A Great Big Dish of Awesome

I love diners. Always have. After all, I'm from the city that built the first production diner cars. So from the prefab-retro 50’s style to the authentically unhygienic, I love them. Neon, formica, chrome, salty waitresses and saltier food...the whole package. Some are more upscale than others, sneakily serving gourmet fare along with the traditional short stacks, omelets and hashes of various types (not that type.)

A favorite is Johnny’s Luncheonette in Newton Centre (they prefer the slightly pretentious French spelling). Great breakfast food all day long, as well as sandwiches, burgers and the like. In these tight economic times though, eating out has become more of a luxury, what with a gallon of gas costing as much as a side of bacon AND a side of home fries. So what is a man to do but recreate his favorite diner dishes at home? You know, minus the chrome, neon, formica, Guy Fieri and the rest...

So last night, after a long afternoon in the library and then attending Matt Taibbi’s book signing event, I came home hungry for grease, preferably with a side of protein. I still had some pastrami from Trader Joe’s that I hadn’t used yet; and suddenly inspiration struck! I’ve had the Pastrami & Eggs combo at Johnny’s many times...why not make it at home? And make it greasy?

Heated some olive oil while dicing a sweet Vidalia onion...let the onions get some color, then added the pastrami, sliced into small pieces. Let that cook for a couple minutes, melting the fat in the pastrami and blending the flavors of the onions & oil before adding the egg mixture. Let that set, then added some low-fat mozzarella cheese, scrambled it all together, and WHAM! A great big dish of awesome!

Sometimes, it really is just the small, simple pleasures that make life grand. This was one of those moments. Bon apetit.