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When I was growing up, my dad was the king of the sandwich. He unfailingly came up with different concoctions for my sister Nikki and me. Some were good, some horrendous—never try bologna and peanut butter!! But it turned me into a sandwich junkie. The egg here plays along really well with the spicy soppressata, an Italian dry-cured sausage, and makes this a great sandwich for breakfast, lunch, or a light dinner. Frying the generously larded soppressata crisps up the meat and gives the sandwich body. But it’s also efficient, because you use that same pan to make a sunny-side-up egg, glazing it with the spicy rendered fat. (You can also use the fat to cook onions, peppers, or greens for a flavor boost with no extra work.) This sandwich has great balance: the saltiness of the meat is offset by the sweetness of the basil and the creaminess of the egg and mozzarella.

My mother-in-law Sherla’s “Shasha” sauce, with its mustard and vinegar flavors and light sweetness, is the perfect foil to complete this sandwich. Any bread will work, but I really love this with some grilled sourdough. Double, triple, or quadruple this recipe at will.

Serves 1

2 paper-thin slices red onion

4 to 6 thin slices (about 4 ounces) soppressata or dry-cured Italian salami

1 large egg

2 slices (about 2 ounces) prosciutto

2 thin slices (about 2 ounces) fresh mozzarella

2 thick slices sourdough bread, toasted or grilled

4 large fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons Shasha Sauce

Soak the onion in a small bowl of ice water for 2 minutes.

While the onion is soaking, in a medium nonstick sauté pan over low heat, fry the soppressata over medium-high heat until lightly crisp and some fat has rendered, about 2 minutes per side. Remove it to a plate. In the same pan, fry an egg sunny-side up.

While the egg is cooking, drain the onion slices and layer the soppressata, prosciutto, mozzarella, and onion slices on a slice of bread. Top with the other slice and place the sandwich in the pan next to the egg, pressing down on the sandwich with the palm of your hand. When that side is lightly toasted, about 3 or 4 minutes, flip the sandwich and toast the other side.

Remove the sandwich to a cutting board, and open the sandwich. Lay down the basil leaves, place the egg in the center, and spoon on the Shasha sauce. Close the sandwich and slice it in half to serve.

Soaking sliced onion in ice water is something I learned from my mom. It takes the raw bite out of the onion and keeps it light and crunchy.

There are very few sandwiches that aren’t improved when you put a fried egg on top.

THE LOLA BURGER

I’m sorry—I’m gonna say it: this is the best hamburger ever. A great burger is all about the meat. Make sure you don’t buy super-lean ground beef or your burger will be dry and flavorless. Better still, grind your own meat. I recommend you use equal parts brisket, beef cheek, and sirloin, the cuts I use at Lola, and they’ll yield about a 75 to 25 meat-to-fat ratio, which is what you want for a great burger. But even more important than the cut of meat, is the grind. The best texture results from passing your meat through the large die (¼ inch), twice. This is more important than the actual cut, provided you retain the three parts meat and one part fat ratio.

We also have some great toppings to set this burger apart. Instead of hamburger buns, we put these on English muffins—Bays English muffins, to be exact, which are the most flavorful. Shape the burgers slightly larger than your muffins to make up for shrinkage. We also serve bacon and a fried egg on these. Cook your bacon ahead of time and you can fry your eggs in the bacon fat as soon as you take the burgers off the grill, while they’re resting.

Serves 4

8 slices bacon

24 ounces ground beef, 75 percent lean (see headnote)

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

4 thin slices cheddar cheese

4 English muffins, split

4 large eggs

1 dill pickle, thinly sliced

½ cup pickled red onion

4 teaspoons Spicy