An Affair of Breakfast April: Steam-Fried Egg on Bagel

Note: The round-up will be ASAP! Please bear with me <3.

It’s said that each of the pleats in a chef’s hat represents a different ways to prepare eggs.

Usually I’m no good with eggs on their own, unless I’m boiling them.  I guess I’ve got a long way to go.

I’ve had a very decadent month, what with celebrating my birthday three times and that Nutella pastry confection.  & I’m one of those people who’s pretty good at avoiding sugar, but once I have even a little bit, I go crazy and have to wean myself off of it slowly.  By which time I usually encounter it again =P.  This breakfast marked the beginning of that weaning process, the turn towards more heart-healthy and waistline-friendly foods that actually taste good.  A lovely steam-fried egg with a cheery sunshine-centre, accompanied by some fresh parsley for pep.

Steam-frying, you ask?  Two of my friends gave me a bunch of cookbooks, one of them mentioning this peculiar method.  Essentially the egg is cooked in steam, requiring only a fraction of the typical amount of oil.

This recipe comes from the healthy cookbook by Lesley Waters. It’s part of the Easy Everyday series.

Steam-Fried Eggs

for 4

a bit of olive oil

4 eggs

handful of small basil leaves (I used parsley)

freshly ground black pepper

4 slices of toasted wholemeal bread (I used half a multigrain bagel)

1.  Get a skillet very hot.  Using a piece of paper towel dipped in the oil, wipe the skillet.

2.  Crack eggs into pan, and switch heat to low.  Cover skillet with a lid, and let cook for ~4 minutes.  You can kind of see the surface of the albumen bubbling in this pic.

3.  If you don’t want runny yolks, flip egg over and let cook for a minute.

4.  Place egg on toast.  Sprinkle with pepper, and top with basil.  As you can see, my yolk kind of stuck to the pan when I flipped the egg over, so I would recommend the slightest bit of re-greasing.  Serve with some fruit to really make it a meal

I feel like the parsley really made this dish, appearance-wise.  Once I placed the leaves on the egg, I was just really happy.  The best part about this breakfast was taking the time to savour it, yummm =).

i think I’ll go make another egg now XD.