Eggs Any Style
I’ve always enjoyed cooking. Cooking, mind you, not baking. Baking is too precise and, evidently, I am not a very precise person. All of that measuring and leveling and waiting for things to rise, not to mention the kneading and then kneading again — it’s for the birds. Besides, my sister is a top-notch baker so if I want goodies of that variety I’ll go to her.
No, I enjoy using a recipe as more of a guideline — a set of suggestions if you will. Even my Boeuf Bourguignon, which is pretty much Julia’s recipe, I like a little heavier on the thyme and tomato paste and, obviously, the wine. I like to use my nose, my taste buds and my gut instinct for the nuances. Most of the time it turns out rather well. Sometimes, not so much. But that’s part of the fun.
I think that’s why cooking breakfast is my favorite. It’s pretty hard to screw up breakfast. Unless, of course, there is hollandaise involved. I’ve had lots of screwed up hollandaise, which is why I won’t even attempt it myself. In my opinion, it should really come under the heading of baking: too precise.
But I digress. I like breakfast for the simplicity of it. There are really no rules as to what can be had for breakfast and, let’s face it, pretty much anything is good with eggs. I will often even stir a scrambled egg into my soup just to give it that extra little sumpin-sumpin. However, one of my all-time simple favorites is avocado toast with a nice over-medium egg on top. It’s one of those things that will actually motivate me out of bed in the morning. I live a stone’s throw from San Francisco, the city that purportedly has the best sourdough in the world, but my favorite is San Luis sourdough (at least for the store-bought variety). Lightly toasted San Luis sourdough with mashed avocado — seasoned with a little garlic salt and fresh cracked black pepper and a smattering of sriracha. Sometimes I throw on a little grated parm if I happen to have some lying around. But the key is the over-medium egg. A poached egg is also good but I’m generally too lazy to do that in the morning (nighttime breakfast is another story). And if you don’t drain it properly it will make the toast soggy. Yet a perfect over-medium egg is not as easy as it seems. I’m weird about my eggs in that I want the yolk runny but the whites cooked through. Any sign of uncooked albumen makes me want to vomit in my mouth a little. I’ve managed to perfect my own technique but there are very few restaurants that can get it right. Really this is understandable since I’m cooking one egg and they’re cooking several all at once. Which is the reason why, although I enjoy cooking, I won’t do it in a restaurant.
If I’m really hungry and want two eggs then I will go scrambled (even I can only eat so much runny yolk). And I must say that my scrambled eggs are pretty amazing. I learned a trick from a cooking show years ago that suggested using a bit of water instead of milk or cream and then whisking them into a frenzy, and it does make some pretty fluffy eggs. I also add a bunch of minced garlic (much to the chagrin of my boyfriend. Who’s Italian… don’t even get me started), chili flakes, basil, salt and pepper. I cook them over medium heat while stirring them constantly and 99% of the time that adds up to fluffy dreaminess. And of course, eggs should be cooked with butter. Or bacon grease. I’ve had some chef friends tell me vegetable oil works just as well — which is why I won’t eat their eggs. Clearly they are not to be trusted.
In all honesty, I’m sometimes suspicious that my love of breakfast is actually for the butter.
I would also like it noted that I started making avocado toast years before the hipsters had it on every menu. And mine is better. And not $12…
