Monday, November 6, 2006

It's an obsession.

I have become obsessed with eggs. Seriously obsessed! Especially my new fondness for the soft-boiled egg. I wonder if some of that comes from my sincere love for Eggs Benedict,and the fact that A) I cannot poach eggs and B) I've never attempted a hollandaise. And that soft boiled egg with it's decadently creamy interior is just heaven!! Today I needed to experiment a bit. I wanted to figure out the perfect timing for an egg- so the white was fully cooked, and the yolk warmed through, but still runny and golden.

First egg up I brought the water nearly to a boil, dropped in an egg fresh out of the fridge, and brought the whole thing up to a boil. Once it started boiling rapidly, I set the timer for 3 minutes. When it was done, I eagerly hacked into this egg, only to discover runny egg whites. That one went in the disposal. Attempt two was much more successful. My water was already at a hard boil, so I just dropped in another cold egg. I gave this one 4 1/2 minutes. When it was done, I took it out and set it in a bowl to continue internally cooking for a minute. This egg was perfect. The white cooked through, and the yolk... just the way I like it. I was very careful with this egg though, I had planned a special treatment for it. So I very delicately peeled this egg which was not an easy feat, considering the egg was soft and squishy, and I didn't want it to break open in the least.



I started with a portobello mushroom cap (stem removed). I placed this under the broiler with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. After about 3 minutes I pulled the mushroom out. I carefully slid my peeled soft-boiled whole egg onto the mushroom cap. Onto this I sprinkled a tiny bit of cheddar cheese, green onions, and some leftover cooked bacon pieces. The whole assembly carefully slid under the broiler until the cheese was bubbly- maybe a minute or so. And finally, I placed my mushroom/egg stack on top of a slice of buttered toast. The second I cut into that egg with my fork, I knew I had a winner. The egg yolk slowly oozed out and smothered the mushroom cap, pulling along a few crumbs of bacon with it. Every single bit of this egg tower was delightful, and I am contemplating repeating tomorrow- only an English Muffin as the base would be the ultimate breakfast indulgence.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can join you for breakfast on Wednesday -

Erika W. said...

Lol! You're funny! (or are you serious...)

Anonymous said...

Is that an invitation? I'd LOVE to come! What time?

Erika W. said...

Silly... you don't need an invitation to come over.

Sadly though, the fungii will be used for tonight's dinner, so I can't offer my excellent egg tower as incentive.

But Zander always has a hug for Gramma!

Anonymous said...

Guess I'll pop in AFTER breakfast, then. Look for me mid - late am. Love you!