From The Lodge at Black Pearl Cookbook, Vicky Mullaney shares her breakfast recipe that will awaken the cowboy in all of us.

On one of our early fly fishing trips out West we stayed at the Diamond J Ranch in Ennis, Montana. They served us a very hearty breakfast every morning before we headed out to the trail or the river. Their “cowboy” eggs were memorable. Once home, I worked to recreate this breakfast on the east coast. It is a hit with my hunters, who all like to think they have a little cowboy in them.

Ingredients

12-cup muffin pan Pam cooking spray
12 large eggs
12 slices bacon
1 cup grated cheddar cheese Salsa (follow recipe below or use ready-made)

Sauce:

11⁄2 cups finely chopped tomatoes
1⁄2 cup finely chopped white onion
1⁄3 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 to 3 serrano or jalapeño chilies, finely chopped
Kosher salt, to taste

Serves 12

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray the muffin pan with Pam. Fry bacon. Remove it from the skillet when it is slightly undercooked and still pliable; drain on paper towels to remove some of the grease. Wrap a slice of bacon around the inside of each muffin cup. Crack an egg into each cup so that it sits inside the bacon. Top with a teaspoon of salsa and cover with grated cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until eggs yolks are cooked to your liking. Serve with sour cream and additional salsa if desired.

For the salsa: Mix all the ingredients well.

Note: You may use a food processor to chop the vegetables after you have roughly diced them. Use the pulse setting to ensure that the vegetables are not diced too finely.

Like the hunting and fishing classics Derrydale published in the 1930s, this cookbook has only improved with time. This is a no-nonsense, practical guide to cooking virtually every kind of wild game with everything from simple recipes to gourmet level preparation.