Good things happen when bread meets eggs

The original egg on a roll was not bought from a cart on the streets of Manhattan, I imagine, but it is now a cheap, fast, made-to-order breakfast for New Yorkers of all stripes in a hurry. Wrapped in paper, the sandwich is as unassuming as it is satisfying.

What’s not to like? Egg-and-bread anything is a great combination, no matter how plain or fancy: fried egg sandwiches; soft-scrambled eggs on good buttered bread, a crisp baguette, perhaps; poached eggs on English muffins.

Though I can’t prove it, I suspect the first egg and bread combinations began in various regions of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia — all cuisines in which bread plays a part. Think of the egg-filled Tunisian brik, for example, or spicy Indian scrambled eggs with chapati.

As for a modern-day Middle Eastern approach, there was a Lebanese place, since closed, alas, where I often picked up lunch. All the food was fresh and colourful. One day, instead of the usual falafel and salad for my pita, I chose an item on the chalkboard, called herb omelette. It was lovely, full of parsley, onion and mint, served at room temperature.

I became obsessed with it, trying out other versions at home, adding more herbs. At some point, it was apparent I was conflating the Lebanese version, called ejjeh, with the Persian herb omelette known as kuku sabzi.

Seeking clarification, I asked the Massachusetts chef Danielle Glantz, whose family comes from Zgharta in northern Lebanon. Her grandmother made three kinds of ejjeh: one with potato, onion, mint and parsley; one with onion, mint and parsley; and a deluxe one, with fatty lamb, potato, mint and parsley. The ejjeh was always served with pita, tahini and labneh (yoghurt cheese).

Then I checked with Andy Baraghani, an editor at Bon Appétit and an authority on Persian cooking, about the differences between ejjeh and the Persian kuku. He confirmed that the Persian omelette was always made with lots of chopped parsley, dill, mint, cilantro: the more packed with herbs, the better, and just enough eggs to bind them.

Evidently, I had invented a mash-up of the two. And mine, instead of being served with pita on the side, was actually a pita sandwich, filled with herbed omelette, topped with a pan-Middle Eastern chopped salad and a creamy yoghurt tahini sauce. For me, it remains a delicious, if slightly mixed up, kind of egg on a roll.