Sunday
Feb072010
World's Greatest Breakfast
We've been eating a lot of eggs lately. It goes something like this:
- Wake up, check blog stats to see if Mark Bittman has decided to endorse In Praise of Leftovers (sadly, not yet)
- Set four eggs in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a gentle boil
- Check Facebook to see if someone, somewhere, might be thinking about me
- Remove my egg after four minutes
- Open it over buttered toast, sprinkle coarse salt and aleppo pepper, ponder how I might engineer more provocative Facebook posts to attract a flood of comments
- Call the kids to eat their hard-boiled eggs six minutes later
- Notice again how eating an egg in the morning keeps me full until lunchtime and makes me feel retro in an MFK Fisher kind of way (who didn't have Facebook and was the better for it)
I've had seasons. Months of granola for breakfast, not an egg in sight. Spells of fried eggs, especially sandwiched between an English muffin with sharp cheddar and lots of ketchup. And poached--I even have a special egg poacher that produces glossy white pucks, all squat and predictably shaped.
But this is the Season of the Soft-Boiled Egg, and it might just last forever.
What's your story with eggs? How are you eating them these days?
February 7, 2010
Reader Comments (51)
I'm not a big fan of runny eggs but I love hard boiled eggs. My favorite way to eat them lately is to mush a hard boiled egg and mix it with one light Laugh Cow Cheese, a little salt and pepper and spread that on a whole wheat English muffin. It's kind of like egg salad but better.
EVERY morning these days:
step one: toast one slice of "european" (that's what it says on the package) whole grain bread
step two: cook three egg whites (they shrink, i swear) and place on top of the toast (i'm maturing a bit, so every once in a while i'll have a little yolk)
step three: arugula with basic lemon vinaigrette (or sauteed spinach) on side, but that gets mixed in with every bite
step four: salt + peper
step five: LOVE!!
Always scrambled and with any kind of cheese. :) Your morning rituals especially the part about facebook made me chuckle.
I have been making one egg omelets almost every morning. Start by sauteing bunch of spinach, garlic, shallot...throw in a few halved cherry tomatoes and about 4 chopped kalamata olives. Remove spinach mxture, add my one well-forked egg, add back filling and grate a touch of whatever cheese sounds good. This breakfast makes me happy!
I don't like runny eggs, but I love putting a cracked egg on a breakfast pizza - the yolk is slightly firm but still tender - and of course splashed with generous amounts of Tabasco! :D
I'm in an over-easy phase. I am often found around these parts tossing tater tots (<< food of the gods) with whatever veggie I have handy and an over easy egg on top. It's a bit like your blasted broccoli bowl except the trashy, ghetto kind. I'm kind of proud of that.
I too love eggs.
Any which way, hard boiled, scrambled, runny, firm, soft boiled, egg salad.
This a.m. I had a frittata for breakfast.
The incredible edible egg. Thank goodness my cholesterol is fairly low!
O.k. I don't like eating eggs by themselves, but I love making them for other people. I will add this method to my repertoire for hosting. I love your unabashed, not so subtle requests for comments and facebook messages. I hope you are flooded with both.
xoxo
I'm a sucker for a scrambled egg taco - morning, noon or night! Flour or corn tortilla, salsa, maybe a smear of sour cream or a slice of avocado if I have it... or just a splash of hot sauce, it all works for me.
But everyone else's egg ideas sound so good I'm going to have to try them!
And don't worry - I'll call Mark (my own personal kitchen god) and tell him to start paying attention :)
To summarize a life of egg love: as I grow older, my yolks get softer. Don't read too deeply into that one. ;)
you're a lady my own heart. I was just telling Veronica (don't know if she was truly listening) how after she was born her Grandpa (Ben's father) made two eggs over easy with two slices of buttered toast for me...the verdict: Heavenly! Although I have always enjoyed eggs, it was in those moments of postpartum insanity that the egg became a whole other culinary playing field. And as I tell people, it's because of the egg that I could never be a vegan.
P.S.
Yes on all accounts of Facebook and yes about eggs filling me up till lunch (see it has magical powers).
I love eggs anyway anyhow. And funny that I was just discussing them earlier today. And my love for them. It's incredible and edible!
I have always loved over-easy eggs, smashed into whatever else I have on the plate.
