I needed to whip up something fast for lunch the other day, and rummaging in the refrigerator I found a bit of mozzarella left over from a pasta dish, some prosciutto from an appetizer, and, of course, a bunch of eggs. (There are always eggs.) The result? A five-minute lunch that also happens to look elegant, and taste delicious. If I do say so myself.

This lunch was actually inspired by an arranged caprese salad — sans tomatoes. I tore the prosciutto and mozzarella into bite-sized pieces, and added some basil. Then I plopped two poached eggs on top, and drizzled the whole thing with some good olive oil, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Simple and fast.

It's a good reminder of the kitchen truism that anything is better with an egg on top, and it also made me wonder about other things in my refrigerator that might be good in such a "composed salad" with eggs. My husband, upon receiving this plated lunch, was ecstatic. He also pointed out that it is nice to have a breakfast option from time to time that includes eggs, but not bread. (We eat a lot of poached eggs on toast.)

I agree, and this will definitely go into lunch and breakfast rotation in our household — whenever we are so lucky as to have leftover prosciutto and mozzarella, that is!

What's your favorite thing to do with poached eggs? Do you ever use them for impromptu lunches?

Related: How To Poach an Egg: The Video

(Images: Faith Durand)