If there was one thing I am truly proud of as a mother, it’s the basic necessity of my girls loving runny egg yolks. Before giving birth to my oldest, I was either an omelet or scrambled eggs lady. In my postpartum blur in the dreary month of January (there was ice & snow covering the ground for a whole week after V’s birth), my dear father-in-law Steve made me two over easy eggs with buttered toast. Most things are a blur from that first week (who am I kidding–first couple months), but those eggs. I never knew they could taste so good.
The whites were set, while the thick, fatty yolk burst out. I cleaned it up with the buttered toast and I have never looked back. In fact, I could never be vegan due to the egg. It’s the most rounded of nutritional value, keeps me more satisfied throughout the morning & the myth of the yolk being a bad cholesterol is probably debunked on snoops.com.
I got this book, The Good Egg by Marie Simmons in an auction last year. I love how Simmons writes about her love affair with this protein punchers. I’ve moved on to the poached egg since those postpartum days. Not only are poached eggs just as easy, they’re so versatile in how you prepare them or eat them. For breakfast, we eat them with buttered toast or make a sandwich out of them. I don’t want you to be intimidated by the process, because once you make them again and again–you’re culinary prowess will be more grand.
Poached Eggs
When making poached eggs, you will want to use the freshest eggs possible, because the egg whites won’t scatter everywhere when you slide them into the simmering water. If you don’t have the freshest eggs, then I would advise not making them. However, Simmons says you could do a “preboil” with the egg still in the shell. Bring your water to a boil and immerse the egg in the water for 8 seconds & remove. Then, proceed with poaching instructions.Ingredients:
4 eggs
white vinegar
kosher salt
freshly cracked pepper
Directions:
- Fill a deep 10-inch skillet with water. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1 Tb of white vinegar for every 2 quarts of water.
- Heat the water until it starts simmering, barely.
- Using cold eggs, crack one egg at a time into a small dish/bowl/plate. Gently slip into the water. Continue adding eggs clockwise, in order to remove them in the same order, along with equal cooking times.
- You can adjust the temperature, in order to keep the water at a bare simmer. If the water starts to boil, then it will cause the egg whites to toughen & feather.
- Cook eggs for 1 minute, then gently loosen them off the bottom of the pan. I turn my eggs in the water, but it’s a matter of preference.
- Poach the eggs for 3 to 5 minutes until desired doneness.
- Remove them with a slotted spoon in the order they went into the pan. Gently put them in a shallow bowl, trying to drain excess water.
- Salt & pepper them. Serve with buttered toast, make eggs benedict, or in a salad.
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