Sunday, April 27, 2014

Eggceptional Eggs

We spent an afternoon last week visiting some friends, drinking tea, and discussing all sorts of things.They have an urban farm with a good sized vegetable garden, chickens, and the most adorable baby goose I've ever seen. The goose stood about a foot high, had soft fuzzy greenish-grey down, chatted amiably with us by quacking, and liked to be picked up, held, and petted.  So sweet! When they grow up, geese can be very territorial and aggressive to trespassers, so we'll take advantage of his amiableness while he's a baby. As we were leaving, they gathered some eggs and gave us some to take home. They were beautiful. One was an off-white, one a light tan, and one was a light greenish-blue. Egg color has nothing to do with the nutritional quality or taste of the egg - the colors are almost all due to the breed of the hen.

I cooked these eggs my favorite way: scrambled. There are several different ways to scramble eggs, but mostly it comes down to what you add - if anything - to the eggs and the way you prepare them.

A "hard scramble" is what you usually get at a restaurant. These can be prepared in one of two ways; In a restaurant, the eggs are cracked and stored in a container and some of the beaten eggs are poured onto the griddle as needed. In some restaurants, usually those with fewer scrambled eggs ordered, the eggs are cracked open and beaten as needed. In both cases, a little butter might be used, but the egg mixture contains nothing but eggs. These are allowed to start setting on the griddle or in the pan, and then stirred or scrambled as they finish cooking. And, usually, these eggs are cooked hard - until they're completely set in the pan or on the griddle.

The other type of eggs are "fluffy" or "soft scrambled eggs." Crack the eggs into a bowl and add a little dairy sour cream (about 1 tablespoon per 2 eggs) and a couple of tablespoons of shredded cheese if you like. To prepare the eggs, put a little butter (about 1 teaspoon per egg) and cream or half 'n' half (about 1 tablespoon per egg) into a small frying pan. Heat this until the cream is scalding and then quickly add the beaten eggs. Stir briskly and constantly as soon as you add the eggs to the cream and cook until the eggs are softly set. Don't cook completely because they'll cook a little more after you remove from the heat; you want these eggs to be soft and fluffy.


One of my favorite things is to make fluffy scrambled eggs with cheese and also fold in some cooked vegetable as the eggs are cooking. I especially love sauteed onions and cauliflower or broccoli, but feel free to add any vegetable you like or have as leftovers. You could also add some cooked bacon or sausage or some diced ham or chicken. Feeling fancy? Sprinkle on some sliced almonds or chopped walnuts. And a touch of fresh herbs, such as parsley, thyme, basil, or oregano - it looks gorgeous and adds a pop of flavor. Be creative and adventurous!

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