on the cornbread (or it will make things mushy). Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy busting open the beautiful golden yolk.