We met my parents in Joshua Tree last weekend to celebrate my mom’s birthday and the lovely weather. We knew how difficult it would be to lock down a campsite on a Saturday, so we went on Wednesday, set up a dummy tent, and paid for 4 days. Wednesday is a lovely time to be looking for campsites in Joshua Tree!
We got to be picky, and chose a site with a rock “hearth” behind the fire pit, where we strung twinkly lights and made the neighbors jealous. We spent the night on Wednesday, even though we had to work on Thursday, and it was fun to get a practice run before having to entertain. It gave us a chance to make a list of things we forgot, or wish we had. There wasn’t much time for a serious day of climbing, so we spent time driving through the park looking for wildflowers. The ocotillo were blooming beautifully on the west side of the park, but that was about it. But we DID get to see our first set of bighorn sheep!! Wes and I have been looking for them ever since we started dating, so it was SO exciting to finally get to see them! Of course, they were spotted crossing the road at Sheep Pass.
When we went back on Saturday, we bragged to my parents about our Wednesday experience and felt sorry for them because they’d never get so lucky. After a few little sight-seeing hikes, Dad wanted to drive up to show mom sunset at Keys View (an amazing lookout over the valley). As we were driving up the road, I turned to my left and spotted TEN MALE bighorn sheep laying down in the brush! Dad slammed on the breaks and we got the chance to photograph them with all my parents’ collection of cameras. Best day ever.
Dinner that night was pretty straightforward: hot dogs, corn on the cob, and canned baked beans. (Dirty Gourmet keeps us from eating boring old camping food very often, and sometimes we miss it). Then, the next morning, we made these quick and easy pie iron egg sandwiches. Frying eggs in the pie iron was a great idea! We could maybe have quadruple-timed the process by doing the same thing in the dutch oven, but everyone was on their own schedule that morning, so it was nice not to have to drag everyone out of bed for the sake of the early-rising hungry people. Plus, they would never have come out so perfectly round. It was like we went to McDonalds!
Pie Iron Fried Egg Sandwiches
Yield
1 sandwichPrep Time / Cook Time
/Activity Guide
Car CampingIngredients
- 1 egg
- nonstick cooking spray or 1 tablespoon butter or oil
- dough of 1 biscuit (we use canned, and we always cook all 8 eventually)
- 1 slice cheddar cheese
- 1 sausage patty, or two strips of bacon (optional)
Tools
- Pie iron
- Plate
- Dutch oven or foil (as warmer)
Method
Note: This recipe is written for one serving, because that’s how much you can make at a time, so feel free to scale based on the amount of people (or canned biscuits, or dozens of eggs) that you have.
- Each piece of the sandwich will have to be made individually if your only tool is one pie iron. I start with the biscuit.
- Preheat the pie iron for about 2 minutes. Spray with cooking spray and add the biscuit. Cook over the fire, about 2 minutes. Then flip and cook about 2 minutes more.
- Check for doneness, and remove when fully cooked through and brown on top. Set biscuit aside (in a foil pouch or warm dutch oven).
- If you’ll be cooking sausage or bacon, this should be your next step. Again, cook until browned on the outside and cooked through. You can also do this ahead of time on the stove.
- Slice biscuit, top one side with sausage and cheese. Set aside.
- Place pie iron back into fire to preheat until it is nice and hot. Open the pie iron, setting one side onto a flat surface such as a rock or grate. Spray again if necessary, and crack egg directly into one side.
- Let egg cook in open pie iron on the flat surface until egg whites start to become white. Close pie iron, flip and heat directly in the fire.
- Remove when cooked to preferred doneness, and place egg onto the biscuit.
Yes, please!