I had a pretty ridiculous amount of goat cheese left over from a recent supper club dinner. Sometimes I over estimate to be safe. This time, I really overestimated. So, when some friends invited me to brunch on Saturday, I decided (knowing brunch was also in the cards for Sunday) that I would save some money, take advantage of the copious amounts of my favorite cheese in the refrigerator, and make myself an impromptu breakfast.

I woke up craving eggs, which soon led to me daydreaming about a dish that I once had in Israel- eggs baked in tomato sauce, also known as shakshuka. That’s when the thought of adding goat cheese to this meal made me start to salivate. Still, I wanted to add something else into the mix so that it wasn’t just creamy tomato sauce and eggs. After rummaging through my pantry, I discovered a half used bag of lentils and I knew my meal was complete! So, I cooked up the lentils, sauteed them with some shallots, garlic and tomato sauce and placed it all in the bottom of my mini Le Creuset. I scooped out a little hole for the goat cheese, topped it with an egg, and of course added some more goat cheese and tossed it all into the oven to bake. When it emerged, I was mostly excited that I had cooked the egg to perfection – just runny enough. After attempting to get this meal to look pretty on camera, and letting it cool quite a bit, I finally took a bite and the flavors on my taste buds surpassed what I had imagined when I first woke up. Lesson learned: when you have an ample supply of delicious ingredients in your house, save some money, skip brunch, and maybe even invite your friends over for a homemade breakfast. Here’s how to make it…

1/2 cup lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
1 shallot chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup goat cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring vegetable broth to a boil and add lentils. Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 2 minutes. While the lentils are cooking, sauté the shallots and garlic until shallots are translucent. Add tomato sauce and paste. When lentils are done, drain extra liquid and add lentils to pan with tomato sauce, garlic and shallots. Season with salt and pepper and mix together over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Transfer mixture to ramekin or other small baking dish. Create hole in center of mixture and fill with goat cheese 1/2 way. Crack egg on top and sprinkle crumbled goat cheese around the egg on top of mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until egg is cooked but still runny.