Fried
Not my favourite googie, but let’s not be harsh. Use only olive oil. Frying in butter is gross. Moderate heat pan. Make sure temperature has been reached before you add the egg, that way it won't stick. Dad always liked his sunny side up (because eggs make their own sauce), but I like mine turned or folded. On a BBQ plate, an egg ring is a big help.Poached
Key to this is the water needs to be just at simmering. Some teach to swirl the water to make a whirlpool and drop the egg into the centre - this is plain stupid as the forces are pulling the egg away from itself. We seek stillness. Poach is for peace. I break the egg into a soup ladle, then lower her down and let her slide off into the gentle waters. At the end they come out looking like little breast implants, so sweet.Poached eggs are excellent in salads, and can be kept for several days refrigerated. If you’re going to do this, you pop them in icy water first, then pat them gently dry with a paper towel.
Scrambled
The trick here is to move the eggs as little as possible, not as much as possible. Folded eggs is a better description.Omelet
The only question is: can I be bothered separating the whites and fluffing them first. This is a major mood barometer, like when peeling an onion: will I peel the papery skin as thinly as possible, or will I allow myself to peel back a full, fleshy ring with it?Boiled
The eggs go into cold water, not boiling water. Putting them into boiling water will make the shell crack, and the egg will cook unevenly. Fool! Once a strong boil has been reached, drop the heat down to a gentle boil, just above simmer. One more minute (per egg) for soft, one minute more for mixed texture, another for hard, yet another for stone age types.
Baked
See recipe below.Coddled
Now you're talking! Beloved of BnBs, and a fantastic breakfast in bed, but requires a coddler. (You can improvise and use a ramekin in a water filled dish in the oven - then it’s kind of half coddled and half baked. Go the coddler I say!) I've bought my sets on eBay.Not endorsing this particular set mind - but aren't they pretty!
Open coddler, drop in a drizzle of olive oil, tilt it sideways and roll around to let the oil cover the inside. Break the egg into it. Top it with pepper, salt, a shave of spanish onion, chives, a sliver of chilli - go nuts - cheese, szeuchan pepper crumbled crispy bacon, yes, yes, yes! Put the coddler/s in a pan, fill with water until it’s just below where the lid starts. Turn the heat up high to bring to a simmer. Knock the heat back once you reach simmer, then keep them there for another minute (same routine as with boiled eggs really).
What I’m cooking tonight is
Recipe: baked egg in a bowl
Bachelor food needs to be easily scaleable. If there’s two of you, that’s two bowls. Four of you, four. There’s a pattern emerging.Ingredients
- 2 rashers of bacon
- 1 tomato
- 1 big handful baby spinach leaves
- 2 eggs
- Pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon blue cheese
- 2 slices buttered toast, to serve
- Preheat fan forced oven to 200°
- Slice tomatoes in half across the core
- Place bacon and tomatoes on a lightly oiled baking tray, and place in oven for 10 minutes
- While these cook, pour boiling water over the handful of spinach, then remove quickly and allow to drain
- Once the 10 minutes is up, drop the heat down to 150°, turn the tomatoes over, and remove the bacon
- Place the bacon into a breakfast-size oven-proof bowl (no bigger than fist size). I like to cut up the bacon with cooking scissors - makes eating so much simpler.
- Add the wilted spinach
- Gently crack the eggs on top, and season with pepper
- Place in oven for 10-15 minutes, until the eggs are done the way you like
- Remove tomatoes and egg bowl from oven and let rest while the bread is toasting
- Crumble cheese over the egg (the cream and blue of the cheese looks so nice with the white and green of the egg and spinach)
An excellent breakfast in bed
It worked out nicely tonight, but maybe I should make little indentations in the spinach so the eggs don’t slide off to the side. Hmm.