Otherwise, I love cream cheese with my scrambled/omelette eggs. I met this combo at Salmon Bay Cafe in Ballard, where we ate 2-3 times a week at least during the three years we lived on a sailboat at Shilshole Bay Marina. Their Ballard Omelette has egs folded over bacon, cream cheese, and green onion. If I get to choose my last meal, this would be it. I sometimes try to simulate this other places by ordering and egg breakfast sandwich with all of those ingredients.
Salmon Bay Cafe is, by the way, one of the only "real" diners I know of in Seattle. I say this with authority based on my years of living in the Midwest. It's not diner theme -- it's the real deal. It's all about the food and not about the duct tape patching over the cracks in the booths. No one matches their eggs benedict. Or their grilled turkey supreme. Or their choice of a big pile of fresh cut fruit instead of fries/homefries. Or their club sandwich. Or their strawberry freezer jam on the table. Dang, I need to get back over there sometime.
I love runny eggs, with lots of salt, and toast. Unfortunately, I'm of an age and a DNA thread that prohibits both the egg and salt. Dang! To think I wasted my youth running away from runny eggs.
I am loving this barrage of egg stories! I hit a protein-rich nerve, I guess.
Jordan, I remember you eating egg whites on toast when we worked together at NHM.
Beth, you are hilarious. I am with you on the softer yolks.
Kamille, love that story. My first postpartum meal was a BLT and chocolate shake. Nothing ever tasted so good.
Naomi, I used to get that omelette at Salmon Bay, too. Heaven.
PDS, tater tots are illegally good. Have you ever had them in Georgetown? Is it 9 lb. Hammer or Jules Maes? So good.
And here I thought I was unique in my morning egg routine. Two dropped in a just big enough pot. Timed to 3 minutes after a rolling boil. Mine out at exactly 3 minutes. Peggy's left in the water for about one minute longer. She gets breakfast at bathroom counter most mornings, served in a dinky dish, just big enough for her medium egg with more salt than most humans can tolerate, and even more pepper, not to mention red pepper flakes. Mine runnier, over a piece of substantial toast well buttered. A trick: crisply crack then clean out the shell with a rounded spreader - the perfectly shaped edge for a clean scrape. It's nice to know I'm in good company. Solidarity triumphs over individuality.
i love my 5 days a week breakfast, soft boil for 3 plus min. served to me by yours truly.
breakfast doesn't get much better than this does it?
I've been on a poached egg kick for a while now... served over toast, which has been buttered and cut into small squares. Plus some kosher salt on the top. SO good. And my three-year-old says, "I don't WIKE this" when I put it in front of her, then eats every bite.
I have been eating eggs in the morning as well. I agree. It does keep you full longer than other breakfast foods. I usually cook mine over easy but I will definitely try it this way!
I'm addicted to poached eggs on toast with salt & pepper. Seriously addicted. As in I can't stop. I'd like to make other breakfasts, but when it comes to the weekend, it's 3 poached eggs, two pieces of toast and my happy face.
I've been eating eggs all the time lately, especially for quick dinners, and I basically always make them the same way, my classic way, which is a cross between scrambled and omelette.
1. chop up whatever vegetables I have on hand (I like arugula and green peppers lately)
2. lightly beat two eggs in bowl and add some milk.
3. heat butter on stove and add eggs and then vegetables.
4. grab handle and shake pan while eggs cook
5. go do something for a minute
6. huh. it's like an omelette. shake it around some more.
7. fold it over, stir a little
voila! scrambled omelette! just to prove that i am sooo original, i will also tell you: I don't always have regular toast on the side. sometimes, I saute a whole wheat pita on the stove. crazzy, right?
Toast an english muffin. Place a slice of cheddar on each half. Top with a scrambled egg cooked on low heat, flipped and folded in 4. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds. Place before my child who begs for this daily. He calls it a "McMommy".
Toad in a hole! Also called bird's nest. Cook egg sunny side up or over easy -whichever your preference - inside the hole of a piece of bread buttered both sides -toasted in pan (like a grilled cheese). Delish. Plus have we mentioned the whole secret of cooking an egg is the low gentle temp?!
I've had years of eating soft-boiled eggs. That's definitely my favorite way to have them. I crack the shell in half and eat it right out with a spoon.
Lately we've just come out of a scrambled phase because my son prefers them that way, and it's usually just easier not to fight with a toddler. I don't mind them scrambled, though.
Scrambled eggs was the first meal I learned to cook completely by myself, as a kid. Thus, I made myself scrambled eggs for like a year...just because I could! Nowdays a few fried eggs with some diced up canadian bacon, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper hit the spot.