Bacon ’n’ Egg Sandwiches

First week of October. Week five. We won, forty-five to seventeen, against a team that was rebuilding and that did not have the line to slow us down. The starters played a half. The second team played a half. The third team got three series. Diego had three catches and a TD in his half. Marcus had three TDs in his half. Daquan got an early sack and was rested. The game was the kind of game that you want once a season — the win-while-resting game, the one where you bank the W and bank the snaps, where the depth chart gets reps it would not otherwise get, where you can experiment with a few new looks for the upcoming hard stretch.

Week six is going to be the hardest game of the regular season. We play Cherry Creek on the road on Friday night. Cherry Creek is the program that has won the Colorado 5A championship four of the last six years, that has thirty-two players who could start at most other 5A schools, that has a strength program that we cannot match, and that has the kind of historical confidence that sometimes wins games before they start. Cherry Creek is undefeated through five games. They have been favored over us by twelve in three different forecasting outlets. I have spent the past two days watching their game tapes from this season and from last year and I have a plan, and the plan is going to work, and I have not told the staff yet because I want to install it Monday in a way that gets the kids fully bought in. Some plans you give to the team. Some plans you give in installments. This one is an installment plan.

I made green chile mac for the family on Saturday afternoon. Big batch. Full nine-by-thirteen pan. The recipe is a Carlos riff on traditional mac and cheese — a roux base with milk and a heavy hand of cheddar and pepper jack and a little Monterey, plus chopped roasted green chile from the new Las Cruces stash, plus a little cumin (yes, cumin in this dish, because mac is not New Mexican stew and the rules are different), and a buttery panko topping. Bake at three-fifty for thirty minutes covered, then ten minutes uncovered, until the top is crackling and the cheese is bubbling. Green chile mac is the side dish that ate America. I take it to every cookout we have. The booster moms have asked for the recipe. I gave them an early version of the recipe. The current version, with the pepper jack and the panko and the green chile ratio, is a more refined version that I have not given out and probably will not.

The mac was for the family on Saturday but I made enough that there were leftovers for the team meal on Sunday at the field house, which is an October tradition we have where the team and the staff meet for an hour Sunday morning at the school for film and for food and for a check-in. Sunday I brought a pan of green chile mac, the booster moms brought biscuits and breakfast meat and fruit, and the kids and the staff sat in the meeting room and ate while we walked through the Cherry Creek game plan. The kids were focused. Daquan asked three good questions. Marcus asked two. Diego, who knows when to ask and when to listen, listened.

I went home Sunday at noon. Lisa had the day off and was on the patio with a book. The twins were at a soccer tournament. Sofia was at her workout. Diego was at Hayley's. The house was quiet. I sat on the patio with Lisa for an hour. We did not talk much. We just sat. The fall air was cool. The aspens in the yard had started to turn. The sky was the kind of October blue that only Colorado has — high, clear, with a trace of yellow at the horizon as if a pale gold dust had settled there.

Lisa said, "How is the team." I said, "The team is good." She said, "How is Cherry Creek." I said, "Cherry Creek is excellent. We are going to beat them." She said, "Confident." I said, "I have a plan." She said, "What is the plan." I said, "I am not telling you. I am not telling Mike Reyes until tomorrow. The plan is in my head and it is going to stay there until Monday." She laughed. She said, "I have not seen you guard a plan like this in years." I said, "Some plans deserve to be guarded." She said, "Carlos. You are alive in a way I have not seen in maybe ten years." I said, "Yeah. I am." She said, "Win the championship. Then we go home." I said, "Lisa. Do not say that yet. Do not put it in the air." She nodded. She put her hand on mine. We sat. The aspens shivered. The road bends. Feed your people. The game is won at the table.

The green chile mac was mine, but the Sunday field house spread has always been a shared effort — the booster moms bring the biscuits and the breakfast meat, and what holds that table together is always something simple and filling, something the kids can eat fast and feel. A good bacon and egg sandwich is that thing. This is the version I make when I am cooking for a room full of people who have a game to prepare for — nothing complicated, just the fundamentals done right.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

8 strips thick-cut bacon
4 large eggs
4 English muffins or sturdy sandwich rolls, split
4 slices cheddar or American cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and black pepper to taste
Hot sauce or sliced tomato, optional for serving

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a large skillet over medium heat, lay the bacon strips flat and cook until crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off most of the drippings but leave a thin film in the pan.
Toast the bread. While the bacon rests, toast the English muffins or rolls cut-side down in a separate skillet or under a broiler until golden, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
Cook the eggs. Return the bacon skillet to medium heat and add the butter. Once melted and foaming, crack the eggs in one at a time. Season with salt and pepper. Cook sunny side up or flip for over easy, about 3 to 4 minutes total. For a firmer set, press the yolk gently with a spatula.
Layer the cheese. In the last minute of egg cooking, lay a slice of cheese over each egg and cover the pan loosely with a lid for 30 seconds to melt.
Assemble. On each toasted bottom half, stack 2 strips of bacon and one cheese-topped egg. Add hot sauce or tomato if using. Cap with the top half and press gently. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bacon ’n’ Egg Sandwiches — Sunday Morning at the Field House