Childhood nostalgia: egg in a cup
Lately I have been having pangs of nostalgia for childhood meals. Specifically, I wanted what my mom would call “egg in a cup.”
If you think it sounds suspiciously like a soft boiled egg you would be right, but the difference was in the plating.
Instead of having sticks of toast to dip into the egg after the top was cut off, the entire egg was peeled and cut up into a small bowl or cup and then mixed with cubed pieces of bread. Poaching the egg would probably be easier, but for those of us who have never mastered how to poach an egg, soft boiling works just as well.
When I called my mom to ask how to cook the egg, she told me to boil it for three minutes. Well I did, and as I was peeling a half-uncooked egg in the kitchen sink and getting my hands burned while runny whites ran down my fingers I came to the unpleasant realization that my mother had served me undercooked eggs my entire childhood.
The BBC recommends boiling your eggs for four to five minutes, and you know what? So do I.
My mom had always used a slice of sandwich bread she then broke into pieces, but I didn’t have any on hand. What I did have were cubes of rosemary bread that I had been storing in the freezer with the intention of making croutons. I pulled out about a cup and toasted them on the stove while I peeled eggs and yelped loudly.
Egg in a cup
Ingredients:
• 2 eggs, still in shell
• 1 cup bread cut into cubes
• Salt and pepper to taste
Directions: Bring water to boil in a small saucepan. Submerge both eggs and boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove eggs from boiling water and let rest for a few minutes. While eggs are resting, gently toast bread in a shallow frying pan on low heat. Peel eggs under cold running water. Place peeled eggs in a small bowl, and break into chunks with a spoon. The yolk should be runny and the whites should be firm. Add toasted bread and mix. Season with salt and pepper.