recipeworld

See… as I promised, no more pasta. Today, I want to talk to you about one of the top breakfast foods around these parts, fried eggs. Sometimes, they’re served with the home fries you see pictured above, but more often than not, it’s just fried eggs with some bread to soak up the yolk.

Fried eggs are really easy to get wrong, but if you get them right, they’re incredible. The secret is in the name: fried.

Fried eggs are not seared eggs, grilled eggs or poached eggs. They need to be fried, and every good cook should know what that means. Basically, think about making French fries: you submerge the potatoes in fat until they’re cooked. Now, that’s deep-frying. Shallow frying, like with eggs or some kinds of fried chicken, involves frying in a pool of fat… and yes, it has to be a pool.

This is where most people make their mistake: in not using enough fat. For three eggs, I usually use a tablespoon each of butter and oil. And before you jump down my throat, you don’t eat it all! When frying properly (i.e. over high heat), the food absorbs very little of the oil.

For Sunny-Side Up Eggs

3 eggs

2 tablespoons fat

salt and pepper

Heat your skillet until very, very hot. Add the fat and allow it to melt and evenly coat the skillet. Crack the eggs into the skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. When the whites are completely set, slide a spatula under each egg and transfer it to a plate.

For Over-Easy or Over-Hard Eggs

3 eggs

2 tablespoons fat

salt and pepper

Heat your skillet until very, very hot. Add the fat and allow it to melt and evenly coat the skillet. Crack the eggs into the skillet and add salt and pepper to taste. When the whites are nearly set, slide a spatula under each egg, and very carefully, flip it over to the other side. This is easiest when you attempt to let the whole surface of the egg hit the pan at once. Cook until yolk is to desired doneness, then slide from the pan (you may need to use the spatula again) and transfer to a plate.

Hash browns recipe to follow…

Once again, I bring you eggs.

This time, I’ve combined pungent gorgonzola cheese and woodsy mushrooms for an omelette that is sturdy enough to be dinner on a winter evening with a side of green salad. I’ll never tire of omelettes, and neither should you: they’re a cheap, delicious way to clean out the fridge and experiment with different combinations of ingredients.
 

Gorgonzola Mushroom Omelette

5-6 crimini mushrooms, sliced

salt and pepper

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. butter

2 oz. Gorgonzola, broken into small chunks

6 eggs

3 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. crème fraiche or sour cream

Heat a skillet over medium head and add the butter and oil. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt (the cheese will bring salt as well). Cook the mushrooms until they have released their liquid and it has evaporated, and they are brown and toasty on the outside. Spread them evenly across the bottom of the skillet. If you need more oil, add another teaspoon of olive oil.

In a bowl, combine the eggs, milk and crème fraiche. Pour the mixture over the mushrooms. Top immediately with the Gorgonzola cheese and black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook just until the omelette has set, about five minutes, checking the bottom for doneness. If necessary, turn the temperature down to low to keep the bottom from burning.

Carefully, flip one side of the omelette over the other to form a half moon. Cook another thirty seconds to set, and then transfer to a plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

I know I go on and on about eggs a lot, but they’re really an amazing food–it’s like that commercial for “the incredible edible egg.” Anyone? Anyone? Crickets? OK then… moving on.

Eggs are really, really good for you. They’re an amazing source of protein and the yellows are a good source of vitamin D, so all you people who only eat the whites because of the cholesterol in the yolks… well think again.

I eat hard-boiled eggs for lunch a lot, but when I’m making dinner, I usually want something hot. If I want something hot and quick, I often turn to scrambled eggs. In just a few minutes and with very few ingredients, you have something hot, filling, good for you and delicious… how “incredible” is that?

Scrambled Eggs with Shallots

Note 2: If you’re lazy, like me, you can also turn down the heat and add the eggs, yogurt and milk directly to the skillet. You have to stir a bit more quickly to make sure the eggs break and combine with the dairy before they cook, but this way, there will be no extra dishes to do.

