“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” John Gunther
My alarm started ringing at 6 am this morning. Somehow the determination I had the night before – to wake up early, have a long shower and enjoy sipping my coffee on the terrace – has faded overnight… When eventually I managed to get out of bed an hour later I still had plenty of time to shower, dress, have my coffee, although already skipping the best part of it – slowly sipping it on the terrace while probably even reading a few pages of my book… If only I had waken up earlier…
Out of the shower my route usually goes past the fridge. I opened it and although there was a good choice of breakfast food that needed no preparation – yoghurt, cheese curd, cream cheese with cranberries – I knew I had to make myself poached eggs.
There are some things that are a must in my fridge at all times – eggs, butter, at least a few kinds of cheese and occasionally bread. I had all of those and a few pieces of ciabatta (which can be substituted with pretty much any kind of white bread). I was set to go!
Ingredients:
* 2 eggs
* 2 slices of ciabatta (or any other kind of white bread)
* Feta cheese
* Provence herb mix
* Olive oil for brazing
* Freshly ground pepper
I have always wanted to master the art of poaching eggs and eventually when I did get to it a few weeks back I was surprised it was not as difficult as I thought it would be.
I brought a pot of water to a boil, in the meantime washed a few eggs under running water (it is advisory to do so even if they are bought at the store and seem pretty steril) and cracked them open one at a time to a small bowl.
Anthony Bourdain suggests to crack the egg by hitting in on a flat surface so you don’t break the yolk inside and then carefully letting it out in the bowl.
When the water came to a boil I added some salt and holding the bowl with one cracked egg close to the water I carefully slid it into the water, repeating the same with the other egg. Time to cook the eggs in order to have them soft and running – 4 minutes as I do like them very soft. If you do like them a little more solid, go for up to 5 minutes. When the time was up, I scooped the eggs out of the water and laid them on a paper towel on the plate to absorb the excess water.
Heated up a frying pan. Brazed the sliced ciabatta with a bit of olive oil mixed with herbs (my favorite is the provence herb mix) and fried it on the pan – a few minutes on each side. When the bread was done, I served it on the plate, laying quite thinly sliced feta on top of bread while it is still warm and carefully placing the poached eggs. Some freshly ground pepper, maybe a hint of green to make it prettier and voila! The breakfast is served!
Overall it took me about 15 minutes to prepare it and I must say it was worth it!
In the end I did end up running late for work, but referring to J.Gunther – All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast 🙂
Raspberry Flavor 