If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then let’s make a meal worthy of this moniker. A breakfast of steak and eggs certainly fits the bill. But we can improve on the basics. Let’s start with the steak. Typically, eye of the round steak gets a bad rap because it’s tough. And it can be if it’s overcooked. But it more than makes up for its shortcomings with its full beefy flavor and relative ease in prepping.
For our steak, we’re going to start with an inch-and-a-half thick eye of the round steak. The steaks can either be purchased precut, or they can be hand-cut from an eye of the round roast. The roast has a fat cap and silverskin on one side that needs to be trimmed away first. The steaks need to be generously seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Once these are seasoned, they can be set aside to come to room temperature while we work on the “eggs.”
Technically these eggs are part of a triple onion tart. In this case, the eggs are combined with cream, sweet onions, shallots, leeks, cream cheese, pepperjack and Swiss cheeses and baked inside a pastry shell. These eggs are served by the slice and guaranteed to satiate even the hungriest of breakfast-eers.
We’ll need 2-3 medium sized leeks for this recipe. Look for leeks that have a large white to green ratio since we’ll only be using the white part in this recipe. Leeks are grown in wet mud, and they need to be carefully cleaned before you can use them. Check out the pictures below if you’ve never cleaned leeks before. We’ll also need sweet onions. Vidalias are a favorite, but they have a limited harvesting season. Mayan Sweets can be had pretty much year round, and they are equally as tasty. The onions, shallots and leeks all need to be thinly sliced.
This tart needs to rest for 20 minutes after it comes out of the oven. During this time, the steaks can go on the grill—3 minutes a side for rare, 4 minutes a side for medium rare, and 5 minutes a side for medium—and still have time for a 10 minute rest before this meal is plated.
So what exactly do we need for this meal:
Eye of the Round Steaks
- 1 1½-inch eye of the round steak per person generously seasoned with
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Triple Onion Tart
- 1 9-inch pie crust, rolled flat if needed
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 large sweet onion
- 3-4 large shallots
- 1 very large leek, or 2-4 medium-small leeks
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup swiss cheese, grated
- ¾ cup pepperjack cheese, grated
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- ⅔ cup heavy whipping cream
- 3 large eggs
In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and whipping cream and set aside. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Ease the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Gently roll any seams with a rolling pin if you’re using a folded crust.
Cut the leeks lengthwise and clean them under running water. Thinly slice the leeks, onions and shallots.
In a large, non-stick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the onions, shallots and leeks. Once the vegetables are soft and fragrant, add the spices and stir to combine. Add the cheeses and stir to melt the cheese and combine. Remove from the heat. Stirring the egg mixture constantly, add the hot cheese and onion mixture into the eggs and cream. Combine thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and gently fold the crust down over the mixture.
Bake for 40 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, you can lightly cover with aluminum foil if the top is browning too quickly. Remove from the oven and let the tart rest for at least 20 minutes.
Grill the steaks while the tart rests. Make sure the grill is very hot, 550°F+ giving the grates plenty of time to heat to temp. A solid flattop grilling insert makes for a wonderful sear without drying the steaks. Use either a spatula or tongs to turn the steaks. Grill these steaks for 3 minutes a side for rare, 4 minutes a side for medium rare, and 5 minutes a side for medium. Remove the steaks from the grill, tent them loosely, and let them rest for 10 minutes.