First things first…
Poach eggs perfectly (no pressure)
- Break each egg into a small bowl containing a little vinegar. Allow the eggs to stand for 5 minutes (this helps solidify the white to stop it from spreading when being poached).
- Bring a shallow saucepan of water to a simmer and slip the egg in with the vinegar (in a whirlpool if you like).
- Simmer for exactly 2 minutes. Poach eggs one by one for best results.
- Remove using a slotted spoon and keep warm, or reheat by slipping back into hot water just before serving.
There’s always the classic route, served on an English muffin and drizzled with Hollandaise sauce. Try the classic eggs Benedict recipe here and perfect your Hollandaise sauce here.
If an English muffin is a little too tame for your liking, replace it with an crispy, fried-till-golden potato rösti.
Try the ultimate breakfast rösti with bacon and smoked pork rashers recipe here.
Save this one for later, when you have time to plan ahead.
To truffle the eggs: Place the whole eggs (shells and all) into a Ziploc bag, drip in the truffle oil and seal. Refrigerate for 3 days. Poach the eggs as you would normally, serve with potato rösti and portabellini mushrooms pan-fried in garlic-thyme butter. Try the truffled eggs Benedict recipe here.
Like it spicy? Take your flavour cue from Turkey and the Middle East
- While the eggs are cooking, melt 2 T butter in a pan, stir in a few sage leaves (if they’re fresh, fry them until crispy) or parsley, add 1 T Woolworths smoked Spanish paprika and remove from the heat.
- Remove the eggs from the saucepan using a slotted spoon and place on the yoghurt. Spoon the paprika-sage butter over the eggs, season and eat with lots of warm bread.
In Turkey, this is a warm meze dish and is usually served with lots of hot pita or flatbread, but hunks of good sourdough will do, too. Try the cilbir recipe here.
Or pan fry chickpeas with paprika, chilli flakes and garlic and fresh salmon. Serve the eggs with toast, a spoonful of yoghurt, spicy chickpeas, coriander and radishes. Season to taste and top with the flaked leftover salmon. Try the Turkish-style eggs and salmon recipe here. Or try hot Turkish eggs with brown mushrooms recipe here.
Lastly, slather on the butter…
Serve your poached eggs with anchovy butter. Simply fold finely chopped anchovy fillets into softened butter and chill to set. Try the anchovy-buttered crostini with poached eggs recipe here.
Heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat until brown. Add the lemon juice and remove from the heat. Try the poached egg with broccoli and burnt butter recipe here.
4 more ways with poached eggs
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