Sometimes, the best recipes are the simplest ones. The things that can be made with just a few ingredients and just a bit of time and effort are often the most rewarding. Take fried eggs, for example. It’s not much effort at all, and the ingredients list is so short it seems like there shouldn’t even be a recipe. But there is a difference between a good fried egg and a great fried egg, and it all has to do with that first word: fried.

A lot of people who attempt to make a fried egg do it in too little fat. There’s no need to be afraid of fat: yes, some of it will be served with the food, but if done correctly, most will remain in the pan, just giving the faint taste of butter and a nice, crispy edge to your egg. I like to serve fried eggs with home fried potatoes or on top of some heated and drained frozen spinach, with a little bit of vinegar pepper sauce, like Tabasco.

The Perfect Fried Egg

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
salt and pepper
Heat a skillet over high heat. Add the oil and then melt the butter in the oil, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Crack both eggs in the skillet and cover with salt and pepper. Allow to cook over high heat for thirty seconds before reducing the heat to medium and cooking only until the whites have set. Remove with a spatula and serve immediately.

When it comes to a cheap source of protein, eggs are really your best bet. I can get thirty eggs for about five euros at my farmer’s market. I usually hard-boil them and eat them with Tabasco sauce (or fry them, but that’s another story). However, every once in awhile, I get in the mood for something a little different, and that’s when I pull an omelette together.

There are certain meals I look at as ways to clean out the fridge. Eggs, pasta, quesadillas and baked potatoes all fall into this category. I go through whatever meat, cheese or cooked veggies are in the icebox and try to pull something together that makes some semblance of sense.

This chorizo omelette uses Spanish chorizo, which is pre-cooked, kind of like salami. The sausage is spicy enough on its own, so it didn’t need extra seasoning. I did add some blue cheese to this one, which was what I had at the time, but in the future I would use a milder melting cheese like provolone or mozzarella so as not to detract from the taste of the meat. This omelette, with a salad, can easily serve two for dinner.

Chorizo Omelette
6 eggs
2 tbsp. crème fraîche or sour cream
1 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. olive oil
1 oz. cheese (use whatever you have on hand), crumbled or grated
2 oz. chorizo, sliced thin

Crack the eggs into a bowl and scramble with a fork, adding the milk and crème fraîche and being sure to evenly combine everything. Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the egg mixture, swirling the pan to ensure that the mixture is evenly distributed.

Place the chorizo slices evenly over the top, and add the cheese. Cover the pan and turn the heat down to medium-low. Allow to cook just until the eggs have set. If the bottom of the omelette begins to burn before the eggs are set, turn the heat down to low or off completely, and allow to cook using residual heat under the cover.

Allow to cook in the pan one minute before slicing into triangles and serving.

Sorry the picture here is so screwy, but I had to share this recipe for Mexican eggs.

Two things that I always have in my fridge are eggs and potatoes. Both are cheap bases upon which to start a meal: they are like blank canvases to draw on, using different combinations of flavors to make them distinct each time.

I often make a big omelette for dinner by combining eggs, fromage frais (similar to crème fraiche, sour cream or strained yogurt) and a little bit of milk to form the base, and then adding different toppings, like a pizza or a frittata. This time, however, I had some frozen spinach and some shredded cheese and salsa from our Mexican party the night before. It was immediately apparent that the omelette wasn’t going to hold together, so I just scrambled everything. With some sweet cooked onions and some Mexican seasonings, this made a delicious breakfast.

Mexican Eggs (serves two)

1 tsp. canola oil

1/2 red onion, chopped

4 eggs

3/4 cup store-bought salsa

1/4 cup fromage frais

1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella… whatever you have)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp hot red pepper

In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions. Cook until softened and sweet. Turn the heat down to low. Crack the eggs into the skillet and add the fromage frais, salsa, shredded cheese and spinach. Cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula, until the eggs are cooked through but still loose. Add the seasonings and fold in. Serve with extra fromage frais or sour cream and hot sauce.