Poached Egg

Warming the surrounding red rock canyons, radiant light dawned into our high desert valley on Easter morning. As high schoolers we’d drive to the National Monument for a sunrise service and return to the church basement for muffins and cocoa. Later in our Sunday best we’d sit in the pews to sing “He is Risen”. Early afternoon meant family gathered at Grandma’s on Glenwood Avenue where Chippendale chairs surrounded the dining room table in front of a bay window. Rosalinda porcelain plates waited for slices of glazed ham, creamed peas, pineapple and cabbage salad–then angel food cake for dessert. 

Now, as decades have passed and my own children have seen the mid-century mark, the holiday is quieter. Still, I’m eager to welcome the happy morning with a special breakfast, even if just for myself. There won’t be a lavish fruit platter or a rich brunch spread before I head out to listen to choral music and watch children hunt eggs over the rolling lawns of the churchyard. Yet as I wait in the morning light, I think a poached egg will be perfect.  Centuries before the early saints and towering cathedrals, eggs were a symbol of rebirth, a welcome to spring. 

How long has it been since you’ve poached an egg? This seems to be a cooking technique that’s almost lost these days. I’ve been buying lovely brown eggs from Prairie Wind farm this winter and the flavor of these eggs needs no embellishment. To prevent the stringing whites in the poaching water, even from farm fresh eggs, I discovered a trick quite by accident. The other day when I spooned an egg into boiling water hoping for a soft-cooked egg to set in my Burleigh calico eggcup, the egg cracked. Rather than letting it ooze into the boiling water, I lifted it out, broke the egg into a cup and sent it back into the simmering water noticing a perfectly formed poached egg. It seems as though that ten second coddle caused those stringy bits to adhere to the shell and the egg then formed a lovely oval. I don’t add vinegar or salt to the water which would impair the flavor of the egg, and a two to three minute poach is perfect. I then lifted the egg out with a slotted spoon and drained it for a moment on a clean tea towel before setting it on a warm piece of buttered sourdough toast. With a side of quickly sautéed mushrooms, a pot of breakfast tea and a sliced orange on the side, here is an Easter morning glory breakfast, even for one.

 

sautéed mushrooms

Poached Egg

If possible, take eggs out of the fridge the night before cooking.

Bring a small saucepan of water to a light boil.

Use a spoon to ease the egg/eggs into the gently boiling water. 

coddling the egg

Count ten seconds and remove egg/eggs.

egg in small cup

Immediately break each egg into a small cup.

Keep the water at a slow boil.

Swirl a vortex in the water with a spoon and pour the egg into the circle. (This step is not necessary if you are cooking several eggs, or if your eggs are fresh from the hens)

egg poaching

Simmer 2-3 minutes to desired firmness.

egg blotted on tea towel

Lift each egg out with a slotted spoon and then blot the bottom by placing it on a clean tea towel. Slide each egg onto a slice of buttered toast, sprinkle with flaky salt and enjoy a nutritious breakfast.

Happy Easter Breakfast

White Soda Bread

St. Paddy’s Day’s around the corner. Are you ready? You’ve got the Guinness, the Kerrygold, the cabbage, the floury potatoes (russets here; golden wonders there), the corned beef (here; there it would be a loin of bacon to simmer and glaze. A loin of bacon is a cured pork loin; bacon as we know it would be called rashers). So why not also stir up a quick soda bread?

The soda bread peddled in US supermarkets is nothing like real Irish soda bread. This often daily baked soda bread isn’t sugared and dotted with raisins (that would be Spotted Dog). The ordinary soda bread, once baked in a heavy iron pot slung over a glowing peat fire, is quick to stir together and usually contains just four ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and butter milk. This bread works perfectly with Irish flour which is milled from soft wheat and lends a light loaf even when made with flakey whole wheat flour.  Alas, we don’t see an equivalent of this brown flour over here. 

To encourage you to bake and to keep matters simple, I think most people have a supply of basic all-purpose white flour on hand. With the other three ingredients and under an hour, you’ll have fresh bread. Finding buttermilk can prove a problem. Cultured buttermilk is common in Irish shops, but here it can sometimes be unavailable.  There was none to be found in the large chain supermarket where I shopped last week. Easy problem to solve—make your own. If you have plain yogurt and regular milk, a facsimile of buttermilk will be easily organized, cost considerably less plus you can make just what you need. All you need to do is plan ahead. The night before baking warm 7 oz. whole milk just to lukewarm. Pour it in a glass jar and stir in 1 oz. of plain yogurt. Twist on the lid, wrap the jar in a towel and set it in a warm corner overnight. In the morning you’ll have a cultured milk that will serve as buttermilk.

four ingredients

 

Soda bread is traditionally mixed by forming a claw with your spread fingers, but since many are hesitant to fully get their hands into a sticky dough, you may quickly stir the mix together with a flexible plastic spatula and use you hand just to finish the dough, rolling it into a ball.  For a round loaf, bake the bread in a small cast iron skillet, a pie plate or any round baking dish. A rectangular bread pan may also be used. Slip a soda bread in the oven the next time you roast a chicken, bake a tart or a few potatoes and make your self proud.

Soda bread is not a keeper. So to begin I suggest you make a small loaf and see how it goes. The following recipe will make almost a pound loaf—good to serve with supper and then for toast the next morning. 

Celebrate the Irish and stir up a loaf of soda bread.

White Soda Bread

8 oz. all purpose flour (1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

7-8 fl. oz. buttermilk*  (1 cup)

*see above note on how to prepare cultured buttermilk or in a hurry stir 1 tablespoon white vinegar into a cup of milk and wait 10 minutes. If using low fat milk, rub a tablespoon of butter into the flour mixture.

Preheat the oven to 450°

Sift the flour, salt, soda together twice.

Place the dry ingredients in a wide shallow bowl; make a well in the center. Pour almost all of the shaken buttermilk into the well and quickly stir the dry ingredients into the buttermilk with swift strokes but do not beat. Add the last bit of buttermilk if needed. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl into a rough soft ball. 

make a well

pour in buttermilk

soft dough

Sprinkle over a little flour and use your hands to roll the dough into a neat ball. Wash you hands, dust the ball of dough with flour and using you hand and a flat plastic spatula, lift the ball into a greased iron skillet, loaf pan or pie plate. 

cut cross and let fairies out

fill the oven

Use a sharp knife to cut a deep cross over the top and give the four corners a quick knife poke (to let the fairies out) before slipping the bread into a hot oven. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 400° and continue to bake for a further 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned. Tip the bread out onto a wire rack to cool. It should sound hollow when knocked on the bottom. Allow the loaf to cool before slicing.  Makes one medium loaf.

“May the road rise up to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back”